[HansV]

Maybe it is interesting for you to see how we built our paludariums. I am member of the Dutch Dendrobatidae association and wrote for them how to built an hexagon Paludarium. The only difficulty for you is that it is in Dutch, but there are a lot of pictures. Please enjoy.
http://www.gifkikkerportaal.nl/Gifkikker/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=197

Kind regards, Hans Verbrugge

 

[HansV]

The measurements are 71 x 40 x 80 cm hight without lighthood. It's a little one. I have also a corner Paludarium from 100 x 100 x 100 cm and 80 x 50 x 110 cm. On the URL page in the gallery is also a drawing with the dimensions of the glass plates. Stand on it and click with the left mouse button. You can see it bigger. Thats also for the pictures.

 

[HansV]

Scott,

That's correct. The owner of Vivaria is a friend of my, and with the help of him i have built it to show how it is to be done.

 

[HansV]

Robert,

It's natural moss comming out of the peatbricks. Normaly you can begin with mosses out of the forrest. After a while you remove it pease by pease to give the natural moss a change to grow. Therefore i don't understand why the most of you don't use peatbricks. The backwall is made of thick cocospanels, fully irrigated and works as a biolagical filter. On the backwall are sticked the orchids, bromeliads and ferns (with sate sticks) and also the mosses are growing there. So the vivarium is complete selfsupporting. The only thing you must do is to fill it with RO water and so now and then wipe the windows. Of course you have to feet your frogs. This is of course a show paludarium and not a breeding tank.

 

[HansV]

Scott,

Vivaria stopped with tree fern root for the backwalls for some reasons. First of all fern root is a little asic. Second, fern root must be solt with Cites papers. Thirt, they will spare the rainforrest. They have devellopt the cocos panel for the back wall because its neutrall, and i know there is comming somthing new with the use of cocos for the backwall.
I don't understand why you have to renewall the peat bricks. In one of my paludariums it's more than 10 years old. I think that you can do so long with it because of the irrigated backwall (biofilter) and the good quality of the peat bricks.

 

[HansV]

Scott,

So as you can see i live in The Netherlands. If i put a scoop in my garden for about 30 cm (12 inch) i have peat. In this area (Amsterdam) we live on peat. So if whe have to built something we need wooden poles of 18 mtr to built something on. My home is standing on 24 poles. We are surrounded with water and we are under waterlevel behind a dike. (polder) So peat is for us not something to care of. :wink: I have heared from Vivaria that he nows you. In the past you had some conversation by mail.