Paludaria

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Faramir

The twit from over the pond.
Nov 20, 1998
738
0
0
Chesterfield UK
Anyone ever kept a Paludarium? I have one at the moment, but I'm going to revamp it because I don't have the depth of water I'd like.

Because I don't have a complete physical barrier between the water and the land I keep carnivorous plants on the land section, which relish boggy conditions. Before you ask, there is no intention for any animals (except live food...) to be kept that will venture onto the land - it's purely for plants.

What I'm asking here is about lighting. When revamped, the paludarium will not have a lid, as the land level will be near the top of the tank, and the plants will be growing out the top. I'm going to have a shelf a foot or 18" higher that can house a tube underneath. This is, of course, a lot further than the usual distance from the lighting to the water. Do folk have any recommendations about the wattage that will be required for the distance from this light to the plants, both on land and in the water?

Ta.
 

RTR

AC Members
Oct 5, 1998
5,806
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Braddock Heights, MD
IME, the carnivorous plants need higher humidity that will be offered by an open top system. Perhaps some other plant choices would be better?

In my river tanks I use only the most undemanding crypts, java moss, and java fern submerse - not just distance from the tubes is involved, but heavy shading from the emerse plants as well.
 

Faramir

The twit from over the pond.
Nov 20, 1998
738
0
0
Chesterfield UK
Thanks for that; I'll take that into consideration. I'm hoping to maintain good humidity by having the plants growing through a blanket of live sphagnum moss (living where I do, I could just grab handfuls of it off the moors, but this is quite rightly illegal ;) ). If necessary, I'll spray them with a plant sprayer. They are non-negotiable because as far as The Wife is concerned they're the justification for having the paludarium.

Inhabitants, btw will be Killifish - I have a pair of A. gardneri and Epiplatys sp. The idea is to plant the bank with Hygrophila, because I've found it grows emersed in shallow water, and Vallis in the deep water section, allowed to grow so that the leaves float on the surface. This, I am hoping, combined with a lot of bogwood for retreats, will subdue the light and provide an environment suitable for the fish.

Criticisms or comments welcomed; I want this to work.
 

Faramir

The twit from over the pond.
Nov 20, 1998
738
0
0
Chesterfield UK
The bog ones - flytraps, sundews, pitchers (not tropical pitchers, the more temperate ones).

I am aware of the fact that these are not tropical plants; if necessary they will be overwintered elsewhere, but at the moment they still seem pretty happy, although I've progressively shortened the day length for them.
 

wetmanNY

AC Members
Your killis will live longer in this unheated tank.

Lots of distilled water in that mister: they're sensitive to dissolved salts or fertilizer.

I hope you'll keep to one species of killifish and be able to establish a self-sustaining population.

Humidity issues: We Americans forget how the fog rolls through your unheated UK drawing rooms, where the moisture condenses on the inside of the windows on a warm spring morning, drips slowly down the old oak panelling and softens the ancient joists under the floors... heh heh heh heh
 

RTR

AC Members
Oct 5, 1998
5,806
0
0
Braddock Heights, MD
Over here we have access commercially to "long-grained sphagnum moss" as a commercial floriculture product -this is nothing more than the surface sphagnum, dried. This is what I have always used as substrate for bog plants - sometimes over gravel, sometimes just sphagnum. Given low to moderate mineral-content water, the sphagnum will revive quite nicely into the living moss. Any salt or mineral build-up and it will die, but so will the insectivores.
 

Faramir

The twit from over the pond.
Nov 20, 1998
738
0
0
Chesterfield UK
Wetman - Our water (unusually for the UK) is soft. It's slightly alkaline (they must do something to it at the processing plant) but soon acidifies in the presence of peat.

I've got the plants and the moss growing quite nicely in the prototype tank at the moment; this is set up to allow the aquarium water to percolate into the plants' substrate to keep it waterlogged. I had concerns that nitrates from the water would harm the plants, but it hasn't happened, and the sundews and flytraps are both reproducing (She Who Must Be Obeyed thinks that the baby sundew plants are "cute").

On the killis, I was advised that different species would cause fewer aggression problems than having all one species - was that information wrong?

RTR - sounds pretty much like the stuff I've got.

Anyway, you mean your fog doesn't condense on the inside of your windows? I know you were having a laugh, but actually Sheffield is quite foggy - something to do with the moors to the west, which are our entrance for International Year of the Swamp. Theorticially, they mark the main watershed of northern England. In reality, they don't shed much water - it likes to stay where it lands. ;)

Thanks all.
 
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