~290 gallon Peruvian Biotope Paludarium

stevenhman · Apr 26, 2012

I know that this is a reef forum, but this incorporates some of the same plumbing and lighting ideas so I figured - "what the heck"

A lot of this text is going to be copied/pasted from another forum so if any of it doesn't make sense feel free to ask away.

Now that my other tank which was not doorway friendly is gone, I finally get to start on something I've been planning for the past several months.

This tank will be roughly the same dimensions (60 x 28 x 41). The water area will only be about 8-10 in high and be in the form of a stream from the right viewing window to the left. Typical egg crate false bottom setup which will be hidden by hand carved foam/drylok rocks. As well as a large rock/tree background.

The inside of the tank will be fiberglassed and then coated in WetSuit Liquid Rubber (which they use to waterproof Koi ponds). The double coating is to help prevent microcracks in the epoxy/fiberglass from leaking which may form when the tank is moved a couple of times over the next few years. The stand/tank/canopy will be covered in grey formica/laminate akin to an ADA style stand.

Lighting will be DIY LED's controlled by my ReefAngel. The tank will drain into a sump (to facilitate water changes) and the return will be split 3 ways (circulate water under the FB, waterfall/trickle, and main return under the waterfall). I'm throttling down the waterfall because my wife said she would kill me if it sounded like running water all the time.

I may or may not be able to add some Dwarf Pencilfish (Nannostomus marginatus) to the water feature, I have a few concerns about adding WC fish in with frogs. I'm hoping to add my group of A. pepperi to the tank and maybe another frog (thinking about H. azureiventris) depending on how well it all comes together. I was thinking about Gonatodes humeralis as a tankmate, but I realized that this was something better left in fantasy land rather than reality.

Enough yapping and now some cruddy pictures of a test rock a did a while ago.

Here is a bad picture of one of the future inhabitants (A. pepperi 'rood/orangehead'):

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Got LED's today and I had to buy a bunch of tools and clamps etc. because my friendly neighbor who was going to help cut everything is now moving on the 1st of next month.

For lighting I'm running 48 3w Bridgelux LED's. Two Meanwell ELN-60-48P drivers which will run 24 LED's each in 2 parallel strings of 12. I'll be making a heatsink and mounting hardware out of aluminum U channel and angle.

Here is a quick shot of some LED's while I was testing them.

Thankfully I did a test batch of epoxy... either I didn't get my ratios right, didn't mix thoroughly enough, or I should've shaken the hardener. 24hrs later and my test piece is still not cured.

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Got most of the wood cut for the stand today.

Ran into quite a bit of trouble. The factory 0 (or 90 deg) setting on my circular saw was really more like 87-88 degrees so all my first cuts have a noticeable...deficit. Also, the guide I was using turned wonky in the middle of cutting and would bow out about 1/16th of an inch. Lots and lots of sanding and triple checking to do tomorrow

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Here is what has been happening for the past...while. Still loads more to do.

Workbench etc. while testing the epoxy and fiberglass

The epoxy & hardener

The cheap plywood I was using to test sucked up a lot of epoxy in knotholes and along certain rougher areas. You can see the dry spot and the shiny epoxy.

Here is a shot of some epoxy thickened with cabosil that I tried using along the corner as a fileting material.

I rented a truck from Home Depot and loaded up the wood and raced home ahead of the rain. Here is a nice shot of 300 some odd pounds of wood I got to load and unload myself - whee!

I'm not sure what the post length limit is, but I'm gonna go ahead and split it here.

stevenhman · Apr 26, 2012

Getting ready to mark up all the wood.

Marking up the 1st sheet!

After everything was marked... Cut Day! I noticed that I had put the shop vac hose into the exhaust after I had made my first cut. Lots of sawdust blown everywhere.

After lots of problems I mentioned earlier - I did quite a bit of sanding tonight. Here I was drilling the face of the stand's side supports. [on the other board I mentioned that my circular saw's factory 90 degree setting was more like 88 degrees, all the first cuts had an angle to the cut face]

I got a bit overzealous and didn't drill this the way I wanted. I saw the two holes in the jig and just went for it.

