I have a 150 gallon paludarium set up that i am having issues with. the tank is filled to roughly one hundred gallons with a corner of as land area. I created the land using egg crate, great stuff pond foam, silicone, cocofiber as I have seen a lot of people do. That said something is causing the water to to be toxic or something. All my water tests came up good but so after cycling the tank I added a pair of true freshwater archers. They did fine for a bout 24 hours then I came back to them dead and the dither fish in the tank seemingly struggling as well. I cannot figure out what is causing the problem and was hoping someone would have an idea what could have killed the fish as from all my research it seems like my set up should be fine. The tank is filter with a Aquatop cf-500
Paludarium issues
- Thread starter benbk25
- Start date
Post a picture of the tank in question and tell us what exactly your parameters are. What is/was the stocking?
Here is a picture of the tank, the parameters are currently Ph 6.5 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate roughly 5 PPM. The stocking was a pair of freshwater clouded archers that passed away which alerted me to the problem, 8 turquoise rainbows, and 3 asian leaf fish. The Rainbows are have appetites and I have seen them eating fine but they are staying right at the surface and seemed stressed. The leaf fish seem completely unbothered and are behaving normally.
How long did you allow the pond foam to set up before adding water?
that was my thought as well^
where did you get the log in the corner? if you picked it up off the side of the road it might have been sprayed with something that could be harmful???
where did you get the log in the corner? if you picked it up off the side of the road it might have been sprayed with something that could be harmful???
How long has the tank been set up and how did you cycle it?
Which brand silicone did you use?
Which brand silicone did you use?
Foam set for 48 hours and I used as little as possible to ensure it wouldn’t have pockets of moisture that wouldn’t cure. Log was bout from my lfs. Tank cycled for a about three weeks and I had tested it and had some feeder guppies in there that had been doing fine. Silicone is GE Silicone 1 all purpose sealant. From my research it seemed like that was most common brand people were using for products like this.
Interesting.
All i can think of is if a bit of silicone or foam tucked into the corners hadnt fully cured and is leeching chemicals. 48 hours is typically enough cure time, but a lot of keepers will let their larger projects cure for a week or more to make sure.
Other than that ive exhausted my knowledge...
Agreed.
Sounds like youve covered the bases, so not sure what's up? Maybe run a few large water changes through it?
