Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages

Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages
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75g Rainbowfish
46g Paludarium
29g community tank

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46g Paludarium Construction

After a very long delay, I'm finally writing up the construction details of my 46g Paludarium. I didn't take as many step-by-step pictures as I intended to, but I think I have enough for everyone to get the general idea.
Materials Used

Aquarium safe Silicone Adhesive : I used stuff specifically sold for aquarium use. Others have had no problems using a general purpose silicone. The general purpose stuff is definitely cheaper, but you need to be sure you find stuff that does not have an "anti-mildew" agent added to it. The anti-mildew agent is toxic to fish.
2 Part Epoxy : I used a product labelled "Everfix Epoxy Resin", sold in a package of two 1 pint cans. The label reads "Multi-Purpose resin for fiberglassing, molding, laminating and repairing". I purchased it at my local Home Depot. Others have had good success using "West Systems" epoxy. If my local Home Depot had carried the West Systems stuff, I would have used it, but the Everfix worked perfectly.
Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive : I used this to join the pieces of foam together. I don't think its fish-safe, but once sealed with the epoxy, it doesn't cause any problems.
Pink insulation foam. The stuff I used was Owens Corning Extruded Foam. It's sold at Home Depot for home insulation. It comes in very long sheets (3-4 feet wide, 10 feet long, 2 inches thick).
Paint : The type of paint isn't critical. Most spray-paint would dissolve the foam, but a coat of epoxy over the foam first protects it. Likewise, a coat of epoxy over the paint will seal it, making it aquarium safe. I used standard cheap spray-paint.
Sand : A good variety of colors and sizes makes it look more realistic. I used sand from a local river. Ranged from fine sand up to small pebbles. Needs to be completely dry. I baked mine in an oven at 200F for about 3 hours to make sure it was completely dry.
Cork Bark : I got this at a pet store that specializes in reptiles. Cork Bark is easy to work with, and looks great.
Driftwood : I collected mine locally.

I started with lots of measurements. I first cut a piece of foam to cover the back of the tank. I cut another piece to cover the bottom half, and another piece to form the flat land. Several other pieces were cut to build up a waterfall area. The foam pieces were glued together using the construction adhesive.

After the adhesive set, Started shaping the foam. I used a small hobby saw to do the rough shaping, and a dremel tool for the detailed shaping. I also test-fit the cork bark to figure out how best to arrange it.

In the bottom, along with various caves, I cut two openings. One for water to flow from the front area to the rear where it would be pumped into the filter, and the other to allow the filtered water to flow from the back to the front. To provide room for the filtration equipment, I attached several foam spacers that create about a 3"-4" space between the foam and the rear of the tank. The filtration will be discussed in more detail further down.

At this point, I test fit the foam structure into the 46g tank. The first real problem popped up. The original plan was that the foam structure would fit in the tank from one side to the other. But it wasn't possible to slide the completed structure into the tank due to the lip of the tank. This picture shows the test fitting, after I had cut about 2 inches off the left side:

I decided that the small 1" wide gaps at either side would be too likely to trap tank critters. So I ended up cutting one side about 6 inches shorter, so the left side curved around and met the back of the tank instead of the side. Along with fitting the foam to the tank, I also fit the pieces of driftwood to the foam. Portions of the foam were carved away to allow the wood to fit right into the land.
Once all the cutting and shaping was done, the next step is to seal the structure with epoxy. I strongly recommend getting a bunch of cheap brushes, so you can just throw away the brush after each epoxy application. The first coat of epoxy was probably the most time consuming. It had to completely seal the foam surface, front and back. While epoxy coating the rear, I placed small pieces of nylon window-screen material over the two holes used for the filtration system. I wanted to prevent critters from getting back into the filtration area.
Once the first coat of epoxy hardened, I applied a coat of spray paint. I used a grey/tan color
on the top half, and a grey/green color on the bottom. If I was doing it again, I'd use a more tan/brown color on the whole thing. Under aquarium lights, and my camera's flash, the bottom appears blue.
Once the first coat of paint was dry, I began creating the "rock" effect. This was done by applying a thin coat of epoxy, then pouring the river sand mixture over it. Once the epoxy hardened, any loose sand and gravel were brushed off. This process was repeated 3 or 4 times to build up a good layer of sand and gravel on the land area. This process was VERY messy.

This picture was after just one coat of sand/gravel. The upper half, left side didn't get any sand/gravel since it was going to be covered with the cork bark.
Once the sand/gravel covering was done, the next step was the attach the cork bark. The bark was attached using the aquarium-safe silicone. I also used a little silicone to attach moss in between the pieces of bark.

Filtration System

The filtration system for the paludarium was completely home-made. It used a Rio 1700 pump to move the water (overkill in size, a smaller pump for this size setup would be a good idea). The filtration was done using small home-made filter box. The idea was to have it be easily maintained.

In this picture of the rear of the tank you can see all parts of the filtration system.
At the right edge of the shot, you can see the Rio pump. It is in an area formed by the main foam wall and two spacers attached to the foam wall, and sealed to the tank using Aquarium silicone. Water flows into the pump compartment thru a hole in the foam wall. A piece of window screen keeps the critters out of the pump area.
The pump lifts the water up to the plexi filter box. The water flows thru the filter box, and then flows down to a spray-bar in the "clean water" compartment behind the wall. It then flows thru another hole in the foam wall, also covered with a piece of window screen.

This picture shows a close-up of the filter box. Water is pumped in at the right side of the box. It flows thru a sponge, then thru holes in the plexiglass partition into the center compartment. That compartment is filled with bio-balls to provide biological filtration. Then thru another plexiglass partition into the last compartment. For the first month or so, I put a bag filled with activated carbon in the last compartment. The idea was to remove any chemicals left over from the construction process. The last compartment has a fitting in the bottom, where the spraybar attaches. Not seen in this picture, the last compartment also has a hole in the side, a little over 1/2 way up. That hole lets water escape and flow to the waterfall feature carved into the foam.
The filter box was constructed from 1/8" clear plexi (acrylic). The acrylic pieces were joined using an acrylic solvent, which melts the pieces together. It isn't critical that this box be water-tight, since any leaks would just leak into the main tank. But as long as your acrylic cuts are nice and straight, it's easy to make it water tight.

This picture shows a close-up of the filter box installed in the tank. The hole that feeds the water fall is visible here.