Water Feature Help Needed!!!

[janelc]

Hey all you water feature experts.... How does one put a water feature into their viv set up? I have begun my research and there seems to be so many options!!!

I know that many of you create a false bottom so that water is circulating underneath the land portion of the viv, but what circulates the water? Are there specific filters/pumps that should or should not be used? I saw one that is submersible and can lay on its side. But what do you do if you want to incorporate a waterfall or something similar?

Help!

[Athen]

as far as the pump goes this is what i have in my tank Fluval 2 Internal plus filter 104 GPH
it is able to be used as an in gravel filter and works wonderfully has a great flow for a water fall as for in my tank since i havnt set my FB tank yet i ran the discharge to a piece of cork bark with a hole carved in it and it provides a nice waterfall look in a FB tank you would have more freedom since you could design your GS around the discharge hose to create your water fall where ever and however you want weather you want it going directly into your water or creating a small pool and a river and draining into your water you could create the pool and river by using a small bowl or something similar thereto and covering it in GS to form your pool basin then where ever you would want your river coming off of the pool use 2" PVC cut in half length wise and cast a mold with GS and trail it of into your water obviously it would have to go down a slight slope cover your pond and river molds in a layer of silicone just like you would with your BG then place sand or small pebbles on it for the looks =)

[smaug]

I have a bunch of pictures on the members galler portion of this forum.It shows how I did my watercourse.I used the pump in this link.
Mini Jet 404 Pump | Water Pumps | Water Pumps & Power Heads | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com
here is a link to my viv build album.
https://www.vivariumforum.com/communi...ry.php?cat=526

[janelc]

Athen-Thanks!!! When making the pond area-is it completely sealed off? How would the water then filter down into the pool area for recirculation?

Smaug-awesome viv!!! Thanks for the help. It seems as though you are using a pump only and then then the blue bio balls for filtration? Is this correct? How will you change out the pump if it ever decides not to work anymore? Is the front pond area sealed off from the water underneath completly? Love the cork bark waterfall-totally cool!!!

Thank you both for your time!!!!

[smaug]

Originally Posted by janelc

Athen-Thanks!!! When making the pond area-is it completely sealed off? How would the water then filter down into the pool area for recirculation?

Smaug-awesome viv!!! Thanks for the help. It seems as though you are using a pump only and then then the blue bio balls for filtration? Is this correct? How will you change out the pump if it ever decides not to work anymore? Is the front pond area sealed off from the water underneath completely? Love the cork bark waterfall-totally cool!!!

Thank you both for your time!!!!

Great questions.The piece of cork bark on the right rear is movable and it is what shields the eye from the plumbing.It wont be easy but I built the provisions into that to get to my pump.Looking back on the bio balls I really doubt they do much but they were cheap and at the time I didn't think they would hurt.Bio balls really only work if you can get good highly oxygenated water flow over and through them.If I had it to do over I would omit them.When I build another one of these I will have my filtration on the outside of the tank for easy maintenance.The pond are is not totally sealed ,it has an overflow built in around the top of it so I can add water as needed.It also has small holes drilled around it to facilitate water movement.I actually keep a ghost shrimp in there to eat any crickets that drown.Thank you for the compliments,glad I could help.

[froggsong]

You know, I bet having the duckweed stuff in there helps cut down on drowned crickets. Does it?

I have long been wondering how exactly it works with the false bottoms and filtration. From what I am understanding (correct me if I'm wrong please!), the pond area is divided from the area under the land portion by egg crate and mesh. Is that right? If so, how do you actually filter any waste out of the pond area? I have generally seen the filters/pumps in the area under the land, sometimes pouring onto the land area to create a stream. If the filter is behind the screen/egg crate wall, how does waste get through the screen to be filtered? I want to build one of these for my dragon (I'm actually thinking about redoing the tank now until I get the big one built), but I need it to be able to filter waste from the water as they use the bathroom in it, alot. What I'm thinking is that the screen is going to keep waste from getting to the filter. How do you get around this other than having the filter right in the pond area?

