Paludarium Construction (Starting Out)

I’ve been looking for a way to use some of the random items I’ve collected the past few years to help my miracle fruit flower and form fruit. Two such items include a 55 gallon aquarium with stand and 150 watt HPS grow light, both acquired cheaply as used items on craigslist. The problem with combining these two into a mini-greenhouse is that, my usual trick of enclosing a space with plastic film to increase the local humidity would be a major fire hazard. The light gets incredibly hot and it is not worth risking it. Instead, I’m going to attempt a project that I’ve been considering for some time, creating a paludarium-like vivarium. For those not up on their Latin, a plaudarium is like a terrarium except that it mixes both water and land elements. I say “paludarium-like” because I am going to divide the 55 gallon into a water section (containing fish, a waterfall, and drip wall) and a land section (where the miracle fruit and other plants I’m pushing to fruit will reside).  In a true paludarium, the two merge with no cirect split, like in a bog. This project will combine two of my favorite hobbies: fish keeping and tropical plant culture.

The first step was to bring the aquarium and stand up from the basement and find a suitable location. I have a wall that is rather empty and about the perfect size for the set up and so it was an easy choice. Once that was set up, I scrubbed out the tank and began building a light stand. I used a similar principle to my previous light stand but this time, I used nails and reinforced the cross beam to the stand legs with a few pieces of  ~1 foot long 2x4 scrap.  It’s not the best example of my wood working skill but it is steady and the HPS light hangs quite nicely. The overhang on the right is intentional as I hope to hang my spider plant from this side. In order to keep the light in the enclosure, I used a few spare 3’x4’ white, tri-fold poster boards as light shields. For the two on the front, I attached Velcro strips so that they might be easily taken on and off.  One of the front sections covers the pond area and one covers the land area. It isn’t a perfect solution to keeping the light in but it will be safer with the grow light and does a fairly decent job. Also, the glowing look of the set up, all closed up, is pretty neat!

Next, I ventured to home depot and obtained a few pieces of acrylic and some aquarium silicone (and 2 cans of “Great Stuff” foam and a ½” ball valve for later…). I cut the acrylic so that I had 2 9”x12” pieces and a few pieces left for making a lid for the two sections. My aquarium has a cross beam half way through (24”) and so, each “lid” piece fits between these sections.  Taking one of the 9”x12” pieces, I siliconed a cross section.  This should help hold the water in the pond section and help keep the land section from flooding (crosses fingers). This will be further reinforced later.

In order to create the waterfall, I’ll be using granite rubble that I have laying around as well as “Great Stuff” foam, sand, epoxy, and egg crate. The egg crate acts as an anchor and helps give form to the whole system.  A pump will sit in the back left corner of the pond and pump the water up to the top “waterfall” box. The ball valve in this box will help control the flow from the pump.  Also in the waterfall box will be an ultrasonic fogger that will create a cool mist effect (and also help with keeping the humidity up). My plan is to have the water exit the box by gravity through two different routes.  One, along the left side of the tank, will be a waterfall (keeping the water surface agitated) and one the exits the right side of the box that acts as a drip wall with the water flowing out and down several chutes before it drops back into the pond. The bottom will be lined with aquarium gravel that I’d gotten a while ago for free on craigslist.  I’m not sure how best to aquascape the tank yet but a few lives plants and central rock would be nice.  I estimate the total volume of water in the pond to be just shy of 10 gallons. Using small net cups, I plan to have a few spaces to plant some plant specimens along the waterfall/drip wall.  There will also be a small internal filter to help keep the fish healthy and the water clean.  Here are some pictures of my progress and stay tuned for future updates! Also, please feel free to leave any comments and feedback below.