Building a “Fallen AI Core” themed paludarium – curious what this community thinks
Hey everyone, longtime lurker finally making my first post here!
I've been building planted tanks and paludariums for a few years and I'm currently working on a new build that I wanted to get some feedback on from people deep in the hobby.
The concept I'm experimenting with is something I'm calling “The Fallen AI Core.”
The idea is that a machine meant to control nature has been sitting in the environment for years and nature has slowly reclaimed it - vines growing over it, moss taking hold, plants slowly engulfing the structure while the ecosystem develops around it.
The concept image is more of an artistic direction. The final enclosure will end up much more plant-heavy and natural looking like my previous build, also attached.
The enclosure itself will be a large vertical paludarium:
48" long × 27" deep × 66" tall
with roughly ~21 inches of water depth (75 gallon aquarium) and the rest dedicated to the planted arboreal section above.
Right now I'm planning to build the background using a mix of:
- carved expanding foam for structure and ledges
- cork bark for climbing surfaces and hides
- sealed surfaces (Drylok style coating) so plants can attach and roots can establish
- potentially materials like EpiWeb or Hygrolon to help plants grow over the structure (but I've never used these before!)
The “AI core” itself would likely be embedded partially into the background so it functions more like hardscape rather than just a decorative object.
I'm also experimenting with a Raspberry Pi based monitoring/automation setup to track things like humidity, temperature, lighting cycles, and misting - mostly to help stabilize the environment once the enclosure is established.
I'm curious what people here think about the idea.
Have you seen any paludariums that successfully combine a strong theme with a natural ecosystem like this?
Also very open to suggestions for materials or techniques that work well for getting plants to establish on artificial structures.