Hello all.
I’m a long time hobbyist fountain maker and an off and on keeper of reptiles and amphibians since I was a wee lad.
I’m embarking on an ambitious project to build a multi environment paludarium, connected by a running fountain (my goal is to create a desert environment with a small spring where the spring then runs into two part swamp environment and finally a purely aquatic environment.
I DO plan to keep different animals in the different environments (I even plan to make a river bank burrow for my hamster)… but before everyone crucifies me, I’m planning to make sure the animals remain isolated from (and largely unaware of) one another, except for the running water, and YES I know MANY amphibians are poisonous to other animals. I’m going to do all my homework to make sure I’m a good small critter daddy. I’ll post videos and pics of the build as I go through it (I’m still in the materials assembling phase) and I’ll be open to animal safety feedback as I do.
My question is about safe materials to use for making the water ways. I don’t want to use something that leaches toxins into the water and harms my critters.
I have some Instant Ocean HoldFast Epoxy, which I thought will be good for gluing rocks and stuff in place (and which is “fish safe”), but I really want something like a grout, cement or modelling clay. There’s stuff I’ve used for fountain making in the past, but it usually has chemical epoxies and resins in it that I don’t think I want to expose the animals to.
Any ideas?
One consideration, although it might not have the look you were hoping for, is to use the rubber liner material for outdoor fish ponds. Basically you take it back far enough and high enough that there’s no chance of the water running over the edges, then let your plants grow over it. You will also get a lot of moss/algae growing directly on the rubber. And they make a spray foam for ponds which is dyed black but is safe for fish (once it cures), you can use that to shape the banks of the spring. as it wanders through. Note that you could also use this spray foam to fully shape your waterways, then cover it with a coat of cement to seal it up water-tight.
In case you haven’t thought about this aspect yet, one of the things you will need to consider is that your critters are going to knock dirt, sticks, and plants into the water, which will get washed downstream. You will want to have some way of filtering the water before it dumps into the aquatic pool or it will be muddy in a month. Note that there are a lot of plant roots that help pull minerals and contaminants out of the water, but it would have to be flowing really slowly to fully clear the water before it hits the final basin. It might be useful to have some standing pools along the way though, you can arrange it so heavier materials have a tendency to sink to the bottom of these pools which makes cleanup a lot easier.
Also do some reading on bog filters – this is a technique where you have a heavily-planted area that the water flows through or percolates up through, and again the plant roots do the heavy cleaning, however this method will also trap the particulates. This technique is used on fish ponds for a completely natural filtration system with zero chemicals involved. I use a combination of this (huge growths of trailing plants, irises and grasses around the pond and stream) along with filters that promote beneficial bacterial growth to handle all of the filtration in my pond. Not only does it keep the water crystal clear, but the fish love nibbling at the roots.
Sounds like you have a huge project ahead of you! I’m curious how large you plan to make this in order to keep all the areas completely separate, keeping the excess humidity out of the desert section is probably going to be a challenge.
Thank you for the input. The rubber liner isn’t what I had in my brain, but it’s not a terrible idea. I’ll think about it. It is something I could kind of shape with the Instant Ocean.
Do you have any idea the name/brand of that spray foam? Maybe I could use a combination of that, rocks, tile, rubber liner, Instant Ocean and aquarium sealant.
I have thought about the “critters knocking dirt in” factor. I have a big ass pond filter and some aquarium filters. I think my waterway will be too fast for bog filters. My current design has one standing pool in the swamp section.
My space for this is about six feet by two feet by six feet… so pretty big. I’m still pondering the water flows and separation mechanisms (I started with the idea of separate tanks connected by glass tubes with mesh screens to allow water through but not critters. But I’ve progressed to something a little less spread out. The final solution I think will be partitions inside the habitat (I’ve been practising my glass cutting).
I agree about the excess humidity in the desert section. Maybe the water there will partially flow underground (though I need to think about the safety of any scaly residents of that section).
There are many brands, but I found this one right away on Amazon… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DL0XJU/
Wow so six feet tall? Hope nobody hurts themselves falling off a tree! I was thinking earlier that a 125 gallon aquarium would make a nice space for what you’re describing, but yeah, some critters really like to climb.
Hmm I wonder if you could use fans blowing across heat lamps to dry the air in the desert area?
None of the individual habitats will be six feet tall. This is basically the current design:
Ohhhh… Yeah you definitely have a lot of work ahead of you. I have a unit I built years ago where I tried to do just a land and water combination, and continually ran into problems with it. Your project has actually got me thinking that maybe now I could make something that works, which would be great. I think my wife is tired of seeing it sitting there empty. 😄