Thinking up Paludarium version 2.0


My automated paludarium has been running for some years now. After this time, some flaws have become obvious. Time for Paludarium 2.0 !



Paludarium 2005 aka Paludarium 1.0

The first automated paludarium project was started in 2005. It took considerable time to complete… The construction of this first paludarium can be read at paludarium.xhd.nl (in Dutch). The automation software updates the status website in realtime, and it has been moved from the www URL to this URL: realtime.paluweb.nl.

At first this implementation seemed flawless. However, it turned out not to be at all. One major issue: Nitrate concentrations in the water at 50-70 [mg/litre], which is much too high for fish to live healthy lives. I am positive this has been the reason for my beloved foureyes (Anableps anableps) to die off one by one without any visual abnormalities apart from widened pupils. From healthy to dead within two hours… RIP my dear Anableps…

I never got new Anableps, because I feared they’d end up the same way. So it is time for Paludarium 2.0, where land and water will be completely isolated from each other. I’ll be using this blog to post updates to the construction of Paludarium v2.0 !


First thoughts of Paludarium 2.0

When thinking up Paludarium 2.0, there are several basics I swore to adhere to:

  1. Use the same lighting hood as before, so keep the width at 100cm and the depth at 60cm;
  2. Make sure the water circulating through the roots of the plants above water never touches the aquatic water;
  3. Get a faster current streaming through the aquatic part (Anableps l-o-v-e this!);
  4. Connect Paludarium 2.0 directly to the sewer and cold water supply;
  5. Use inverted osmosis to supply clean water.

Most reasons are obvious ones looking back at the first paludarium. I want to use the same hood, since a lot of time and money went into this (LED lighting, automation etc). Separation of the aquatic and the landmasses water systems is required to keep the aquatic water clean enough for fish.

Connecting the paludarium directly to the sewer and tapwater is a nice luxury; since we recently swapped out the kitchen and the livingroom, I will have cold water and sewer connections in the living room available 🙂


What’s next?

From this post on, I will be posting ideas and thought that will contribute to Paludarium 2.0. Some technology will be reused (like the automation which has been a HUGE HUGE project). Other technology will be new. Within a few month I will begin constructing the new paludarium. I can’t wait!!

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