Close up of pocket hole and some damage. [ I had some damage to the wood from not using the correct blade (# of teeth)]

More damage on the 'back' side of the stand. I just sanded flush the parts where I would be attaching other pieces. (I tried to sand flush the top and bottom of the stand especially)

Some random pictures:

WetSuit 1-Part Liquid Rubber bucket

Fan Controller

more in another post

stevenhman · Apr 26, 2012

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Slowly coming together. Some problems here and there - mostly in cutting a few things just 1/2 of a blade width too short or too long.

I mentioned earlier that I was going to skip the 1x4 framing like in thedeeb's thread, but I said screw it and went with what worked for him and what I could see pictures of.

Here is the stand 'frame' together. Basically just the 3/4in ply casing.

Here it is getting the first layer of 1x4's in.

I don't know how much this technique helped, but I know you tighten up tire lug nuts in an opposite alternating pattern so I tried to apply the same idea to the somewhat warpy 1x4's.

Some pocket holes

Every hole for every screw has been pre-drilled. I've already broken one drill bit, hahaha.

Back corner with pocket holes

Basic final framing on the top.

More pocket holes

I just wanted to get a better feel for how...large this is gonna be so I put the uncut front panel up on the stand to get a feel for things.

This is what happened when the circular saw jumped.

And a void in the plywood that was pretty deep. I filled this (and other voids/gaps in the stand) with epoxy thickened 1:1 with cabosil.

I've gotten a bit more done than I have pictures for, but gonna wait til I have the stand done.

I have family coming in this week so I'm probably not gonna get much done. Everything is taking a lot lot longer than I thought, but the day I rushed things it did not turn out well at all.

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more in another post

stevenhman · Apr 26, 2012

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Family time has passed, but now it's exam time - I got a bit of work done since last time.

Back legs going on (the stand is flipped upside down)

Flipping the stand after putting cross members on the bottom for the inside base of the stand to rest on.

Profile(ish) shot of the completed back legs

Stand bottom in (FINALLY in, getting all the slots cut properly then large enough to wiggle the whole piece in was such an enormous PITA - I briefly considered making this thing firewood)

Front leg in (probably going to add another layer to it, this time out of 1/2in ply so my door hinges will line up the way I want.)

In the meantime, between bouts of unbridled fury, I took some time to calm down by doing electrical stuff.

This is the enclosure for all the LED wiring stuff. It's a 24 key lockbox I got at the discount store for like $10 because some genius had changed the combination and locked the box. I used my trusty dremel to grind off the rivets holding the locking mechanism to the case.

Cutting holes for fans.

Lots of sparks, thankfully the paper did not catch on fire.

Cut all the little key hook doohickies off.

They fit!

Drivers will go on one side, and everything else will go on the other. I'll put a 12v DC power supply in for the fans as well.

Here is the computer power supply I am going to use to power the fans that are going up to the tank. I had to take the cover off so I could remove the fan and make it fit inside my PC case.

These are the 2 wires that control the ON/OFF for the PSU, you have to touch them together for it to come on. I'll be putting it on a nice switch later.

Fan controller in the 5.25in bay, I can also put in a controller in the other bay if I need fans somewhere else.

Everything works! The wires going everywhere are 48in 3 pin extensions so I can daisy chain them together and run up and over the tank.

Next step is cutting out the windows in the tank's front and side, lots and lots of sanding, painting the stand, then putting the tank together.

I'm going to paint the outside of the tank after I get the glass in so I can spot any potential nasty leaks easier.

bige · Apr 26, 2012

Awesome build. Well done. Great craftsmanship!

killereef · Apr 26, 2012

Nice work on the stand.

Rob.D · Apr 26, 2012

Wow, that is some great work. Any chance of you coming into Knoxville a few nights to build me a stand :wink:

stevenhman · Apr 26, 2012

Thanks! Hahaha, if you lived closer I wouldn't mind helping out building a stand. It may look pretty in the pictures, but I have yet to actually get it on a level floor (garage is *surprise* not level) so I may have to use some shims when I get everything together.