Lecca Balls or False Bottom

[drm1217]

I am about to make a new vivarium. My last one was my first, and I tried to make a false bottom. In short it was a major disaster and I went with gravel. It was a 29 gallon and all the gravel made it very heavy. I had a waterfall, so I used egg crate to divide the gravel from the filter. What I am asking for are the goods and the bads about using lecca balls or using a false bottom. I also would like to know if you can make a pond using lecca balls. With gravel you just push it aside, is that the same with lecca balls? Also I will not need extra humidity in this vivarium.

[smaug]

leca balls would be too lightweight to hold the form of a pond.I used leca
as well as a false bottom.I used fine stainless mesh over my eggrate and on top of that I laid the leca,I did however make the mistake of not using a mesh between my leca and my coco earth so I imagine that will come back to haunt me in the form of a clogged leca layer.I have 2 inches of water under my false bottom and I have lots of humidity [too much]If I do another one I will be using much less water for my reservoir and it will not be under the entire length of the tank.I used a glad bowl to form my pond and it rests below the eggcrate.If you are interested in how I did it,I have a photo album that shows the steps I took.

[Rainfrog]

I like to use Leca and cover it with Weed Barrier (can get a 3ft by 50ft roll frome HD for $13 about) for a pond area I push it down and add some small rocks over the liner for looks and to hold the shape.

[smaug]

Originally Posted by Rainfrog

I like to use Leca and cover it with Weed Barrier (can get a 3ft by 50ft roll frome HD for $13 about) for a pond area I push it down and add some small rocks over the liner for looks and to hold the shape.

Thats a good idea!

[drm1217]

Can you put a pump under lecca balls? I have heard that using a false bottom enables an easy pump and filter system.

[benighted]

Word of advice: don't put your pump in a place that is hard to get to. You don't want to have to tear the whole thing apart if your pump gets clogged or dies.

The lifetime of your pump is inversely proportional to the difficulty of replacing it.