New 55 Gallon Paludarium Construction Journal.

[NickBoudin]

Well guys, here it is! My 55 gallon paludarium construction journal. I might be new here, but this isnt my first time making paludarium. In this journal I'll take you through all the steps of making it, i'm gong to keep it as updated as possible.

11/6/07

Well today has been my first day of "construction". I purchased a 48" Shop light fixture from The Home Depot. Along with a 6 foot peice of PVC Pipe and fittings. For lights I purchased a pair of 48" 32 Watt, 'Philips Daylight Deluxe T8 6500k 2800 Lumens' Bulbs.

I also bought PVC Cement. My total came up too $35.85 total.

Tonight I may cut my PVC and Cement my fittings to proper length, and size, but we'll see. I dont want to really rush into it until I get my hood, and cabinate finished.



Here's a picture of the tank, with just one bulb in the fixture. The one that's laying infront of the tank, is the one with the broken prong. You can read my story about that, here - http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33613

I may update tonight, with the plumbing construction.

Thanks everyone, I hope to keep this as updated as possible!

[NickBoudin]

Well, I just finished the plumbing section. It's very very straight forward.


Here's all my parts. 4, 17" Peices, and 2 1.5" Peices. 6 90's and 2 threaded reducers.


I had to dremel out the above PVC reducers, because they were threaded. My Home Depot didnt have non-threaded, so I decided to do it this way.


All layed out, and cleaned, ready to be attatched.


All peices are attatched, and soon they'll be dry.

These 2 peices will be hung over the back of my 55 gallon tank, and hidden with a GS, Drift wood, and Cork board, background. There's also going to be a water feature, or 2.

The point of this plumbing is to hide it on the water side, from the viewer. The 1/2 inch reducers on the end of the pipe will be connected to flexable PVC and ran to my XP3 filter.

[cichniss]

Interesting, i cant wait to watch this project progress. Thanks for sharing.

[AaronAcker]

wow, and I thought I was genus just having an external filter! lol... Looks good so far, am very interested to see how your plumbing works when all is installed.

[NickBoudin]

Haha, Thanks! Yeah, I hope that this method of filteration will work just fine. I still have to make some sort of "pre-filter" so that I dont suck anything big into the main filter body. Also, last night I was thinking about the design, and I may have to re-make one of the sections of plumbing. I need to do so, because without the normal XP3 plumbing, there's no way to prime the line. I have a great idea on how to fix that situation, and I probably will soon.

Thanks guys! :lol:

[NickBoudin]

11/8/07

I decided to re-make on of my peices of plumbing. I went out to Home Depot, and picked up a few more things..

Light Egg Crate.
Fiberglass Mesh Screen.
PVC "T".
PVC Threaded End.
PVC End Cap.



This is my new peice of plumbing, compared to the old one posted above, you can see I added all the PVC components. This way, I can unscrew the end cap, and use a funnel to fill the tube with water to prime my XP3 filter.

I also bought a sheet of plexiglass. I cut it to size, and started shaping it with a blowtorch to suit my needs. After an hour of mesing with it, and 2 unfortunate cracks.



Here's a picture of it in the tank.

I'll fix the cracks later with silicone. All of the plexi will be covered in rock, or sand. So apperance was to make it as un-manmade as possible.

I hope you all enjoy so far. If you read my thread, please post your thoughts!

[AaronAcker]

cool. Like the plexiglass divider idea... Hope it works out well..

[kwazarr]

If the edges of the crack are in close proximity to eachother, you could use methylene chloride or IPS Weld-On 40 (I think it's 40...u can check the website and call them to find out the best for aquarium use) to bond them back together! The methylene chloride bonds the pieces together almost instantly (2-3 mins); whereas the Weld-On will take a little longer (about 20+ mins). The other awesome thing is that once they're cured, they are completely non-toxic, which ur frogs will appreciate you for! Oh yeah, you would likely be able to find those adhesives at industrial plastics shops!

Ross.

[dartboy2]

Looks great so far!

[NickBoudin]

Originally Posted by kwazarr

If the edges of the crack are in close proximity to eachother, you could use methylene chloride or IPS Weld-On 40.

Thanks soo much, I'll check that out!