New Viv Questions with Pics

[Andry]

PICTURES PLUS VIDEO OF VIV DOWN BELOW

Here are some updated pictures of my viv, I have two major problems right now...
1 - Too much substrate is passing to my pump and clogging it up. What can I do about this? Currently it's in a box, but that box is just made up of two materials, egg crate (which holds back nothing) and another type of plastic wall that has much smaller passage ways and it also has some mesh, but not a lot and it didn't stick very well with the glue gun so, it's sort of coming off - what I did add on there. Is there anything I can wrap my pump with to keep it clean?
2 - The knob that goes on the drain of my pump got loose somehow when screwing on the valve. Now, I can't get to the inside part of the valve inside the tank because it's under my false bottom and I'd have to get the dirt out and the mesh and cut a whole in the crate in order to get to it to tighten it on that side of the tank. Any ideas on how to fix this? It's dripping water. :-(



Putting on the silicone to glue on the dirt:


It was an awful hard process to get it to unwarp/lay flat against the glass to silicone it on to the back glass. But it stuck, not completely, but for the most part, it stuck.


Now I've planted some plants:


And added some bark, then LECA, then soil




Plus I also have a video to show my major problems. Any suggestions greatly appreciated at this point. I feel like a failure on the viv creation. I hope there is a fix for my problems.

Here is the video:
YouTube - Tank 6/27/10

[dart345]

I do not know what to tell you about your 2nd problem, besides removing the egg crate false bottom so you can touch up that spot.. Did you test it and fill it with water to the top to see if it was leaking before you installed the egg crate?

As for the 1st problem, you can build a box like structure out of egg crate material... Cover it with FIBERGLASS mesh, the fine stuff, this will help and if needed you can even glue the aquarium "foam like" filters to further help the substrate getting into the pump area. If you stop by my construction journal you can see how I did this. This allowed me to do access the pump at all times for maintenance and any other problems. As for the drain goes, I have it installed on the right side of the tank, where my water feature is at, so I can easily drain the water if need be.

[dart345]

I just saw the video, and yea I am sorry but you are going to need to put some type of screen there to prevent that from getting there. Where exactly is the dirt coming from i.e. the actual background? or whats on the ground?

If your box is big enough, and pump small enough perhaps, after you remove the pump, you can Clean the area up with a shop vac to get out all that dirt, make a smaller box to dwell within that area.. That prevent you from yanking out the tank materials and rebuilding.

[Andry]

The dirt is just what has gotten through the wire mesh that is under the dirt. The dirt is so fine that it just gets through everything. Nothing holds it back. It's not a whole lot that has gotten through, but what has ends up in my filter box and therefore in the filter.

The reason I put my drain under the tank is because when I went to get the whole made in the glass they said I could not put it so close to the edge. They showed me where it would go and it was just too high and the water wasn't even going to be that high. The water only goes about 1 inch and a half high in the tank. The whole would have been like two inches up on the glass. So, I decided to make it on bottom which seemed like a great idea. Little did I know it was going to leak. Well, it wouldn't leak if it was tight, but the whole problem is the knob got loose.

I think I'm going to have to cut a small square/circle where the drain is instead of lifting the whole false bottom and when I'm done I will cover the whole a piece of egg crate and maybe with great stuff on top and if I ever need to access it again I will sort of have my own little top for the drain. I hope this works.

For the Pump I will try what you said. The box is not too large and might even be too small to hold another box, but I will try. What a mess.

[dart345]

how fine is the wire mesh and is the mesh actually metal wire? You have to keep in mind the rust if it is.

AS for the hole, well mine is right there by the edge of the glass, it has been done and can be done.

I think in your situation for the fine particles the foam sponge like material that is a filter should work. I hope mine does not do this, because I havent placed soil in there yet, but I have really fine fiber glass mesh screen, not only that, but the water has to go through some layers of filters before it hits my area...

If i have the same problem, which I hope not, I am going to add that material I was talking about. The box I made is big enough for me to fit my hand in and work in the area. I placed a pvc pipe in the corner to hide the tube. The actually electric cord will simply just be coated with a titebond mixture, that way it can visible be shown but camoflauge.

[Andry]

I wonder if I can just cover the pump with those sponge looking things that go inside filters.

[dart345]

I am not sure about that, if anything I would cover the interwall with the sponge material, that way the pump can breathe. Not saying it wouldnt work, but its a possiblity, I would rather have it glued to the inside walls of the box where the pump is at...

[froggsong]

Andry, I hate to say it, but I think you should start over...

I wish I had been online more often lately, I could have pointed out some things to you before you finished when you could have fixed them earlier.

The metal screen is totally inappropriate. I'm sure we have stressed over and over again that you MUST use fiberglass screen, as metal screen will rust. When it rusts, it will begin to degrade and eventually fall apart. when it starts falling apart, it will fall down into your water, and it will allow your substrate to fall in as well. This can happen faster than you might think... Is there a reason you chose to go with metal screen?

The height of your FB is going to leave your soil very wet most of the time. There should be an air gap between the bottom of the FB and the top of the water to prevent the soil from wicking to the saturation point. This gap should be at least 1/2", preferably 1".

I don't understand why you put down a layer of bark, THEN leca. What was your reason for this? the leca is used as a drainage layer, and as such should be the BOTTOM layer, not the middle. Each layer should be separated by a layer of FIBERGLASS screen. So, you have the bottom of the tank, water, air, eggcrate, scree, leca, screen, soil mix (you can layer or mix this however you want, in your case I would do soil then bark).

