Posted on 30/06/2007 at 02:25
3 month later...
The first one is stable, both the helexine and the fern (néphrolépis boston) grow great, entirely covering the stone underneath...
In the other hand, the little aquatic plant and the duckweed (lemna minor) did not tolerate the lack of light due to the development of the plants above...
The result is very realistic to me, less "artificial" than it originally was, I feel like I've got a small piece of the Gravona, my river in Corsica...
The paludarium V2, as well, developed very well (compare with before - complete article here). The right helexine has literally exploded, as well as the top-left ficus white sunny. This one even hangs onto the surface like ivy, and its roots go though the evacuation tube down to the pump, behind!
For these two plants, I have to play with a pair of scissors pretty often, unless the poor betta would end up in the dark...
Well, not entirely empty : I've discovered it was inhabited by a cute earthworm!
The inflorescence of the Tillandsia is gone, but the plant still goes well, giving more and more tillers...
The shrimps did not last more than a month : one after another, they all died after... their escape! Climbing the "rock" wall, they all ended dried up outside of the tank!
Bettadyne, on the other hand, goes very well!
The whole thing looks more and more natural. The Java Moss (Vesicularia Dubyana) totally colonized the water fall. The structure has a nice patina look, some moss partly covers it... Everyday it looks different, the gentle water noise changes with the plants grow and the snails peregrinations over the structure...
I try to interfere as less as I can, leaving the nature do its job, the plants growing chaotically...
Rendez-vous in 3 months from now to follow the evolution!
End of the story : 27/07/2008
I found the tank almost empty this morning, while I did check the water level yesterday (I usually have to adjust it weekly due to evaporation)... And I found it was sitting in a pool of water.I first thought a plant could have grown so much that it created a way for the water out of the tank (it did happen once)... But no : the tank has a crack at the bottom : a large, horizontal crack, all the way accross one of the faces.
Nevertheless there's been no shock, whether physical of thermal. I do not understand, I suppose there was some tension in the glass when it was fabricated, which finally liberated itself. Well, "Shit happens", I guess...
Unfortunately, it would be very difficult to repair, and if so it would be ugly. And I wouldn't be surprised it the crack kept growing anyway...
So, I have to officially declare this tank dead. I'm disappointed because it was really pretty, but in the end that's only a good occasion to make an even nicer one! And I actually I have been having some ideas about that for a while now...
So, my paludarium lasted 16 month since I put water in it. It had grown a beautiful patina, it was great to watch it evolve.
I guess the technique is fine, the result looked very natural : more than once, at first glance people refused to acknowledge this was an artificial realization!
Even though I'm disappointed, I think about it as a first try! The next one will be bigger, to have more inertia against chemical and thermal variations. And probably a "desert island" look... And definitely plants only, no more animals!
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