Yes I admit. I have been building a paludarium without writing about any of it..! So trying to make things right, here is my current setup.
My last post on the current paludarium was around building a new cabinet under “some new paludarium”. Well, that paludarium was actually completed quite a while ago, and here it is!
So this paluadarium has been running for over a year already, in fact almost two years at the time of this writing. It was inspired by my wife: “Designing something you want will take years. Why not build a simple version that you can enjoy NOW while designing something new?”. And I did just that.
I admit… I have failed to post any new blogs on my current Paludarium setup. I posted the construction of the wooden cabinet… And then it stopped. I did however finish the build, and maybe I’ll add a post on that one later. In this post I introduce a new paludarium design, and it is getting ready to be actually build! It is going to be bigger, better, faster, more! ehhh… more automated than EVER.
The problem with these larger projects is that there are SO many bits and pieces to put together. Today I am writing up part one as I am almost ready to push the button on ordering a complete PCB that will contain practically all electronics required for my new Paludarium 2020 build!
Requirements for the electronics
I wanted to be sure I’d create a PCB that has all stuff on board I might be needing, without overdoing things. Still, I ended up with a huge amount of speeds and feeds. Here they are in random order:
Yes, paludarium 2.5. Not 3.0 (yet). It was taking too long to construct version 3.0, so now I’ve started to build version 2.5, which is a high-tech version but not in the new acrylic houseing. It will be a classic glass construction like the ones I’ve built before.
Building the wooden table
The glass paludarium is already here, and it is 50cm x 50cm x 100cm (length x depth x height) in size, with 28cm of water. Before building the paludarium out I wanted to construct Read more »
Thinking back on Paludarium 1.0 and Paludarium 2.0 I cannot stop wondering why on earth I ever thought that introducing 230VAC on top of a paludarium was a good idea. Powe failure would cause the canopy to “condensate up” and cause huge issues when the power came back. This and a hundred extra issues. So now is the time to set things right in version 3.0. The hood on top used to be a very “smart” lighting (and more) system I called “the Canopy”. Now it is time for a drastic new approach: Canopy 3.0!
Minimalistic design
The new Canopy will have as little as possible electronics inside. All stuff need to be driven through either pipes or wires, and all of the pumps and electronics can sit Read more »
As I have moved between houses, I decided to not move the paludarium with me. A hard decision, but also an important step forward; building something new will allow me to think different once again.
One primary reason not to move the current paludarium (v2.0 if you will) was the fact that the new place where the paludarium would sit should again have access to tapwater and sewer. Then add the complexity of the move itself. Another not totally unimportant reason was the fact that my new home really did not have a decent space to fit a paludarium of this shape. So I found a new home for the inhabitants and sold the glass box. Including the “canopy” (after I removed its “brains” though).
Next I figured out that it would actually be an awesome chance to Read more »
My first blogpost from high in the skies! Right now we are headed to Fort Lauderdale for a connected flight out to Costa Rica. Having internet up here is definitely something new for us, but it’s really great (and gives me some time to write this up)
We are sooo excited to be visiting Costa Rica… Many things to see, maybe I’ll get some cool ideas for any creatures living on the dry part of the paludarium
It is almost time for our trip to Costa Rica. I can’t wait! There will be plenty of animals to photograph, and I am especially exited to visit the La Selva Biological station where the Paludarium gets its meteorological data from.
From the airport we’ll head over to Heliconia Island, a nice place with many things to see. Most exciting of all, we will be visiting the La Selva Biological Station and finally see where the Paludarium’s values all come from!
Next we will be travelling around Costa Rica and visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest, the Los Quetzales national park and finally Corcovado National park which may be a bit exciting to reach given the fact that you need to cross some rivers by car that may have too much water when we arrive to cross decently.
Routes we’ll be travelling while in Costa Rica
Things we’ll be looking out for
As I am very much into photography of all living things, I’m hoping to find poison dart frogs, lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders and insects. On top of that we’ll be scouting for larger animals like mammals and birds.
If I have the time (and the internet connection) I’ll be posting some more blogs as we move through beautiful Costa Rica.
What I noticed in the past few days was the keyhole cichlids (Cleithracara maronii) were very aggressive to the other fish. As they have never done this before I decided to investigate.
Building a nest
What I saw today was that two of the Cichlids were very close together. On a rocky surface in the back I saw around a hundred tiny white dots, and both cichlids constantly at that same spot. I became clear to me: The keyhole cichlids are having babies!
