Exo Terra saltwater paludarium

[Metalreefer]

So here I am now. A nice grape branch, jungle vines,and half of the plants already in. waiting for the rest. should be here within the next few days. To plant everything I used some charcoal,perlite,cocofibre and dried sphagnum moss mix to fill up the pots. Also I put the temperature and humidity sensor on the side.

 

[ahiggins]

I see very bad results down the road with this setup. I see the acidity of the land portion wrecking havoc with the reef and/or the salt getting into the land portion and killing all your CP.

I also agree with this but I’m super excited to see how it goes!

 

[Metalreefer]

I also agree with this but I’m super excited to see how it goes!

Well. Bigger the risk the bigger the prize if you succeed.The only similar setup I ever seen was from an aquarist Bob Goemans.
Also the acidity part. I used only cocofibre for background and planting because its PH neutral.just to reduce the risk.

 

[ahiggins]

Well. Bigger the risk the bigger the prize if you succeed.The only similar setup I ever seen was from an aquarist Bob Goemans.
Also the acidity part. I used only cocofibre for background and planting because its PH neutral.just to reduce the risk.

I could see this working if you ran separate piping and pools for fresh and saltwater but unless you’re using saltwater species, your plants won’t last long. I hope you prove me wrong though

 

[Metalreefer]

Finally i got the rest of my plants.
Pinguicula ehlersiae
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
Tillandsia capitata 'peach'
ionantha var. stricta
usneoides

 

[Metalreefer]

And everything is planted.

So from now on I will put some moss slurry on the back wall to see if it will come out.
Also If all the plants will survive and will do well. I think at the beginning of August or sometime before,I will put the reef inside.
I am total beginner in this topic so lets hope it will work out good.

 

[F i s h y]

I will be following along. Shame on all the nay sayers and there "vast amount" of knowledge telling you it won't work, I don't see where they have set up anything even remotely close.
I love this idea. I love that you have forged ahead even with the roadblocks you have had. @Metalreefer good for you. Im very eager to see how this goes. Let me know if there is any way I can help.

 

[Krzydmnd]

sir, this looks fabulous! I just recently started a viv w/ dart frogs, and quickly became addicted to bromeliads, as well. If you are interested in broms, I know a great source with excellent pricing!

 

[Metalreefer]

yeah the worst thing when you go very small is that you cannot add too many things or it will be overcrowded very quick.There are some really nice bromelias for sure.I love the colours of the middle one the green with the red dots all over it.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Wow, this is a very unique build! I'll be following along as it progresses, this is too cool to miss. I especially got hooked when I saw you added a Ping, those have to be my favorite plants!
Good luck and God bless!

 

[Metalreefer]

I will be following along. Shame on all the nay sayers and there "vast amount" of knowledge telling you it won't work, I don't see where they have set up anything even remotely close.
I love this idea. I love that you have forged ahead even with the roadblocks you have had. @Metalreefer good for you. Im very eager to see how this goes. Let me know if there is any way I can help.

And even I planned carefully a lot ahead still I just learning and see what should i have done differently. for the moment the evaporation of the waterfall is a big question. As i looked it runs out of water in a day. That means if I want to "suprise myself" with one more micro ATO I can put inside then I can run it 0/24 ,unless I need to top it up 2x a day. what is a big nono.

 

[Metalreefer]

Roly-poly adventures.

 

[RMS18]

I made one like this a little over a year ago. I went fresh water. Added a few female koi Bettas, bonsai, duckweed and moss. By far the lowest maintenance tank I have.

 

[Krzydmnd]

are they Pakat Betta? Beautiful fish! I just received my male from liveaquaria this week, I love him! not as flashy at first glance as a half moon, etc... but so cool. The spots are actually scales that shimmer in the light when he swims. Still trying to get a decent pic of him... sorry to hijack thread, as well. eek.!

 

[RMS18]

are they Pakat Betta? Beautiful fish! I just received my male from liveaquaria this week, I love him! not as flashy at first glance as a half moon, etc... but so cool. The spots are actually scales that shimmer in the light when he swims. Still trying to get a decent pic of him... sorry to hijack thread, as well. eek.!

They were sold to me as female koi from coastgem in California. They look very similar. I have 3 females in there.

 

[Metalreefer]

Ah I love those setups. Especially that Koi Betta. So cool.

 

[Metalreefer]

So a bit update.
I tried the waterfall. And my setup is leaking. So much effort for this . So Looks like the waterfall and the fogger will be off limit unless i redone the whole build... But i dont think so i will do that. or im not sure yet. The problem is with the corrugated plastic I used for the base. Too much hassle to seal it and it didnt work out because these sheats got a very poor surface resistance and the silicone dont stick really good to it.I should have build it from glass at the first place.That way it would be perfectly waterproof.Also the plastidip wont seal perfectly so instead of that i should have used 2 part epoxy on the middle part.I will decide soon how I will proceed from here. If i decide I chuck the waterfall then I got and Idea already how I use the fogger externally. It will be still a very unique build but not the first? far end in the hobby one.

 

[Metalreefer]

I ran a quick check, modification sketch etc. and it would be like 70quid more and weeks again to apply the modifications. It was a bit hard to make this build sucked me dry a bit with a many trying and failure, and to do again all the hussle.But i want to have this build so BADLY to make it work. Because there isnt anything like it out there. At least not what i know about.The pandemic is quite over so i will have even less time to make this.dang

 

[Metalreefer]

So the whole thing i want to do is just to good to " lets just finish at last" while the setup is leaking and the waterfall is not working so i decided to have my 3rd round.This time i will use glass. And clear epoxy to coat the middle part.
The lucky thing is I dont have to tear down the whole thing because the waterfall part is perfect. only the side and middle part has to be re done.Also i will change the look for the middle and i will try to go for more artistic and detailed look and modify a few things...

 

[sp1187]

sweet project.