I Made a TRIPLE Waterfall Paludarium, Here’s How!

in this video I'm going to turn this glass box into a palarum ecosystem that has not one not two but three flowing waterfalls be sure to stick around to the end as I'm even going to add some tiny inhabitants let's get straight into the build it's going to be a good one for this build I'm using this tank that has a nice tapered open section I really want to create a scape that utilizes its unique shape to get started I'm going to place in some Co filter foam at the base I do want the water in this palarum to be relatively deep so I'm going to place it in two layers obviously to have an open area of water like a true palarum I'm going to need to start cutting out the foam it's easy enough to do with some scissors this is where you can get creative and come up with a unique shaped water area for your tank with that said I am actually keeping it pretty simple for this build that should be enough room for the water so now I'm going to move on to my favorite part which is creating The Hardscape I'm going to start by lining the inside of the tank with some cling film don't worry you'll understand why I'm doing this shortly this does look like a really strange way to start the Hardscape but trust me it'll make sense soon now I'm going to take some expanding foam and apply it inside the cling film will stop it attaching to the glass or the filter foam so I can remove it later I'm doing one Passover then letting it completely dry and then repeating here it is the next day with the foam fully cured it really doesn't look the best right now but I'm going to start carving it out shortly as as you can see the entire piece of foam really does come out nice and easy and it leaves the tank completely intact now I'm going to slide it back in and start carving you can use something like a knife but I find it easier just to pull out the chunks with my hands before going any further I'm going to take a marker pen and create a quick plan I want to have a small water stream on the right with a larger waterfall in the center and another small stream on the left creating a rough plan makes it a lot easier when carving as it gives you a general shape to follow it's going well so far but there are a few few cavities inside the foam that I want to fill in before going any further I'm also going to take this opportunity to change up the shape slightly so the larger waterfall is slightly further back obviously I made sure to place in some more cring FM to stop the foam sticking here's how The Hardscape is looking with it being fully dried and carved out I'm really liking it so far and you can clearly see the three water features that I'm going for now let's get to work in in the pump this is a small brushless aquarium pump that should be able to handle all three outputs to install it I'm simply measuring and cutting out a section in the foam for it to sit into now let's talk about the output this is a piece of tubing that I've modified to go from one to three ways it's certainly not the neatest but hopefully it'll do the job for the left and right I'm going to screw in some of these push connectors that I had lying around to be honest it would have been easier just to buy a four-way connector but it's pretty much finished now anyway now I'm going to place on some 90° corners and then push in some 6 mil tubing the thinner tubes would be for the small streams on the left and right and the thicker tube would be for the waterfall down the center the different diameter of the tubing should naturally mean that most of the water goes up through the center for the large waterfall now I'm going to start creating the holes in the foam where the water's going to flow down I used a wooden skewer just to make a guide hole and then widen them out with some 6 mil tubing now I'm going to carve out the foam so it sits nice and flush with the back of the tank when the outputs are in place for the output of the two small streams I'm going to utilize these 90° connectors I'm using some superg glue to attach them in place and stop them from falling out with them securely in place I can now push them into the 6m tube in coming out from the pump this is about as neat as I can get it and to be honest I don't think it's too bad at all now let's move back to The Hardscape before covering up the expanding foam I want to place in a few pieces of lav rock to add a little bit more detail I'm experimenting with different pieces in different places and then once I'm happy I'm going to lock them in place with the super glue and tissue method I'm placing some tissue in between the foam and the Lava Rock and then soaking it in superglue it creates a strong bond and it dries in no time you're probably thinking that this scape looks absolutely ridiculous at the moment and you're probably right so let's fix that now I'm now going to work on covering up the expanded foam and by the time I'm done you'll hardly be able to tell between the real rocks and the fake ones to cover up the foam I'm going to use some crushed lava rock and some black Aquarium silicone firstly I'm applying the silicone onto a small area of the foam I'm then going to use my finger to spread it out and try and get it in all the gaps and cracks that I can now I'm taking the crush lava rock pouring it on top and then pressing it down into place I can then remove the excess and as you can see it really does cover up the foam well and look quite natural now I'm going to go ahead and repeat the same process in small patches until everything's covered I absolutely love love how it looks with all the foam covered up and you can see what I mean when I said that it's hard to tell the difference between the fake and the real rocks when using this method to cover up the foam there's always going to be a few patches that are missed instead of using more silicone and having to wait 24 hours for it to dry again it's much easier just to use a small amount of superglue before going any further I'm going to give the entire piece a really good spray down now it's nice and clean I'm going to install the pump and place back in the hard scope at this point I'm also connecting the tube into the 90° push fittings I should have done this at the start but before going any further I'm going to place on this foam mat to the base of the tank this will help disperse