Paludarium uptate - there is some bad news. I used the wrong...

Paludarium uptate - there is some bad news. I used the wrong silicone, (GE Silicone 2 Door and Window) and while there was some conflicting info, some said it was safe, others had all their fish die, and I erred on the side of caution because i did not want to risk killing everything in there and ripped out every bit of silicone and started over, using a combo of SCS1200 Construction, and Marineland’s aquarium silicone. Luckily, the silicone peeled off the foam with ease, so I did not have to redo the foam (though I did touch up the ‘waterfall’ area to make spillover less likely) other parts were harder…. On the plus side, it did give me the opportunity to cut out the bottom of the pot and move it up, so the heater should fit in the hidden compartment now, I also sucked in the sides with some nylon ties so it fits a bit better in the tank. So not all bad.

I also decided to give the silicone more time to cure this time  just to be extra safe, even though the two types I got actually have very fast cure times. So the last couple days it’s just been sitting there. Doing nothing.  So  in the meantime, I tackled the hood problem. This is a tank kit, and it came with a fitted hood. But it is a paludarium and the plants will go above the top of the tank, I needed more room.  I think I have come up with an idea that will in the end result in an almost invisible means of support. I know it looks awful now, but that’s because I made the prototype out of a leftover plastic cardboard political sign. (I will likely at least paint it black, cus wow, orange, blue and white supports are ugly)  The final version will be made out of plexiglass. It requires some intricate and very precise cutting, but luckily a friend of mine ordered a Glowforge, and he will cut the pieces for me when he gets it. :D  So in the meantime, this is ugly, but functional and reasonably sturdy considering it’s made out of plastic cardboard and held together with clamps. Gives the plants in the terrestrial part room to grow, and maybe even in the aquatic part, if i get some dwarf umbrella palms or something.  (that will likely have to wait till spring, this is Canada, they stop selling pond plants at this time of year) I also taped a piece of black construction paper over one edge so the light doesn’t shine  right in the corner of my eye while at the computer. That’d be annoying. I also added a clip on lamp. As far as I can tell, the lighting on this hood isn’t bad, it’s got some decent LED’s, but it’s not great, either. But I did mostly pick easy plants, anubias, crypts, bacopa, salvinia, spiky moss, but… the store did have some Hemianthus callitrichodies ‘cuba’ and I had to get it, I would really love to get a carpet going, it also had some Pogostemon which just looked so cool, but it’s doing fantastic in the jumbled plant bucket, so i think i will be fine with it.  Also the colour of the LEDs is a bit blue for my tastes, and the lamp softens that with a bit of yellowish light. I may not need the lamp but eh, I have it  anyway, and it was doing a pretty good job of keeping the plants in the bowls alive during the winter months when they didn’t get much sun at all.

So yeah. though I have been working hard on this project, it is pretty much just back to the same place it was before, except for the hood.

ps. sorry but this thing REALLY does not photograph well with all the stuff on my desk reflecting in the glass. I may have to invest in some black cloth to drape over everything to take a decent photo of this thing. Looks great in person, honest.

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