# Are these materials newt friendly?



## maxiee (Feb 19, 2010)

Hey. I'm thinking of building a paludarium for my single fire bellied newt (she ate the other newt).
At the minute she's in a tank with land and water separated by a glass partition, and it doesn't look very attractive.
So, I heard a while back about people using foam in paludariums and that's what I plan to do too, once I've checked with a few things.

I plan to follow these instructions: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/46g_construct.htm but I don't know whether the materials are harmful to amphibians or not. If they are, do you have any alternatives?

Also, if I do go ahead with this, does anyone have any ideas for plants that could go in it? I'm new to plants but I've been pretty lucky in that I've managed to keep most of mine alive, despite not knowing what some of them are. 

Thankyou 

EDIT: Sorry if this is in the wrong board, I've just found the paludarium board.


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## RestlessCrow (Nov 5, 2009)

maxiee said:


> Hey. I'm thinking of building a paludarium for my single fire bellied newt (she ate her the other newt).
> At the minute she's in a tank with land and water separated by a glass partition, and it doesn't look very attractive.
> So, I heard a while back about people using foam in paludariums and that's what I plan to do too, once I've checked with a few things.
> 
> ...


Hi Maxiee! I can say that the materials he used in the link you posted would be safe to use. I recently (In November) Made something similar for my 85 gal tank. The Step by Step of the build can be seen HERE

It's a long read, as it took me a long time to complete the whole project and there are some interesting questions that were answered by members in the journal. If I had it all over to do again, I would have carved MUCH more detail into the foam, and I would have reversed my colors. (I tinted the concrete I used, and used a darker color to add depth and shadowing to the undersides.) The lighter colors on top get very washed out with all the light I have in the aquarium, and the darker colors on the underside get VERY dark.... I would have done dark on top and light on the bottom which is really counterintuitive.... If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer! - Crow


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## maxiee (Feb 19, 2010)

Thankyouu.  I was mainly concerned about the epoxy resin and the foam.

Your tank looks really good, I wish I had enough time to make something like that.

Any ideas for the plants? I need them for the land and water.


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## RestlessCrow (Nov 5, 2009)

maxiee said:


> Thankyouu.  I was mainly concerned about the epoxy resin and the foam.
> 
> Your tank looks really good, I wish I had enough time to make something like that.
> 
> Any ideas for the plants? I need them for the land and water.


The apprehension about the epoxy is understandable. People assume that there's voodoo involved with working with epoxy... I practically grew up with it, having first built a kayak (with MAJOR help from Dad) when I was just 13 years old using the "West System" brand of epoxy.

West System has been used to build potable water tanks out of wood on yachts. (Wooden drinking water tanks) so if it's safe for people.... I would assume it's safe for critters too. (Well... unless you listen to the USDA... but that's a different rant of mine..  )

One thing I will mention.... is that even though it took me a long time to do my tank.... MOST of that time was:

A: Waiting for the Lime to leach out of the fresh concrete topping.
B: Waiting for a final decision if we were going to put new carpet in the room because I was NOT going to move an 85 gal tank after it was set up just to put new carpet in.

Once you have foam on the work area, and your favorite implement of destruction in hand..... you'd be amazed how fast it really goes. It took me one evening to carve the foam... and two days to coat it with the concrete. (approx: five coats, in varying colors.)

As far as plant goes.... I WAS a professional plant geek for sixteen years. (Landscape Nurseryman) I am NEW to aquatic plants and learning as fast as I can. Thankfully for me the Latin names come easy. What has been growing very well in my tank is Rotala Indica, Vallisneria 'corkscrew' and dwarf hairgrass. (The hairgrass is going bonkers actually....) I also have a Dwarf Lotus (Nymphoides) which weekly does it's impression of "Audrey" from Little Shop of Horrors.... Those are the only plants that I can really give input on with any semblance of authority. HOWEVER......

I did set up a little paludarium about two years back for a firebelly toad... Well... the toad has since become "one with the universe" but the plants I put in there look like an amazon jungle. I used plain old 'pothos' which is a vining houseplant available ANYWHERE... (Pinch a branch off of a friends and stick it in water.... It'll grow.) I also planted a Schefflera that I rooted from a cutting and it is now trying to push the screen off of the top of the ExoTerra tank that the cats mashed down by laying on top because it was warm....

There's a LOT of info in this website if you have the time to read, and in my experience everyone here is very helpful... (I have a few favorite helpers... LOL) Good luck with your project and feel free to contact me if I can help with anything.


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