Vivarim Plumbing and filtration.

[Vivweaver]

Hello every one! My name is Joe, and I am a new Viv. Builder. I have a 55 gal long, which I house my CWD in, and would like some feed back about my plumbing idea.

I went to Hobby Lobby last week, and they didn't know what 'Egg Crate" is, so I bought some plexiglass instead. The plexy glass will sit on one and a half inch inch PVC tubing, to allow water to pass. (Big rocks will stop the Dragon from going under the substrate). So I will have a water pool, as well as a filter on the other end. The filter will then circulate the water from a tube into a stream, that will flow back into the pool after going down two water falls, and hitting rocks.

This provides the following:

• Circulating water that releases Nitrates and Phosphates (sp)
• Filtration through Osmosis, Coal, and light
• Filtration through the light, since I will havea UVA and UVB. (UVA for the plants)

I have no water or dirt in there right now, but will do this before the weekend is over. I have heard of every one using clay balls, but I thought that would cause smell and a nasty build up after a while.

Please let me know if you think this will work before I build it and mess everything up

[beckdg]

i assume filter through light means a uv sterilizer. i also assume you will be drilling holes or creating run off somehow in your plexi design so your plants don't drown.

assuming these things and that there is nothing else you may not have mentioned... yes it is possible. it might be a good idea to figure out how to get the water to go through a filter sponge although it shouldn't be necessary.

[Vivweaver]

I wasn't going to drill holes into the plexi, because the water is going to be in an artificial stream base, but because you mentioned it I will definitely do that. I'm having the layers as follows: Water, Plexiglass (sp), Rocks, Screen, Soil, Moss/plants. Thanks for the info!

By UV filtering, I just mean the bulbs. I read a report once about how light can kill many of the infectious fungus' on the micro-biological leve. My main goal with this vivarium is automatic cleanlines. I want the tank to be self cleaning for the most part. I understand maintenance is required, but by my second vivarium for either Poison Dart Frogs or Red Eyed Tree Frogs, I want to touch the environment the least possible to ensure undue stress is not brought upon the animals.

[beckdg]

as far as i see black light bulbs are the best sources for uva... not a good choice at all imo. also you should not have to supplement uva as it should be supplied by any full spectrum, daylight, sunlight, or growing bulbs. uvb should be supplemented for any diurnal species (awake during the day). the amount will vary depending on what climate they come from and their habits. for instance a bearded dragon is from the desert therefore they will need more uvb (this indicates a stronger bulb). frogs on the other hand rarely live to far from water and are usually prey to larger animals so stay out of the light more often... less uvb if any considering how many species are nocturnal.

UVC... this is the light commonly used by your local water source to filter out anything living in your water. you can buy little systems called uv sterilizers for an aquarium. these systems range from a 5 watt bulb for around $60 to "wow... and that kills everything in the water for the whole town?". it is highly recommended not to look at this light as the rays it produces kills just about anything living. the way we use it is we stick it in a housing to block the light from getting out. we seal that housing so it doesn't leak. then we run tubes and a pump to run water through it. when the water passes through the light for a long enough period it will kill algae. double or triple that time and it kills parasites. this light is only effective through water for a very short distance so sterilizers are always pretty thin.

i am currently running a kinda homemade version on my planted tank. my water is always sparkling clear . i have also not had anything spread through this tank even after moving fish from my other tank that i found a day later to be covered with ick!

coralife makes a series that always gets good reviews and their bulbs from what i've read are some of the best on the market. here is a link to a google shopping page to give you an idea: uv sterilizer - Google Product Search

[Vivweaver]

Excelent info! I didn't even know about UVC. With all that you said, I'll look at buying the kit unless I can build it myself, which I'll test before adding to the viv.

Now that's the swimming/drinking water. For the misting, I plan on doing things the long way. I'm planning on using a pond pump for small ponds that circulates 400 gph. I plan on putting it into a 5 gal bucket, and sealing the bucket with a lid to maintain pressure as water drops. The pump will be connected to three misters, and with that type of circulation power, I should meet 25psi required to open the valves for the mister.

What do you think?

[beckdg]

i don't think so. i have a link around somewhere on how to make a cheap diy mister. the pressure needed to open those valves will not come from a normal pump. here is the link... don't get mad at me for how cheap or simple it really was when you're done.

i am pretty sure jason has one link that's really good to directions a gecko forum... pretty much the same thing. you could also look through mine, harrywitmores and jasons recent posts (last week or 2). i sent a link to harry and jason tossed a really good one on an old thread... pretty sure it was a build log... something about a stream... it may be still up under hot topics on the home page.

[Vivweaver]

Yeah, I saw that link about a week ago. That seems like a great idea, however I'd like something electric. It may not be possible, however I'm trying to get everything electric so I can control it with a wireless remote, or even web based.
Yes, it would be embarassing if some one "hacked" into my vivarium. At the same time, with sensors I could set mist times, temperatures, and light effects all with the click of a mouse. we have a web based system at work that shows me the temperature of my server rooms, and I could use the same technology for an vivarium.

However, I am seriously looking at the design you sent me to start out with. For the plan above, I need a little more money, and advance my scripting skills. Thanks for keeping me posted. I love this forum. There's no vivarium folk in Colorado that I know.

[beckdg]

if you wanted to go that route you may want to look into x10 household appliance controllers. there are other controllers. each has it's advantages. if you look into x10 you should see. you can use these guys to control everything.