the weight of the tank and protect it against uneven surfaces it's easy enough to attach with some double-sided tape now it's time to fill up the tank and give the pump a quick test run to see how it flows the water was bouncing down at first but once everything got saturated it flowed really nicely I have also placed in a few pieces of black filter foam to stop the water coming out so aggressively I'm really happy with how all three water features are flowing and it's amazing to see my vision finally starting to take shape before pouring the sand in the foreground I'm taking some leftover filter foam tearing it into small pieces and wedging it under The Hardscape this should stop the sand traveling back towards the pump which may lead to issues in the future I'm using this fairly light colored sand as I like the contrast it has with the black lava rock I'm now going to place in some small rocks to create a smoother transition from the sand up to the black lava rocks they'll also add some nice detail to the foreground now it's time to get the palarian filled up with water I'm placing in a small piece of paper towel to stop the water from disrupting the scape too much before getting any plants in I'm going to go ahead and turn on the pump to kick off the plan in I'm going to start with these asparagus ferns I absolutely love this plant plant as they really do resemble miniature trees rightfully so you're probably wondering how these plants are going to grow without any substrate I'm planting them in locations where their Roots will be in constant contact with the flowing water this means they'll pull their nutrients from the water that flows down through the scape I've done this before and it's worked great so hopefully that'll be the case for this build too in some locations I'm making small holes which I can plant into when doing this it's important to create small drainage holes with something like a toothpick that will keep the water running through I can then take the fern and plant The Roots [Music] inside I absolutely love how this tank is looking with all the ferns in and it really does look like a miniature slice of nature next up is the Moss this here is a tub of weeping Moss that I propagated myself I have got a video on Moss propagation on the channel if you wanted to learn how to grow it yourself I'm planting the moss in the flow of the water and I'm also using it to hide the roots of the ferns weeping Moss is a relatively fast growing species that likes to grow low and compact it should start spreading and growing over The Hardscape in no [Music] time next up I've got some plants that should add a little bit more detail and interest throughout the palarian the first one going in is a few cuttings of hydroc cotal this fast growing plant will Vine and creep all over the heartscape after adding some floating plants into the water I'm also going to plant a few cuting of Oakleaf creeping fig this is one of my favorite plants and I think it small leaves will add some really nice detail to the scape I made sure to chew some cuting that already had some Roots growing as this will give the plant a nice Head Start in this setup I'm absolutely loving how this palarum is looking on day one but let's fast forward 8 weeks and see how it's holding [Music] up two months have passed and I'm glad to say that the palad Arium is thriving before adding the tiny inhabitants into the water let me tell you about some of the changes and additions that I've made the first change I made is that I decided to paint the sides of the tank black I think it looks a lot better and cleaner than being able to see the expanded foam through the glass another change which is not so obvious is that I've added a few more different species of plants this here is peperomia vertical arter it's an easy toow plant which has these beautiful dark green leaves I felt like this ecosystem was missing a pop of color but this fonia solved that problem easily the last plant I added is some Pia gler I think it contributes nicely to the variety of leaf shape and textures throughout the tank as for the plants that have been in here from the start I'm glad to say that they're all doing great the hydr cotal has started to vine and creep out which is exactly what I wanted and the Oakleaf creeping fig has also started to grow nicely the asparagus ferns which have got to be the highlight of the tank are doing great pretty much all of them have sent out new growth and I'm absolutely loving how they look I did feel like the all black Hardscape needed some contrast so that's why added the spiderwood now before adding the tiny creatures I'm going to quickly show you how simple and easy it is to take this scape to the next level these are some small spiderwood branches and I'm simply just going to place them throughout the scape these small Twigs resemble Vines and roots and I really think they greatly improve the detail inside this tank I want to know what you think would you have added these or would you have left the palarum as it was let me know in the comments now without further Ado let's get the inhabitants inside these here are some tiny aquatic snakes and I think they'll be perfect for the water section of this palarian they'll stay small but they will get slightly bigger than this these tiny snails will feed on things like algae that grows on the rocks glass and sand as you can see they don't waste any time and get straight to work all in all I'm extremely happy with how this waterful padum has turned out and I can't wait to continue watching it growing and evolving like a true miniature ecosystem be sure to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it and why not subscribe so you don't miss any future builds or updates as always thank you for watching

Channel: Terrarium Designs

Views: 234,227

Keywords: Paludarium, How to make a paludarium, Paludarium build, Paludarium tutorial, Step by step terrarium, Terrarium guide, Jungle paludarium, Tiny ecosystem, How to make a mini ecosystem, Nano paludarium, Nano ecosystem, Waterfall paludarium, Waterfall terrarium, Flowing stream, River terrarium, Bioactive ecosystems, Self sustaining ecosystem, Water terrarium, Snail paludarium, How to make a glass terrarium, Asparagus fern, Fittonia, Oak leaf creeping fig

Id: aEpfWQBK1NA

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2023