starting jewls new tank

[Savannah]

heres the tank. its an 18x18x24 exo terra.
heres the background so far. not all of its glued on yet. but i just started.

[deranged chipmunk]

awww...pics don't work

[Savannah]

ill fix it...one min

[Savannah]

ok try agin...

[deranged chipmunk]

that should be a neat looking water feature. is the bright blue and gold thing a rock????

[Savannah]

no its glass piece of jewelry i get from a friend. im going to have water run down the whole thing.

[deranged chipmunk]

gotcha that's gonna look cool with water running all over it. you should get some neat effects from the lighting with the water rushing over all that shiny stone

[Savannah]

thats what i was going for. what i can't fgure out is if i want to jst silicone the base or should a spread silicone over the top to?? U know what i mean?? lol

[deranged chipmunk]

I know what you mean. Siliconing over the rocks will leave a dull looking coating over the rocks. You could use a clear epoxy and get the same result without the haze. Otherwise, i would only silicone the rock to the tile

[Savannah]

your awesome your so helpful. thank you.

[Savannah]

oh...so exactly how deeep should soil be??? i thought it was 3-4 inches...could that be part of y my plants died? (if thats not deep enough)

[deranged chipmunk]

nope, 3-4 inches is plenty. if your roots don't quite "fit" then you can just slice them. picture the root ball in thirds, cut from the bottom and cut 2 thirds the way up, then just give the roots the ol' pippi longstocking look and plant away. they will then spread horizontally

[Savannah]

pippi longstocking look?? lol

[deranged chipmunk]

Yeah, you know.....pigtails......am i showing my age on that one? Lol

[Savannah]

lol oh ok... noo....i've heard of it before just couldn't remember what it was lol

[Savannah]

SOOO im having trouble with the drip wall. i made hole like i was supposed to and waters not wanting to come through. if i plug the end not in the pump it'll ooz a little...make bubbles i guess is best way to explain it. waht am i doing wrong?? do i just need to make the holes bigger??

[deranged chipmunk]

You do need to cap the end of the tube. Make sure the height isn't too high for the pump, otherwise nothing you do will work. As far as the holes go, larger ones at the end of the run, smaller ones closer to the pump.

[Savannah]

o...how high is to high?? im having it run up the side and across the top. the holes run across the top

[deranged chipmunk]

depends on the pump really. every pump is rated with what is called "head height" that is the height at which the pump can push water to, for lack of a better term. smaller pumps are normally rated at around 80 gph and 14" head height. so, let's say, for example, you are trying to reach the top of an 18" tank with this hypothetical pump, it obviously won't work. i look for pumps that will push at least 50% more than the height i am trying to reach.

[Savannah]

ok. thankyou. ...if i raised the pump somehow would that help if the pump is to small for the height??