Planning stage

I just built myself a small house, only 365 square feet single room. Small but everything I need with loads of land and trees. It will not be air conditioned, North Georgia, but is designed for adaptive air flow. I don't really like air conditioning anyway. I have a solid 6 inch poured reinforced concrete subfloor. The building only leaks air where I designed it to leak. I want to maximize efficiency to the extreme. A 1000 watt heater runs about 25% of the time to maintain a 30 degree temperature difference. Anyway, it's time to start planning the main paludarium and other aquarium and terrarium setups.

The paludarium will contain about a 350 gallon built in tank, not counting the reservoir and filter/scud colony volume, with only one glass side and a rock waterfall feeding into it in one corner of the room. The waterfall will partially overhang the tank for darker areas to hide under and a shallow marsh area at the base. The trashcan biofilter will be hide behind it. The paludarium will have about 36 square feet, 12' X 3', with about half that being water surface. Ideally the paludarium will help cool the house in the summer, and help keep it cooler in turn.

Question 1:
I have loads of .090 white textured FRP Wall Board salvaged from an industrial hatchery renovation. I was considering using it as a main water barrier on the 3 non-glass walls and floor of the 350 gallon tank. Has anybody had experience with FRP board being used in this way. I was concerned about breakdown and chemical contaminates. Epoxy is just awfully expensive. Perhaps some kind of sealer that could be used to coat the FRP.

Question 2:
Natural lighting. I don't want the long term expense of heavy artificial lighting. I would like to supplement with natural lighting but not necessarily direct light. I wanted to use light funnels or something similar. Has anybody seen this used in an aquarium setting? I would also like to design a window mounted light funnel unit for my standard 55 gallon aquarium. Ideally it should maximize ambient light collection, be adjustable to limit light when needed, and filter frequencies to optimize for aquarium/plants.

Question 3:
Cooling. I was considering using a "water" to earth heat exchanger using 1.5 inch black MDPE water pipe, where the cooled water is directly circulated through the aquarium rather than an air heat exchanger. The waterfall itself takes care of that. However, the ground heat conductivity is limited, so I got to thinking the specific heat capacity of water is far greater than the earth itself. So it occurred to me to put in a large underground water reservoir. This has the advantage that water has a far higher heat capacity that can be tapped more directly, and when outside temperature is suitable it can be diverted through separate outside heat exchangers to return the stored water to an ideal temperature. Even nighttime summer temperatures can often be taken advantage of, or solar pool heaters in daytime during the winter. It could also act as a reservoir to keep my aquarium level toped off with varying water volumes, and replenished with a separate trashcan filter catching roof runoff. The whole thing could operate on the same pump used to run the waterfall and some bypass valves deciding which if any of the heat exchangers to pass it through. So the question is, should I be concerned about water quality, bacteria, molds, etc., in the aquarium from a sealed water reservoir maintained underground this way? It will spill down the waterfall immediately after exiting the main biofilter, and gravity feed back through another filter (roof runoff filter) to the reservoir via an adjustable overflow.

Any suggestions, concerns, or similar projects I can read about would be greatly appreciated. This paludarium will play a major role in the climate control of my house, so humidity will be an issue even though my house is highly moisture resistant. Thus I'll also have a waterfall bypass, so the water can also exit at the base of he waterfall, and moisture vents above the paludarium (same vents already installed in the ceiling for thermal control. The paludarium will also be sealable on the sides with an open top to create a thermal column, helping cooling it separately from the house when needed. The peak of my off centered cathedral ceiling already has adaptive vents with an exhaust fan built in the roof crawl space. I'll also be moving some large decorative stones indoors, and under the paludarium, for thermal mass.

The whole house is geared around being a large paludarium in itself. Not only do I want maximum efficiency, I want the paludarium and other features to be as self sufficient as possible. I'll also be keeping a cricket farm, mealworms, earthworms, a large wall mounted ant farm, etc.

What's the plan for inhabitants of that plaudarium?

What's the plan for inhabitants of that plaudarium?

