Mossy Frog build

[deranged chipmunk]

That looks like it's gonna be sweet Amanda!! Multi leveled, nice storied water feature, very impressive is the lower level on the right going to be partially submerged?

[NatureLady]

The main land portion has pvc spacers that are 4 inches tall, the shallow end (on the right) has spacers that are 2.5 inches, the cave is set to only have 0.5-1 inch of standing water in it when complete. The cave will hold the water, but will be easy enough to just splash the water out to clean it.

The water feature up top is still causing me mental stress, kinda like your (BILL) build where the contractor and the engineer argue. I had cut these plastic bottles in half and had planned to connect the two pools with those, but they just aren't working with me. At this time my thoughts are that I will just GS the stream bed and epoxy river rocks to make a riffle to the lower pool. The epoxy will seal the GS and hold the rocks...correct? The whole idea is to keep the water circulating for proper filtration flow, but slow it down enough not to disturb the frog who likes slow moving water. Hence the cascading pools, a stream that riffles, the shallow end, and cave that holds water, but provides moist escape.

[deranged chipmunk]

yes, you can gs the stream and then seal it. if you want to try one more thing that is man made, habit trails tubes. you know those silly corrugated tubes for hamsters? they split in half, so you have 2 pieces to play with. and just like pvc, can be heated and bent to your heart's desire

isn't building a water feature the most frustrating thing in the world?? my bed bully thinks i'm nuts because i will literally start arguing with myself while building them. but it helps my process. between talking to myself (the only way i get an intelligent conversation at home) and whiteboards, it works for me. you just need to find what works for you so your mind's eye can see it better.

[NatureLady]

So riddle me this Batman...

Where do GS streams/pools leak? What is the weak point? Is it the GS it's self that erodes because of the water action? Weight of the water that causes weak spots?

This afternoon has been one of those moments where I could have thrown the egg crate mess more then once. But, on the bright side, I didn't and I don't believe I need to cut or attach another piece of egg crate to the build. *Grumble* Or at least I am not doing anymore this weekend.

[deranged chipmunk]

simply put Batgirl, the weak spot is the fact that once it is carved/cut, it is porous inside. all those little air bubbles create little pockets for the water to escape. you can seal it with epoxy, like you said, or silicone or and equivalent. what you can try to alleviate your frustration is this: instead of a slope for your pools, step it up. make it a staircase. place a pool on a couple stairs. then you can use GS to surround them, stabilize them, and you can carve it to overflow where YOU want the water to go. plus, it will be more stable than the slope. those bins will get heavy when filled with water.

[NatureLady]

So if the GS is NOT carved it is sealed and therefore water tight????

I don't want to carve it, I just want to put some GS down like a drip wall, but stream instead. Today I actually did built egg crate ledges/boxes to support that weight. The common sense person lost somewhere in my head told me that 1 gallon = 8 pounds, so these pools would put a strain on the build. I purchased those bins at my favorite store, Dollar Tree, because they are made to organize your kitchen drawers and snap together. There were three, but one had a crack in the bottom.

[deranged chipmunk]

dollar tree, the place where i go to spend $4 and end up spending $40.....lol yes, if uncarved, gs is water proof, but difficult to manipulate the water to go where you want it since you cannot control the expansion of the foam. sorry to say that some carving may be required