Yeah something like that. A mantella looks pretty much the same, and I'm not even convinced paludarium is the right word for mine, more like a mini ornamental aquaponic system, but it seems to fit the best.

Going back to complete step 3, plumbing.

Here you can see the return line which feeds the main return and two branch lines. The smaller branch line feeds the drip system, the larger branch line feeds the water fall.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150320_8.jpg


For now I've just connected the canister filter, it's a Fluval FX6. Later on I will be adding a UV sterilizer, an inline heater and probe holders for control of various operations.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150320_7.jpg


Here's a shot of the drip lines I ran. There's one main drip line that runs the top perimeter of the tank and essentially cascades down the rock keeping most pots wet. I also tee'd off that line and ran some dedicated lines to feed the larger pots. Valves will be added to these lines later to limit the flow a little more as it's pretty heavy right now, but for the time being the extra flow will help cure things up nicely. I also filled the pots with Hydrocorn for growing medium.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150320_4.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...150320_3_1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...m150320_10.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150320_2.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...rium150320.jpg

And that pretty much sums up step 3, plumbing is essentially done except the few extra options that will be added later down the road.

To clean things up I added some moss. I also filled the tank and started curing the concrete. No idea how long that will take but once the water clears up I'll start measuring pH. Here's the latest FSS.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...m150320_11.jpg

That is so kool :smile:

What critters are you planning on adding ?

You have done an awesome job so far. I am looking forward to seeing it once it's all completed!!

Nice work Steve, It's very impressive! can't wait till you put some livestock in there.

Looking awesome! Bet you're glad you didn't switch out to the blue 6200 mitras pucks now :)

You're a man of many talents brew. Looking simply amazing as usual.

Thanks guys. No real plans for livestock yet as I'm not very experienced in the fresh water and haven't done much research. Open to any suggestions for some fish that are good with plants and the theme, also things like vampire crabs caught my eye just don't know much about them. The main goal is to keep maintenance down, don't want anything that requires special feeding on a regular bases, the whole point of this transformation was to have something I can essentially leave unattended for weeks without issue.

I've seen Archerfish kept in Paludariums. They are an interesting species that are well suited to this style of aquarium.

Pisces had some cool looking little frogs. Black with yellow stripes. Don't recall the species though.That is looking very cool!

Yes, Mike also suggested Archerfish so they are on my list for sure if I can find purely freshwater species as appose to brackish.

I like the idea of keeping frogs, always wanted to but not sure they'll fit into my low maintenance requirements. If I could feed them something freeze dried with an automatic feeder then for sure but not sure that's really that feasible.

looks cool Steve, only question I have is can you have fish or critters using the hydroponic nutrient drip?

Steve

I don't think many chemicals are going to be used. But i'll let Steve chime in on that one. The dirty water from fish is usually pretty good for nutrients to start with.

It's an aquaponic system. The tank water feeds the drip and recirculates. The nutrients are provided by the fish waste. Other additives may be added if needed just like a standard planted tank.

I don't know if theyr suitable for this kind of tank. But poison dart frogs would be cool in a tank like that. They'd lay eggs in the water and you'd get tadpoles

It would be a suitable environment for dart frogs however everything I've read on these suggests they require regular feedings and only take live food. For that reason I've crossed them off the list of possibilities as although I'd love to keep them I just can't commit to their feeding requirements. I really have no interest in keeping crickets or breeding fruit flies.

I do appreciate the recommendation though and would also appreciate any others.

You can do lower maintenance frogs like red eyed tree frogs and red legged running frogs. Both are easy to care for and are totally ok with eachother in the same environment. Also can be put with lots of other species as well.

What do they eat?

Very cool project, nicely done.

Thanks Greg.

Those are dendrobates Tinctorius (dart frogs), As of last december dart frogs are not illegal to keep as pets in alberta. Debating if they know about the law yet. Besides that, tank looks amazing.

I think you got your words mixed up. As of December 2014 dart frogs are banned in Alberta. Not sure why...seems well intentioned, but ill-informed.

So added some livestock, just a bunch of random stuff. Will see what does well and what doesn't then clean things up a little. Some of the plants have been in there now for over 3 weeks and all seem to be doing well.

FSS

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150424_2.jpg

For fish I added 4 discuss, 4 gouramis and 3 clown loaches. All seem to be doing well.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...rium150424.jpg

A couple more views

From the top
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150424_4.jpg

A little further back
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...um150424_3.jpg

Wow. Looks very nice. Just one question though, why only 1 tap?

Love the Discus! I thought this was supposed to low maintenance though, don't Discus require frequent water changes? Or is that just for spawning? I've never kept them.

Very nice, beautiful system :mrgreen:

lol, why indeed.

Well I'm no expect but from what I know they require good water quality which doesn't necessarily mean high maintenance. The nutrients are kept in par by the plants which also use up the water which is replaced with new RO. I also monitor nutrients with conductivity and it's been decreasing with all the new plants, and with no water changes meaning I'll need more fish especually with more plants. Even if water changes are needed it's freshwater so basically just drain as needed and let the top off do the rest. Also for the discus in general these are all captive bred so hardier than wild caught which is likely where most of the complications come from. For instance a lot of discus articles state a ph requirement of around 6.5 to 7 while all these were raised in Calgary tap water with a ph typically over 8.

Overall it's been pretty easy so far, time will tell but compared to what I'm use to I'm pretty otimistic.

Thanks Don

Well that sounds promising then. I wish you the best with them. You give me some faith that maybe I could have some Discus one day.

Damn now you're scaring me, I should have stuck to goldfish.

:eek: I didn't mean to do that! I've just always written off Discus as being thee high-maintenance fish. You might be right though, I've heard some about the captive bred ones being a lot more resilient. There's a local breeder here that I've talked to a few times about them.

Yeah on the other hand if Brad can keep MIs alive anything is possible.

Ya, but he's not really successful yet - well there was that one time... :p

Looks absolutely amazing! Great job, I love the fish choice as well.