Dooa paluda 30.

[Ady34]

Hello.
Whilst aquascaping, I’ve been dipping my toes into terrariums and such like and the opportunity arose to give one of these little suckers a go.
It is an all new way of doing things for me, and I knew it would take a little trial and error along the way…..

Dooa Paluda 30:
The system works principally on humidity and moisture from a mist flow unit housed in a rear water chamber. This falls over a weir down the moss wall and into the tank. Excess water which condenses on the weir is directed down the moss wall also. A small fan housed either on the side of the tank or on the top can also be utilised to move the misty air around.



I wanted to use a big stone as the main feature as I knew I had a perfect piece of frodo stone. I began hardscaping and came up with this layout.


Once happy I removed the protective cloths and added a small amount of pumice to the rear topped with some soil. The front area was graded gravel. I mainly wanted to use epiphyte plants so a lot of soil was not necessary.


Planting:
I began by preparing and tying various moss species to the foam pads which sit within fixed pegs in the rear wall of the system.


Small manzanita wood branches were also added for detail.




Then I added various epiphyte plants, some new and some which I had kept from closed down tanks….







Once planted I added a colony of springtails to make this a bio active system. They help with mould and decaying plant matter.

Over the course of a couple of months some additional terrestrial plants were added and this is what it looks like today.






The full plant list is:
Java moss
Spiky moss
Taiwan moss
Christmas moss
Fissidens moss
Weeping moss
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Monosolenium tenerum
Staurogyne repens
Bucephelandra sp.
Bolbitis difformis heteroclita
Anubias mini coin
Anubias pangolino
Hydrocotyle tripartita mini
Cryptocoryne lutea hobbit
Ficus pumila minima
Marcgravia Surinam
Barbosella cucullata - mini orchid
Lepanthes calodictyon - mini orchid
Antenna fern

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[John q]

Wow... Looks absolutely fantastic.

 

[Ady34]

Wow... Looks absolutely fantastic.

Thank you.
It doesn’t always look like this, it is often misty and with condensation on the glass which I squeegee off for viewing.

 

[Toby C]

it is often misty and with condensation on the glass

Do you have the fans on timers after the mistflow has been on? I found this greatly helps with minimising condensation on the glass.

Also looks lovely - nice to see more stone in terrariums

 

[Myrtle]

Looks fantastic! I've never seen one of these - good job really as I've nowhere to put one.
I love the way you used the stone crevices - room for a few lithophytes maybe?!

 

[Ady34]

Do you have the fans on timers after the mistflow has been on? I found this greatly helps with minimising condensation on the glass.

Also looks lovely - nice to see more stone in terrariums

I have the fan and mist flow on a timer together so when the mist is on the fan is too. I found this best at distribution. I’m still dialling it all in tbh, I need to turn the duration down a little now.

Looks fantastic! I've never seen one of these - good job really as I've nowhere to put one.
I love the way you used the stone crevices - room for a few lithophytes maybe?!

Thank you.
I have some miniature orchids on the stone already 😃

 

[Deano3]

Looks great @Ady34 love the large frodo stone as main focal point.

 

[Ady34]

Looks great @Ady34 love the large frodo stone as main focal point.

Thanks mate.

Things have settled in the paluda now, with very little additional misting required. I just use the dooa wabi mist occasionally now for a little nutrient boost and the plants are doing great.
I have plenty of new leaves, and even bare bolbitis difformis rhizomes are springing into a life with new leaves. It’s not a startling growth rate obviously with most of the plant choices, but I have just had to thin the hydrocotyle recently as that is a bit of a brute and trim the staurogyne down to a sensible height..









Cheerio,

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I just use the dooa wabi mist occasionally now for a little nutrient boost and the plants are doing great.

That looks fantastic.

cheers Darrel

 

[Kalum]

This is not good for my bank balance, now i want one 🙄

Looks amazing mate

 

[Adriano]

Hi @Ady34 really a beauty !
I bought a Paluda 60 in August: I haven't yet managed to achieve the right balance between mist emission, use of the pump and residual water in the tank.
How long do you keep the pump on? and the mist generator? Don't you have problems with water stagnation in the tub?
If so how do you solve it? With Dooa drainage? How often do you have to suck the water out of the tub?
Sorry for the many questions, but I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.
I'm using the mist generator and the recirculation pump for about 15 minutes every hour (a timer manages both) but in about a week of use I've found water stagnation in the tank of about 1.5 cm! The Paluda isn't furnished yet, I'm just making some settings...

 

[Ady34]

Hi @Ady34 really a beauty !
I bought a Paluda 60 in August: I haven't yet managed to achieve the right balance between mist emission, use of the pump and residual water in the tank.
How long do you keep the pump on? and the mist generator? Don't you have problems with water stagnation in the tub?
If so how do you solve it? With Dooa drainage? How often do you have to suck the water out of the tub?
Sorry for the many questions, but I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.
I'm using the mist generator and the recirculation pump for about 15 minutes every hour (a timer manages both) but in about a week of use I've found water stagnation in the tank of about 1.5 cm! The Paluda isn't furnished yet, I'm just making some settings...

Hi, apologies for the late response to your questions. You may no longer need the information but basically I run the pump 24/7, the mist generator was on for 10mins every hour in the early stages as the plant mass was low and it tended to dry out a little more. As time passed and water was retained I have now reduced to only 5 mins every hour. Water did build up on the bottom and I would drain every week, however now with only 5 mins every hour and only once during the night I don’t have to drain at all.
I think if your system is now furnished you may find that the water build up is less as the plants will utilise some.
Cheerio

 

[Ady34]

Little update pics, over a year on and the simplest system to care for, a constant and stable environment offering a calming feature in the kitchen diner….i enjoy it every day 🙂💚

 

[seedoubleyou]

Looks great, I’m starting to gather that owning a miniature schnauzer is essential to success in this hobby 😂

 

[LondonDragon]

Everything you touch is gold mate 🙂 love this little setup! Wish I had the commitment to keep tanks as pristine as these! I am just too lazy! LOL

 

[Ady34]

Everything you touch is gold mate 🙂 love this little setup! Wish I had the commitment to keep tanks as pristine as these! I am just too lazy! LOL

Ha, this is the ultimate lazy man’s system, I literally do hardly anything to it now. Trimmed very very infrequently, top up the water reservoir every couple of weeks and spray dooa mist when I remember. Don’t even clean the internal glass, it’s pretty self sufficient.

 

[Ed Wiser]

How often do you squeeze the water out of the blue sponge?

 

[Ady34]

How often do you squeeze the water out of the blue sponge?

Never 😂😬

 

[Ed Wiser]

Then why have it even in the system.

 

[G H Nelson]

Lovely set-up Ady