I haven't watched your video (my internet connection doesn't like videos much), but from the context above I think that your drain is leaking, correct? Did you just screw a fitting into it, or did you seal the fitting? With a bottom drain, it is necessary for you to seal the fitting for the drain. You should put a bead of silicone down, press the fitting into it, then put a bed around the fitting and smooth it into the seam with a finger.

Did you cover your filter box with a plant?

If you are getting lots of substrate in your pump, then you need to build a better pump housing. dart's idea of a removable box within a box is a good idea. Regaurdless, a box covered in FIBERGLASS mesh is a good start. You can sew the mesh onto the box with fishing line or NYLON thread (NO COTTON!!!) to be sure it will not gape and allow sustrate into the housing. You can cover this with nylon stockings, but the stocking will clog fairly quickly. A solution to this is to create a staged filter outside of the stocking, such as LECA (since you have it already), filter sponge or something like PLASTIC kitchen scrubbies, FIBERGLASS screen, stocking, FIBERGLASS screen, eggcrate, pump (that's layers of filtration from outside to inside).

With all of the things that you NEED to fix, it would be easier to pull everything out than try to retrofit everything where it is.

It's very important to solve one problem before charging ahead and finishing a project. If there were things going wrong, why didn't you get them fixed before continuing to the next step? Now you have more work than you would have had if you'd finished each step before moving on. I'm not scolding or trying to upset you, I am just pointing this out to you to be sure that you see it. You aren't a failure at this, you just need to work step by step next time.

[froggsong]

dart, why on earth would a WATER pump need to "breathe"?

[Andry]

Froggsong! Where were you all this time I needed you?

Ok, I didn't realize I had a problem until the very end. Unfortunately.

So, The substrate and screen is not a problem to change. I already bought the fiberglass screen and I am ready to take out all of the substrate.

I bought wire mesh because I thought I had read in several places to make sure it was wire and not fiberglass. I even had a hard time finding the wire one vs. the fiberglass. Go figure....don't even want to go back and look for where I read this...I'm sad that I messed up on that part after sticking myself so many times and also trying to figure out how the frogs will not stick themselves!

I unfortunately cannot take out the background because I have glued it in with silicone, and therefore that means I cannot take out the egg crate without breaking it apart first. But I think I will be okay leaving the egg crate down.

Regarding the drain under the tank....I did not silicone the drain piece, the guy who drilled the hole and sold me the piece did not mention this. He said to not use pliers and to use only hand force to tighten and that it would not leak. He repeated all of this several times like it was very important not to use pliers. Now my husband is angry that we did not use them. The piece got loose when screwing in the drain piece to the piece already on the glass. I'm apologize for my lack of knowledge on the terms and names of all of these pieces. I just have no experience with this stuff. First it has a black plastic whole piece that goes directly to the tank and then after that he gave me a valve to screw into it. While screwing in this valve the first piece came loose. But Silicone sounds like a great idea. I will redo this even if I have to tear that part of the egg crate out to get to it. I can always just add a piece of egg crate or fiberglass on top of the whole in the crate, right?

Now for the height of my crate. I did 1 1/2 inch tall PVC under the crate. I filled the water to 1 inch to let 1/2 inch of air in between the egg crate and the water. This should be enough, right? All in all if I add in the height of the egg crate and the inch or two of leca balls, that should be enough breathing room for the substrate, right? Or I can always stack a second egg crate on top of the one I have to raise the height, right? What do you suggest?

I put down a layer of bark because I thought the LECA and bug screen wasn't enough to filter the substrate which is sooo fine it gets through everything! I almost wish I didn't have to have the soil. :-( But I will take it all out (leca, bark, and soil) and do what you said.

Now for my pump box....I made the whole box out of egg crate and then covered the egg crate with a separate plastic covering that is used in fish tanks for draining the gravel. It came with the used tank I bought and I cut it up and fit it on the outside. Keep in mind this box is only two sides plus the top which is egg crate only with great stuff on top of that, because I am using the glass as my third and forth side. I hope this is okay. Outside of all of these two sides I added great stuff and covered it with substrate so that it looks all built in to the background. And on top of the great stuff that is on the top of the box I have a little planter installed to put a plant in there. That's just another addition to make it look like it's not just a box in the tank but more of a landing or something on the background. I hope this makes sense.

I had planned to add screen on the inside of the box but it had poked me so bad and I didn't know how to make it stay but I hadn't thought about sewing it, great idea! This is why the substrate made it in the box so easily. I can't sew on the mesh because I have great stuff on the outside of the box, but I can glue it on can't I with silicone around the edges? And Can't I just make a third box of the fiberglass mesh on top of the sponge/foam filter and just slide it into the box of egg crate?

Believe me after saying all of this and thinking of the process, I'm pretty sure once I'm in the process of doing all this I will end up tearing out that little box and starting over again just in that corner though. I can then make the box bigger/longer so that I can work better within that space. Currently it is (i am estimating because I'm not in front of it) maybe 3 inches by 4 inches, if that. I think maybe smaller. And tall it is probably 5 or 6 inches tall. It's just enough room for my small hand to get in there and push the pump down on the bottom.

Thank you so much for helping me with this Froggsong. And I wanted to ask, Orchid bark is okay to use then on top of the soil? I like the looks of it and it will also keep my darts from getting so dirty with soil. Oh, and I will also have dried leaves on top of it all. I can't believe I purchased a bag of these leaves (a small bag) for $8 when I found a whole bunch of the same kind on the sidewalk while taking a walk in my neighborhood. Do I need to bake these before I use them in my tank?