Paludarium Q's.

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Darkness9876

AC Members
Aug 11, 2008
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No Where Kansas
So I haven't posted on here in a while but I've had a few problems with my paludarium.

For one it runs hot, about 84 degrees.

and secondly my plants (water) do okay but I want something a little better. I was thinking eco complete. My tank currently just has pea gravel. Where can you get this reasonably? My local shop wants $36 a bag and that seems outrageous.

So heres my question. Do you think that an airpump pump pumping into the water and just pumping air into a few spots in the top part of the tank will help lower the temp a bit? I have hooked up one line in the very top near the glass covers of the tank and its lowered the temp 2 degrees and has remained stable there. The air in my house is around 74 degrees constantly.


I did get my java fern to start growing on my waterfall finally. I put some of the ones that I bought for $.50 that alreadly looked half dead in the cracks of the slate about a month ago, I thought them all dead as all the leaves dried out and i removed them but couldn't extract the roots. Now I have 6-7 small java ferns growing out of the cracks. I really like the way its starting to grow in, makes it look much more natural.
 
pics please!

is your filter running hot? maybe it's clogged or worn. I have several small tanks that the internal filter is the only heater, and they all stay fairly consistent. Lights too I suppose...

an air stone may help, but no more than breaking the surface with your filter return... you might think of a spray bar.

I have eco complete in a couple of tanks and flourite in a couple. I like both. They are both worth the expense over pea gravel. That said, I lust after black sand, which can be had a lot cheaper, and looks like it does a fine job holding the plants down. even though you'd be hard pressed to find black sand in a tropical environment, I think it looks really natural, in some odd way. at the very least, it makes the plants really pop.
 
My filter may be raising the temperature a degree or so but not as much as I'm seeing. The filter itself is only about 5months old. It does need a good cleaning so I'm going to do that here in a minute, I'm also going to change the water, redo my airstone and put in 2 lines that blow on opposite sides of the tank.

Black sand is great, If it had a bunch of nutrients in it I would put it in there, however it has about as much nutrients as a piece of glass because thats basically what it is. I think I might go with either flourite or eco. I don't know yet.

Lights also are a problem, I need to make an angle iron stand to get it up off the covers. I measuered the temp there one day and it was 120* above the tank and 100 inside on the glass. My anoles that I used to have loved it.

I'll get back to you on the pictures and the results of the air pump and stone.
 
flourite is practically crushed slate. eco complete seems like some sort of ceramic cinder or something. I doubt either have a benefit to plants besides their consistency, after 3 months. the nutrients are going to come from your water column and fertilizers in the long run. I wouldn't worry about it so much in a paludarium.

in terms of heat... before I got to welding, I'd try a fan.
 
I have a triple tube t-8 fixture sitting directly on the tank.

I ran an experiment by turning the lights off and it cooled down considerably above water, however the water stayed at its usual 84* temperature. I only left the lights off for a 1/2 day though. I imagine that the water temperature if the Light was raised 4" would drop. I think what keeps the water hot even when the lights are off is the insulating effect of the glass/plexiglass/ and dirt around it. Plus the amazing heat retention properties of water.

I shall try my experiment again but leave the lights off for 2 days to see what happens. The tank should still get plenty of light from the room.
 
Hmmm... it seems like you may have a couple of options. First, your could try running pc fan(s) across your lights. A single exhaust fan just kinda shoved under my hood cools my 10gal tank with a 27w PC fixture down from 80f to slightly less than 76f.

What size tank is this again? You may not even really need three t-8 fixtures to get the light levels that are really necessary. You could try removing the middle bulb for a week and seeing how things go.

Another option would be(especially in combination with a fan) would be to place something at the ends(and probably somewhere in the middle) of your fixture to raise it an inch or so above the tank. That coupled with a fan may be enough to drop your temperatures sufficiently.

Get us some pics and good luck
 
Its a 90g breeder. So if I remember right its 28 tall x 48 long x 24 wide.

I think I will just weld up the stand. We already have all the materials I just have to do it. It will be made of aluminum so that it will disipate heat even better.

I have to go to work but I'll try and get pics of it tonight.

I'm glad my pothos has started growing. It has put on 11 leaves in the past week and a half. I bought one of those bendy vines becaus I felt sorry for my frog not having many places to climb, Now I see him perched up there quite a bit and the pothos is training to it very well and sending roots into it and down into the water.
 
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Sorry about picture quality I am no camera genius.

But thats my 90g.

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http://i714.photobucet.com/albums/ww145/Platinumflamepyro/Terrarium/DSCN0231.jpg
 
I am sure the pictures do not do the tank justice, nice work. What are you keeping in there?
 
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