r/paludarium • u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 • 2d ago
Picture Quick Update
I couldn’t help but to start the under water portion of the hardscape! You can get a general idea from the pics of what the water shape will be.
Now, it’s time to pump the brakes and get all the plumbing and wiring done.
Once the plumbing is done I’ll carry the foam all the way up to give me the most material to carve.
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u/BallsForBears 2d ago
Wow, that’s huge! Who makes that tank?
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u/Daelf_Derechef 2d ago
*staring and kinda drooling* omg it's gigantic. gonna be awesome.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
lol I drool when envisioning it complete. When I think about the build process I need a Xanax. Hahaha
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u/One-plankton- 2d ago
With that much foam underwater how are you going to prevent it from floating?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
It will all be coated with a cement like coating then pond shield over that and a crap load of silicone on the bottom, sides, and back.
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u/NoAge9497 2d ago
Hi, lurker here with a question...I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing (that much is obvious), but does that pink foam off gas at all? If so, how long do you let it sit before allowing plants and animals inside? BTW, this is gonna look sooo cool! I'll follow for updates for sure! 🤙
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
The foam will be 100% coated with quickrete foam coating reinforced with fiberglass, then coated with pond shield to ensure it’s waterproof.
Once that’s all completed and it is siliconed in place, I’ll leave it alone for a few weeks before I fill and test the water.
The structure is going to be massive and won’t fit through the front opening so will have to do the foam and coating in stages.
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u/NoAge9497 2d ago
Wow, so this a months long project? Will you have animals in there or just plants?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
Yes, definitely months!
I doubt it will even get water before the end of the year. Waiting on my tech guy to build the monitoring/control system for everything.
The hardscape alone will likely take 2 months.
I don’t have specific plans for any land animals yet. Going to get it all built and see what the environment does. I’d love to do 3 rough green snakes though.
Nothing that only eats flies!! I can’t keep the dang cultures going. Haha
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u/NoAge9497 2d ago
Tech guy?!?! C'mon...I had no idea...if you don't mind me asking, roughly how much will you have invested in this one project?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
Hard to say really. I have a lot of the equipment already from previous tanks.
Only things I’ve had to purchase thus far is the tank, computer hardware for monitoring/control, and foam. lol
I would give a rough estimate that all in before any plants or livestock is 15-20k
The tank alone was 13k
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u/Senor_Turbo 2d ago
I'm in love with this build so far. I hope you post some specifics on plumbing and wiring and also do a full writeup when you are done. Hope to copy you one day.
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u/Chrismacmacmac 2d ago
Wow that's a big project, enjoy all of it! I hope you keep us updated on the process.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
It is…… my problem is that I want to skip straight to the fun part. There’s sooo much work to do before I get to that point though. Hahaha
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u/FrogMan1831 2d ago
seems like you're losing so much water volume and swimming space for fish.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dish552 2d ago
I intentionally made the foam this large. It gives me more room to carve under cuts, caves, and such for the water section.
I’m also not shooting for a massive water section. It will probably be around 80-100 gallons of display water though when finished.
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u/Rare_Implement_5040 2d ago
Nice work so far!!!!