A keyhole cichlid defending its eggs that were laid on a rocky surface near the filter drain.
Both parents show a lot of care for the eggs. Read more »
Why are they called “splashing tetras”? You’re about to find out in this post 🙂
Copella Arnoldi: Meet the splashing tetra!”
The splashing tetra is a fish that was sick of other fish eating their eggs. So they thought of a very smart thing to keep the other fish from eating their eggs: They lay their eggs ABOVE water, not in it!
Easier said than done… It requires them to jump out of the water, lay the eggs on surfaces above water, fertilize the eggs and then manage somehow to keep them wet until they hatch… And the splashing tetra did all of that.
How they lay their eggs
So how do they do all of this magic? As the female is getting thicker and thicker, it becomes clear she is producing eggs. The males start courting her, and at some point they form a couple.
The male now starts “test jumping” to several objects, mostly leaves growing above the water surface. They can jump up to 10cm:
Splashing tetra male jumping out of the water to test out places to have their babies hatch
After a spot has been determined, both male and female line up just under the water surface. By gently “buzzing” their bodies they communicate with each other and synchronize the jump they’re about to make:
Getting ready to jump… They must jump together and this requires a very exact timing.
Then they’re off! They both jump out of the water, and this picture clearly shows how well synchronized they are when they do:
Both male and female splashing tetras jumping synchronously out of the water to lay their eggs.
When they hit the surface where they’ll be laying their eggs, they will stick to that surface for a second. The female lays her eggs while the male will fertilize them:
Splashing tetra male and female sticking to a leave above water to lay and fertilize their eggs.
After they have laid some eggs, they’ll fall back into the water:
Male and female splashing tetras falling back into the water after laying egss on a leave above the surface.
They will now repeat this until they have laid between 50 and 100 eggs.
New babies about to be born!
Now this is where the splashing tetras get their names from. The eggs that were laid above water need to be kept wet. This is why the male splashing tetra will stay with the eggs, and splash them with his tail every few minutes! They have an amazing aim in doing this. I was lucky as the tetras at some point laid eggs on the side window: The next video shows both the splashing, the eggs up REALLY close (each eggs is only 0,2 mm in diameter!) and the eggs getting splashed:
Some longer closeup video of the actual eggs:
After three to four days the eggs hatch. The baby fish start their lives with an 8cm daredevil drop into the water! That is like base jumping without a parachute considering they are only 0.3mm in length. When you’d compare that to a human, it would mean that a new born baby would drop about 145 meters then hit the water 😛
Once the babies have hatched, they are very small fish that hide between leaves and roots of water plants:
Baby of a splashing tetra
And in real closeup:
Closeup of a splashing tetra (Copella Arnoldi). These fish are only about 0,3mm long right after they hatch!
One of the sensors that can be read by the Neptune module is the Sensirion SHT-11 I have had laying about for years.
Now finally it is ready for use! The sensor sits on the end of a 2,5 meter cable which is soldered on directly. A small capacitor is glued on as well to cope with the excessive cable length. The sensor in its entirety is covered in a drop of silicon glue to keep the moisture out of the electronic contacts. This sensor will be measuring over 98% relative humidity at times!
The Sensirion SHT-11 sensor glued into a drop of silicone. This digital sensor measures air temperature and relative humidity in the Paludarium.
So far the results are looking good. This is the sensor still hanging in the living room:
22.24 degrees centigrade and 65.94% relative humidity. Sounds realistic as it’s a very moist day.
When the silicone had dried, I put the sensor inside the paludarium. After settling it showed measurements like these:
Measured values when the Sensirion sensor is inside the Paludarium.
Great! Tempereature at 23.16 degrees, relative humidity at 87,61%. Very Jungley 🙂
What I did find out, is that the location of the sensor heavily influences the measurements. Especially the humidity is VERY dependent on where you measure.
[…] to the “C”. Today I still program in both “C” and Python for fun (Arduino and Raspberry Pi […]
[…] I got a phone call that my paludarium was ready for delivery… So I needed to speed up the…
Hi Loek! Kan zeker, misschien wel handig om even te wachten totdat in ieder geval de hardware is opgebouwd en…
Goedemorgen Erik, Ik wil dat graag een keertje live bekijken. Kunnen we een afspraak maken?
Thinking this through... Even if I have 256x WS2818's I'd use 3*256 = 768 bytes of memory for R,G,B... The…
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
[…] to the “C”. Today I still program in both “C” and Python for fun (Arduino and Raspberry Pi […]