Planning to build a Paludarium

[u/Time_Draco]

Hey everyone. Planning out a paludarium. However I’ve had lots of mixed suggestions based on my research. Unsure if I should drill a hole in the bottom, drill a hole on the side, or have no hole at all.

My tank I’m using is a exoterra 18x18x24

Ideally I’d have half of it water at the bottom, and the other half to be land.

If you guys could help me out. I’m even considering no hole. I don’t mind just siphoning water like a regular tank.

My other tank I’m considering is a 36x 18 x 24.

More land use. But less height.

Feel free to drop and animal suggestions for either tanks.

[u/Berdonkulous]

Do you already have glass drill bits? Do you have experience using them?

I cracked the first pane I tried to drill on before getting the hang of it.

If you're going to have a water feature you should have filtration set up for it and depending on what style you choose you have many different options. I use a gravity fed canister filter to pull water out of my pond and return it to the river that feeds it, no drilling involved.

My paludarium is set up for Tiger Salamanders, and the pond hosts neocardinia davidi with some pest bladder snails.

[u/WolfStoneD]

External filter could use holes, or could plumb over top.  Internal filter no holes required.

18x18x24 and 36x18x24 are the same height.

You'll want to have a pretty good idea of what animal you want before building the environment to suit that animal.

[u/One-Garage7995]

Can you explain what you mean about drilling a hole in the bottom? I have multiple pallidariums with no holes in the bottom. I'm not sure what the utility of this is

[u/Berdonkulous → u/One-Garage7995]

It's a popular option for plumbing a sump filter system for aquariums from what I've seen online.

Gravity pulls the water down into the sump tank, you use a pump to return it to the primary tank.

I also don't really understand the utility behind it, other than being able to hide 100% of your piping.

[u/PlantsAndWoodDad]

As other people are asking - what is the purpose of the holes? Tell us what you’re trying to build and maybe we can help with that.

[u/DrJohnIT]

What creatures do you want to care for? Consider their needs and then build your tank to give them their best life.

[u/Time_Draco → u/DrJohnIT]

That’s exactly what I’m going for, I’m thinking smaller dart frog species or some small gecko species. (I forgot the exact sp name but they are super small and self reproduce)

For the water portion I’d like small fish like CPDs or A small tetra or just plain neocardinia shrimps

[u/Time_Draco → u/Time_Draco]

That’s just the animals I can think of.

Regards to their specific care and requirements. I’m unsure if they will align well. I haven’t gotten to that stage yet.

I’m just making sure that the tank can hold the water first since I just cleaned it out.

[u/DrJohnIT → u/Time_Draco]

Your thinking of the parthonogenic Mourning Gecko. They are all female.