[yours]

It's a marginal, so you can even put the roots in the water -- albeit shallow -- and it'll grow nicely! I have a few of them in my tanks

 

[megamax42]

Thanks! I'll definitely be stocking the tank with that, now my goal is to find terrestrial plants that grow well in about 1.5-2 inches of substrate, any ideas are very appreciated.

I finally found a coating/sealant for the grout, Rust-Oleum Parks Super Glaze, although I placed the order on the 18th and still hasn't even shipped out yet so I'm getting really antsy.

 

[megamax42]

Apparently the glaze is back-ordered , so I'm currently trying to see if I want to cancel the order and buy something else, I know I've said this many times before but any advice on sealant is very much appreciated, looking for a paint-on epoxy/sealer that will withstand constant submersion.

 

[megamax42]

I finally found something (for the billionth time), and ordered a gallon of it:
Waterproof Sealer for wood,masonry,roofs,metal

 

[megamax42]

The sealer I ordered finally came in! Also did some experimenting with coco fiber and grout last night.

 

[megamax42]

Here's some pictures of the tank after the first coat of sealer dried. Still haven't fully sealed the tank because there's more grouting and great stuff work to be done so there's no fts yet but here's some closeups of it

 

[megamax42]

So far I'm really happy with the sealer though, easy to apply, easy to clean and comes out looking great. In quite a few spots it gathered on individual coco fibre strands and looks like droplets of water

Here's a couple pics but it was tough to get a good shot of it. I'm also still failing at taking a good fts with the current lighting so I'll probably take a video later and post that.

 

[megamax42]

Just took a video of the paludarium after the new light arrived. Not sure how I feel about the color, they sent 4x 6500k bulbs so I might look into replacing a couple. Sorry for the really dirty glass, I'm waiting on razor blades to clean up the leftover mortar mix. I also added some G.S. to the waterfall for a more realistic look. The blue led's are near the end of the video.

 

[megamax42]

Do you guys think I could get away without drainage holes? I was initially going to drill holes through the platform and planters however I was worried about what could get washed into the water, so I thought maybe I could bypass them with very careful waterings. What do you think?

 

[megamax42]

As for the water substrate I was thinking Flourite original for the color.

 

[megamax42]

Here's a video of it I took today, having the light on it made me see all the spots that need touching up but other than that it's almost ready for plants.

 

[megamax42]

Nighttime led's, although the camera I was using really hated the wavelength generated
I also went ahead and bought flourite original and dark so I can do some experimenting.

 

[megamax42]

Just ordered a heater as well:

 

[megamax42]

Got the filter in today, hooked everything up but not entirely happy with a couple things. The little pool next to the waterfall that has water coming entering at a drop a second (literally) has a spot near the back where the water is dripping onto the platform, that same spot also needs some grout so I'll post pictures once everything is finished

 

[highvoltagerob]

Looks good, some plants will really look good against that color background. I have a few fire bellys, they will use the entire tank and love it how many are you going to put in there?

 

[megamax42]

Thanks! Good to hear about their activity level, sounds like exactly what I wanted. I actually haven't decided yet but I was thinking maybe 4-6? What do you think?

 

[highvoltagerob]

I think that six would do good in there. Any idea what plants are going in?

 

[megamax42]

Cool! I don't have many ideas as far as terrestrial plants go, I know I want moss lining the platform near the edge of the water (to prevent substrate from being knocked into the water as much as possible) but that's about it. Probably some riccardia for the walls, various mosses around the water feature and some ferns for the back of the platform. Suggestions are very welcome

 

[megamax42]

I ran into a couple problems when I filled it up, the little pool to the left of the water feature (which slowly feeds the pool) had a low spot in the back where it was hard to reach. When it started filling up the water would drain backwards onto the platform instead of into the water portion, an obstacle I had for some reason not thought of when I was designing it. Thought I fixed it, filled it back up and there's still water back there! However it stayed the same level, so I tried draining the water portion and sure enough it drained from the platform, so there's a hole somewhere on it. I have it partially drained right now trying to dry out the platform so I can smother it in black silicone, since there will be soil over it anyways. Yesterday I added some of the flourite as well, will post pictures when everything settles.

Here's some pics now though to stay true to the title

Bottom of the tank; when I first started and used black great stuff I ended up spraying normal great stuff on top of it while it was still wet because I ran out of the dyed G.S., that black streak along the bottom is the black G.S. expanding underneath the white. I was mindblown at first to come to the tank the next day and see black G.S. oozing out of normal G.S. about a foot from where I sprayed it lol.

Flourite original and dark, original seems a little too light, dark seems a little too dark, hopefully combined it should just about match the grout.

Heater and filter, really love the quick disconnects that came with the eheim, ball valves so I can adjust the flow to the water feature if need be.

 

[hydrophyte]

Really cool! Plants will love it in there. Sorry if I missed it will you include fish in the water area?