New Red Eye Set up - including water feature/pond

[Hoppy 79]

Hi all,

This is my first post on here although I am not new to keep reptiles and amphibians.

I a creating a new enclosure for my red eyes and this is something I have not done before to this level.

I have purchased an exo terra 60x45x60 (they are currently in a 45x45x60 but this is going to be a new home for some dart frogs.

anyway I really want a water feature (waterfall into a stream that runs into a pond!) but I have some questions as to how to go about this.

I will install a false bottom using egg crate and an internal pump to circulate water from the pond back up to the waterfall/stream.
question is should I have 2 separate water systems or 1. If only one what do I use to separate the substrate from the pond?

This new set up is still just a hobby one but I am looking at trying to breed them so will be installing a rain system also.

Any advise will be well received, thanks,

Scott

[Hoppy 79]

so construction has started!!
Had a change of plan and decided against egg crate system.

Instead I am using polystyrene sheet to construct the waterfall elements. You can see the basic construction elements are ready;



next step is to silicone

[Hoppy 79]

Firstly I apologise that most of pictures are 90 degrees out, for some reason If I take a picture on my phone in portrait mode I can't rotate it or load it any differently.

Now to the progress,
The sides were silicone and the polystyrene structure fixed in place. I did a quick water test (only a cup) to check the water would run where I wanted it to.
Then comes the expanding foam, started at the bottom first and placed tubing to connect the pond to the pump area and also the main tank (although I have now decided to block this off as it wouldn't work and might not allow the required bacteria build up).
Then the tank was laid flat and the background foam was applied. I also added some empty pots .

Trimmed all this back and carried out a full water test last night with the pump, it looked great and really seems to work well (I might work on the waterfall a bit more to get it perfect though).

Next step is grouting

[DanDrobates]

Very nice layout and great job on the construction!

[froggyhobby]

You may want drainage holes on you planters through your foam. Otherwise you will get water retention and flood your plants and root rot. (Potentially)

Also Foam has been known to separate itself from glass after 6 months or more and it could cause your other half of your tank to flood out where you put soil.

Also, RETFs require fresh water daily. Not sure if there is any long term effects to a RETF which has water that remains in the tank and runs through open celled foam over time. My waterfalls are usually made from MOPANI wood instead. I look forward to hearing your success rate on your tank and future inhabitants.

I could be wrong though.
Thoughts

[Hoppy 79]

You may want drainage holes on you planters through your foam. Otherwise you will get water retention and flood your plants and root rot. (Potentially)

Also Foam has been known to separate itself from glass after 6 months or more and it could cause your other half of your tank to flood out where you put soil.

Also, RETFs require fresh water daily. Not sure if there is any long term effects to a RETF which has water that remains in the tank and runs through open celled foam over time

I am by no means an expert but I have done a little research.
Good shout on the drainage holes I will definitely look into that.
As for the foam yes you are right but this is one of the reasons for adding the silicone to the glass prior to Foaming (that and how unsightly it is through the glass)
The reason for the fresh water is to stop bacteria build up in the small pools normally provided to RETF's, there will be approximately 1 gallon of water in this system and I plan on doing regular water changes (how regular they need to be I am not sure but will be at least 10% a week). Also the foam is being well sealed so that any potential toxic leak from foam will not happen.

Hopefully these steps prevent any of the issues you have highlighted, thanks for the feedback though it is always appreciated.

[Hoppy 79]

Grouting almost complete


Will want to trim back some of this silicone too, put a bit too much on