The Waterfall Paludarium - Day 275
Hey friends,
Welcome to this week’s edition of Wednesday updates!
Today’s Update: The Waterfall Paludarium - Day 275
Time flies, it only feels like yesterday when I built this paludarium, and now it’s over 9 months old! I started from scratch with this build and used picture frame glass to construct the tank. It’s not too hard to do and certainly saves some money. Since setting up this paludarium, it really has grown into a lush slice of nature just like I hoped it would, and the water feature is still flowing just how it was when setting up the paludarium.
One of my favourite plants in this paludarium is the Anubias Coffeefolia. I love it’s dark green leaves with the deep ridges on each leaf. This, along with every other plant inside this paludarium, is typically sold as an aquarium plant. That being said, they all grow extremely well emersed (out of water). As long as the humidity remains high, these aquarium plants thrive in a paludarium!
This paludarium is home to a couple of small species of creatures. In the water live some tiny snails. They feed on things like algae and detritus. These snails are often seen as pests, but I don’t see them that way. They don’t eat healthy plants, which is most people’s worry. I’ve never had a problem with overpopulation; similar to springtails, their population will naturally fluctuate depending on available food. For example, if there is an abundance of dead plant matter, you’ll see a bloom in their population. The opposite is also true: a lack of food will lead to fewer snails.
The land area of this paludarium belongs to the springtails. They play a very similar role to their underwater friends: the springtails eat things like mould and decaying matter, they poop this food back out in the form of nutrients that the plants will use to grow.
I’d love to add some shrimp to the water of this paludarium, but there’s just not enough space for them to thrive. Maybe I should make a larger waterfall ecosystem for them?
For this paludarium, I do a maintenance session every 3 weeks or so. This entails a 20-50% water change, removing dead or dying leaves, cutting back overgrown plants, cleaning the glass and at the end, I add a small amount of planted aquarium fertiliser. This helps the plants to continue growing healthy and strong.
Don’t throw away plant cuttings! I like to save the plant cuttings and use them in other setups. By doing this, I don’t have to spend as much money on plants for a new setup, which is always handy.
I made a video showing exactly how I maintain this paludarium, which you might find useful. You can find the video in the additional resources section at the bottom of this newsletter.
I often get asked about lighting for this paludarium. It lives on one of my racks and sits under a Nicrew LED aquarium light along with multiple other setups. The brightness is adjustable, it has a built-in timer, and best of all, it’s budget-friendly.
Top Tips for This Ecosystem
Use appropriate plants: This paludarium is extremely humid, so it’s important to use plants that can thrive in these conditions. In this case, I’ve solely used emersed-grown aquatic plants which love growing in a setup like this one.
Add nutrients: In a small setup like this one with lots of fast-growing plants, nutrients can become scarce. I like to add a small amount of aquarium plant fertiliser every few weeks.
Use microfauna: The springtails and snails in this tank play a big role in keeping the ecosystem balanced. This paludarium would still be possible without them, but I would certainly be doing more frequent maintenance.
Up-coming Project Spotlight
Yesterday, I put up a poll in my YouTube community tab asking what video you’d like to see this weekend. The choice was between the No Filter Shrimp Jar Ecosystem and the Nano Riverbank Paludarium. The winner was the Nano Riverbank Paludarium, so here’s a sneak peek at the build!
I built the open-style tank from an old fish tank, and I’ve even built a micro canister filter for it so the water is flowing like a real river! The video drops on Sunday, hope to see you there!
Subscriber Showcase
Some amazing builds were submitted for the subscriber showcase this week, making it really hard to choose!
This is Morné's Dragonstone waterfall ecosystem. I don’t know about you, but I think the new growth on the moss is absolutely stunning!
To potentially feature in next week’s subscriber showcase reply to this email with a picture and short description about one of your ecosystems. Or email me at terrariumdesigns1@gmail.com
Additional Resources
Check out my terrarium making ebook, it’s packed full of useful information that will help you make a terrarium! https://terrariumdesigns.co.uk/products/ebook