What did I build now? updated Dec.1.2008

[chefkeith]

I took my old rivertank out of retirement today. It's been sitting in my garage for about 2 years, so I thought it was time I made some use of it.

After all this time I finally figured out that it would make a perfect hood for my paludarium and I could just put my canopy with the lights on top of that.

I just need to cut out a large door in the front and redo the water mister so that it is at the top and out of the way.

Now my emersed plants will have much more room to grow and I can probably add some taller plants, like the Peace Lily that I had before.

[chefkeith]

I finished cutting out the doors and re-doing the water mister.


Success. The spray covers more area than before. Plants will now have the opportunity to grow upwards.


A closer look at the water mist bar-

[Diana]

What material did you make the upper part from?

[chefkeith]

The old tank is acrylic. What you are seeing is some light diffusers laying on top of the acrylic.
I put the diffusers there a few days ago because a compact flourescent light bulb died. I'm fairly sure the reflection off the acrylic caused the bulb to over heat and crack. With the diffuser the light doesn't reflect back at the bulb and it seems to be cooler now. I also have a fan blowing at the hood which is helping.

[Diana]

I have noticed that acrylic does not seem to be as strong as glass, and the few make-shift lids I have of acrylic sag quite badly, especially where they are warm from the lights.

So the vertical part is actually an old tank? Interesting!

[chefkeith]

Yes, it was this old 90g tank that I built about 5 years ago, but now it's just flipped over.



Acrylic will warp like crazy if it's not braced. The only thing that might warp is the doors.

[mack]

Hi,
Have you got any fish stocked in your wonderful looking tank?
mac

[chefkeith]

There are 5 kuhli loaches, 8 bristlenose pleco's, about 20 bristlenose fry, and 4 boesmani rainbow juvi's. Also 100 or so cherry shrimp and a few hundred Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

I try to make this paludarium a nice habitat for the snails and shrimp because I believe they are important part of the ecosystem. My clown loaches are in the other tanks, otherwise they'd eat up all the snails and shrimp.

Here's a video of my 4 tank, 350 gallon system-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-lbdVYZkgU

[mack]

Hi,
Your tank set-ups on the move is nice.
mack

[chefkeith]

Thank you

[chefkeith]

Made a few upgrades to the paludarium. Since I lost 2 light bulbs due to overheating in my old canopy hood (@ $25 per bulb), I decided to build a new lighting enclosure. This new enclosure has a 55w cp light in each of the back corners and a 95W cp light in the front center. There is enough room for a small fan underneath it too.



And a short video of the upgrades over the last few months-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20_vLjQMXMs

I also put in a new overflow, but I'll save that for some other time.

[Keith Wolcott]

Very nice chefkeith!!! Great video. The lighting enclosure with the power strip and timers is really nice. You've inspired me. I am using several small power strips and I need to improve the situation. Where did you get your large power strip?

Also, how fast is water being pumped through your paludarium to your other aquariums?

[Ashleigh]

Chefkeith, your posts always fascinate me!

Its looking great, I look foward to more pics


Ashleigh

[wasserscheu]

Great paludarium and video. I love paludariums. Great job with creating more space.
The Japanese like to have roots stick out of the water ...

[chefkeith]

Thanks for the compliments all. I appreciate it.

Where did you get your large power strip?

I ordered it somewhere on the internet a few years ago. I forgot where. I bought 2 of them, but the other one shorted out the 1st time I used it. If I remember correctly they were about $30 each. It is on the cheap side quality wise. I'll probably look for something better in the future with GFCI.

Also, how fast is water being pumped through your paludarium to your other aquariums?

It's variable. It depends on how clean the filter pad is on the return pump in the sump. When the filter pad is clean, it peeks out at 150 gph of actual water. 120 gph after 1 day; 90 gph after 2 days; 60 gph after 3 days, and on day 4 it's usually clogged. I usually change the filter pad every other day just to be safe.

It doesn't seem like much flow, but it is plenty since this is running 24/7. It's main purpose is to reduce nitrates, thus reducing water changes. Increasing the flow rate won't decrease the nitrates any better. With the paludarium I'm able to keep the nitrates at around 20 ppm rather easily and I'm feeding my clown loaches about twice as much as before. I'd guess that it reduces the nitrates by about 15 ppm on this 350 gallon system.

Funny thing is the water company raised my rates about 15% because residents like myself are not using enough water. Bastards.