Hammy is getting a new home.

[Seymour]

So I have this adorable Blue Phase Dumpy, he's (I think Hammy is a he... s/he is still kind of young to be sure) rather small, yet, so he's going to be staying in a nicely set up 10 gallon during construction.

I am going to be documenting and photographing this as it's my first REAL Viv-venture. :P Hammy's current abode is the only thing I've really decorated. It's nice, just WAY too small for the little bugger when he reaches adult size.

I just bought a nice big (45X45X60) Exo-Terra to customize. I intend on putting in a waterfall, a false bottom etc. I'm currently laying out a plan in my mind, hopefully it'll hit paper in the next few days. As I'm dreaming up the blue prints though, I have a few questions for all of you experts out there! ^_^

I'm going to be putting a false bottom constructed of light diffuser, mesh and zip ties in the vivarium. I'll have a hatch for easy access to the water pump, etc. I'll be filling the space under the false bottom with Hydroballs so that the water will have a nice biological filter. The pump, a Maxi-Jet 400, will circulate the water through the Hydroballs and up through the waterfall.

Question the first: The part that's got me stumped right now is the pump. I feel very silly because I can't figure out what I'm supposed to attach to the pump to direct the water where I need it to go... I origionally thought I was supposed to use airline tubing, but it's won't fit and would be way too small for decent flow anyways. I'm sure there's a "Building Vivariums for Dummies" book that I need to go read, lol. Any suggestions?

[froggsong]

First, I have a question for you... I'm planning at some point in the future to open my own pet store. I would absolutely LOVE it if you would give me permission to use "Viv-venture" (I might spell it Viventure or perhaps keep it the way you spelled it) as the name of my store. I'm asking because unless you've read that elsewhere, you just copyrighted it by posting it online. I absolutely LOVE that. Of course, if I spell it differently it technically wouldn't violate any copyright, but still, I want to ask. That is just the perfect name for what I want to do with the store.

As for your pump question, you'll need to measure the OD and ID of the outlet. Usually you'll need tubing (I recommend checking an ACE hardware if you have one available, they sell it by the foot, which means there won't be kinks like the prepacked stuff you'll find at HD), but you might have to do trial and error to find the right size. BUt you might be able to use thin PVC pipe (depending on your application).