[Athen]

Janelc- for the pond river idea the pond and river would be solid and not allow the water to seep through it how it would work is as the water flows out of the pond and down the river it would dump into your main pool section effectively being your discharge into the main pool section.

rainfrogg- as far as the waste being caught up in the screen you bring up a good point i suppose you could skim it every now and then or try to find a sort of fish or plant that would clean it out for my FB setup im gonna do for my dragon i plan on using an out of tank filter that will pull the water out of the main pool section and filter the water and discharge it back in as well as using an in gravel pump/filter to circulate the water that way it gets good circulation and then the filter used to clean out the waste is easy to access to clean out =)

[smaug]

Originally Posted by froggsong

You know, I bet having the duckweed stuff in there helps cut down on drowned crickets. Does it?

I have long been wondering how exactly it works with the false bottoms and filtration. From what I am understanding (correct me if I'm wrong please!), the pond area is divided from the area under the land portion by egg crate and mesh. Is that right? If so, how do you actually filter any waste out of the pond area? I have generally seen the filters/pumps in the area under the land, sometimes pouring onto the land area to create a stream. If the filter is behind the screen/egg crate wall, how does waste get through the screen to be filtered? I want to build one of these for my dragon (I'm actually thinking about redoing the tank now until I get the big one built), but I need it to be able to filter waste from the water as they use the bathroom in it, alot. What I'm thinking is that the screen is going to keep waste from getting to the filter. How do you get around this other than having the filter right in the pond area?

I haven't gotten to many drowned ones yet ,no.As for filtering the debris from the pond water I use a turkey baster to vacuum the bottom the shrimp does the rest I haven't seen a clear need for filtration just yet and I'm not sure I will.My viv is heavily planted and lightly stocked with animals.I figure that between having coco soil ,leca and live plants that it will filter itself and any waste product will be broken down and used by the plants.I hear recommendations to tear down a viv for cleaning every other week or more!I cannot imagine dong that.The ones that my local pet store have in operation have been in constant use for over a year with no tearing down.My pond is a glad wear bowl cut roughly in half to have the front part siliconed to the front glass wall for visibility and it is not sealed from the resevoir totally,my watercourse is not water proof either as it is just a piece of unsealed cork bark.Underneath it where the water drips I have stone chips on top of the mesh that is over the eggcrate FB so the water goes directly back to the reservoir.It is constantly wet there so I have tropical moss and anubias coffefolia planted there.

[janelc]

Thanks so much, Smaug!!! You have helped answer quite a few questions!!!

[strange_screams]

filters work by straining fine particles and providing area for bacteria to grow. The bacteria eat organic material after it has already rotted and introduced ammonia into the water column. Bacteria break down ammonia into nitrites and nitrates. Things like shrimp dont really clean anything, they just help the breakdown process helping to turn larger portions of organic material into smaller ones that will rot faster and turn into ammonia faster. The final product in the chain of the nitrogen cycle is nitrates. Toxins, minerals, salts ect. do not evaporate and there for must be removed, either manually by changing a percentage of the water, usually 20 to 50 percent every one or two weeks depending on the bio-load, or by introducing a large amount of plants. It was originally thought that plants could only use nitrates as fuel but it has now been discovered in the aquarium hobby that fast growing plants like duckweed, water sprite,elodea, water lettuce, giant sylvania ect can use the ammonia directly from the water column and have no need for it to be broken down. These are all very fast growing high light plants that grow emergent with no need for there roots to be in a substrate. Combining these with more permanent plants rooted under the water and in the soil above you can have a very efficient filter. It is still recommended that you use something to create a water flow so the toxins or nutrients can be used efficiently by the plants.

If a terrarium is in balance with the correct ratio of plants to animals then it should only be broken down when the soil has completely degraded. Eco earth and coconut fibers, orchid bark, and there are other brand names that actually take a lot longer, are good for terrarium use because of the high ratio of cellulose, it takes longer to decompose. This process can be prolonged by adding newer substrate on occasion and allowing the leaf litter to accumulate much in the way of mulching and adding compost to a garden every year. But because it is a closed system it can not sustain itself forever. I would imagine that a well maintained balanced system with a water table could go on for no more then 5 years before all the planting substrate would be complete mush. I would suggest replacing all or part of the substrates ina system such as this every one to two years.