I haven't really made up my mind yet. I want to observe water quality and temperature variance over the hottest part of the summer before setting species selection in stone. It will also have some frogs in it. I keep several kids swimming pools spread around the property, which produce a yearly crop of wild tadpoles. I would like to keep some sculpins, but need some pretty tight water quality standards for them. They are quiet numerous in some places here, and easy to net after dark. Probably some darters.

I also know a private pond nearby where you can dip mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) by the net full. I want a strong microfauna colony to provide a steady supply of natural food. I went hunting last night for scuds with no luck (January & recent freezing), but found some aquatic sow bugs. I'm starting these scud cultures in smaller tanks now.

Epoxy is just awfully expensive. Perhaps some kind of sealer that could be used to coat the FRP.

I saw some neat stuff on youtube called Zavlar that can be used as a sealant.

Edited by EricaWieser, 06 January 2011 - 08:11 PM.

This is quite an interesting idea. Have you drawn some kind of layout showing what you want?

Two potential pitfalls to keep in mind: That paludarium will create a lot of moisture in the house, which will cause problems unless you have a way to keep it down or have designed the house with moisture control in mind. Also, with that much water as a heat sink your 1000W heater may not be sufficient during rapid weather changes.

I saw some neat stuff on youtube called Zavlar that can be used as a sealant.

Thanks EricaWieser. I looked Zavlar up and it's about $150.00 for 5 gallons. At the 40mil thickness needed for waterproofing a gallon covers about 30sq ft. That comes to about $1 per sq ft, which come to 2 gallons totaling $60 if I stretch about 2.5 extra sq ft per gallon.

In searching for FRP board used this way I haven't found anything too specific, but it is mentioned a lot in passing. Seeing that have FRP board running out of my ears I'm going to go this route, and potentially coat it in the future if any issues arise. Zavlar might come in handy for a lot of application though.

What can I expect in oxygen saturation, molds, and and general water quality in an enclosed grey water reservoir? I'm also considering a ~1000 gallon open top outdoor reservoir with its own plant and animal stock. Never built aquariums on this scale before and simply searching as much information as I can and willing to experiment. I especially want the summer temperature of the water as cool as possible without chillers.

This is quite an interesting idea. Have you drawn some kind of layout showing what you want?

Two potential pitfalls to keep in mind: That paludarium will create a lot of moisture in the house, which will cause problems unless you have a way to keep it down or have designed the house with moisture control in mind. Also, with that much water as a heat sink your 1000W heater may not be sufficient during rapid weather changes.

Yes, roughly. I'll try to make something in a format I can post. The roof is single sloped with a crawl space on the front side and a 4 ft return slop on the front cathedral ceiling. Where it meets at the peak on the inside ceiling is a 2 inch gap with individually sealable vents and an exhaust fan on one end of the crawl space. The exhaust fan port also has a sealable hatch for winterizing. Since the ceiling exhaust is only about 4 ft from the front wall the vivarium can be vented out the same vents the house is, possibly with a separate venting fan.

All wall and ceiling are cover in waterproof FRP board over 1.5 inch styrofoam board, with seams siliconed and taped, and concrete floors. I can take a waterhose to the inside of the house without damaging it. So from a damage perspective moisture it not a problem. With added thermal mass and controlling the water temperature, through bypass valves, entering the indoor tank I should be able to control indoor temperature to a large extent without any heater. Bypassing the waterfall when I don't want to lose heat venting moisture should also help.

Once the system is operational I may add a control logics system to it to automate environmental controls, for house and vivarium. Right now I am just searching for ideas and ways to integrate it to maximize self sufficiency of house and vivarium ecology. So my plans may change as I go. I've built the house to handle complete renovations if I have to rebuild the internal features. Even the cabinets and shelves will only be attached via plastic coated steel cables suspended from a structural band of wall trim. I am prepared to experiment, and redo what I don't like.

Crikey! You are serious about this!

I'll be watching this thread with bated breath.

Crikey! You are serious about this!

I'll be watching this thread with bated breath.

Yes, I'm serious. I'll post some pictures of some of it in a day or so, but not much in the way of the vivarium yet.