Canadienne - love your setup!!
For ventilation, I have two fans in the lid that turn on when the humidity gets to 97% (I think) and then a fan in the top corner that is on all of the time time. The tank itself has been running for about a month and a half, and so far there has not been much mold. Just a little on the bottom of some leaf litter that got eaten, so I think the springtails and isopods are doing their work! If the pellets for the crabs are in there for a day or two, they get mushy, then the insects eat them up.
Using pure dirt did make me nervous, but as I mentioned, it is for the crabs. Of course, I have yet to see any of them burrow in it yet - typical! I also thought I'd just have to live with the aesthetics of dirt constantly flowing into the water section, but so far nothing! I did put down a mesh screen, weed barrier, and some orchid bark. The top layer of soil is moist all of the time, but it is about 3" thick, so I suspect it may not be wet all of the way down.
And yes, having an actual fish tank in there is a whole other element! I do have a regular 55 gallon fresh water aquarium. I have thought about doing a salt water tank, but I know I couldn't keep up with the maintenance. The paludarium was designed to be as low maintenance as possible. So far, I mainly just remove uneaten food from the water portion every few days, and drop fresh food in once a every day or two, fill up the
misting system bucket once a week, and that's about it.
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