Dear terrarium community,
I could really use some advice.
A few years ago, during the COVID lockdowns, I built myself a paludarium. Unfortunately, I no longer have any pictures from back then. Sadly, I struggled with keeping the plants alive, and on top of that, the wet soil eventually started to smell. I had only separated the water and soil using filter mats, which caused everything to become very swampy. My room started smelling like a jungle because the ventilation system was constantly drawing room air into the enclosure and exhausting the old air back into the room.
Because of this, I eventually drained it and turned it into a completely dry terrarium. However, even then, the plants continued to die despite having ventilation, an automatic watering system, and other measures.
It has now been sitting in my room for over a year, basically as a dead desert.
I finally have two weeks to do something about it, and I’m thinking about rebuilding it as a paludarium. My idea is to have the majority of the enclosure filled with water, with a smaller land area that is completely separated from the water using waterproof plastic.
The walls are made from expanding construction foam. Does anyone know whether this is safe when it is in direct contact with water? And if not, what would be a good way to seal it? For example, could I use some kind of aquarium-safe cement or another coating?
The enclosure is 130 cm long, 100 cm high, and 60 cm deep.
I’m also wondering what kind of animals I could keep in an environment consisting mostly of water, with a small land area and relatively high walls. I was thinking about shrimp, fish, and possibly vampire crabs, or perhaps geckos.
However, I also have some gaps around the doors. Does anyone know how I could fix those, or whether they could become a problem for the animals?
I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from people who have experience building paludariums or similar setups.
Thank you very much!
by VladimirsGs
4 Comments
Im not sure how safe the foam is, I’ve seen expanding pond foam used for similar things. Maybe you could use a layer if that for parts that come in contact with water? How high can you fill the water before jt reaches the doors? That may effect whag fish types you can have. Did you have springtails in the previous set up? I know not having those caused my smaller terrariums to fail. Im not sure how much that applies to larger ones but maybe the smell came from something molding or decomposing
https://preview.redd.it/91rn8zm87lih1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a7940fa355c122d14eecee7bd765d97fc8ace57
1year ago
When it was a terrarium I used a standard hood and a small aquarium light. Now I have added a long grow light as well so more light can reach the bottom of the tank (I don’t think lighting is the problem.)
Don’t think about animals until you have thriving plants.
Seal it and think terrarium, a sealed box is much easier to maintain. Less watering and less attention paid to it.