Argh, take note, why water features suck

[LilyPad]

Yeah, I'm sure I'll eventually face problems again with it, because of that. Hopefully not until I'm bored of the tank and ready to do another build though!

[deranged chipmunk]

Well, if you are like me, that will be next month lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LilyPad]

LOL Except I have the 24x18x24 that I need to get working on. Planning on that one taking a while. So if the grey tank doesn't hold up until I'm done with that, I will be switching back to a water bowl until the big red eye tank is done. I have so many build ideas running through my brain, I'm not even sure where to start haha.

[deranged chipmunk]

Welcome to my world!! Lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[AbranV]

There must be something in the air!

I was just getting ready to write a post about water features before I came across yours.

I've spent the past two evenings banging my head against the wall trying to figure out my water feature!

It just sits there mocking me, knowing that this is the last major hurdle before the foam, paint, dirt and the rest of the artsy fun stuff.

I could almost swear that the way I have it set up right now, the pipes and tubing look to be configured into a PVC "hand" with a clear tube "middle finger"......... must be my imagination,

Next one, oh yes the next one will be sooooo much easier right? That's how it goes, right guys? They get easier to build the more you do, right?......

Sorry, little tank stress mental breakdown.....

[DigitalPunk]

Unfortunately water features tend to be the hardest part of builds. They either work great or the mock you and kick your butt.

[LilyPad]

I was going to do a built-inwaterfall in the new red eye tank. This has made me rethink that. I think I will probably build some kind of stand alone fountain to help keep the humidity up. That way, if it stops working, I can just pull it back out. The red eyes really seem to ignore the water anyway, the humidity is high enough that their needs are satisfied. The greys enjoy a good swim, so I like giving them that option.

[DigitalPunk]

I have been "Cheating" with my tanks lately. No water features, but I have been exposing parts of the drainage layer to let the water held in there be more exposed to the air and heat to help keep humidity up lol. I am done with water features in my tanks until I practice with them more and find a way to do it that I can succeed at more often than not. lol. Right now I suck at them and have had to just walk away and stick to similar builds....

[deranged chipmunk]

Oh waa waa waa, water features suck lol the problem with water features is that they are rarely planned out and tested well enough. They are easy if you keep a few things in mind, one being that you have to accept the fact that the water will go where IT wants, not where you want it to go. Another being that people tend to flow too much water, so it goes all over. Adding a backup flow control valve in the output tubing is so helpful because the flow control on most pumps sucks. This lets too much water flow and it gets everywhere. Respect the water, and it's power, test often, then test again, then test when the tank is complete, before you add plants. Adding items in the tank tends to change things. If all else fails and your water feature doesn't work as planned, work with it instead of trying to fix it.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[AbranV]

[QUOTE=deranged chipmunk;244136]Oh waa waa waa, water features suck lol the problem with water features is that they are rarely planned out and tested well enough.......


Amen chipmunk!

I thought I had it planned out but soon realized that I hadn't taken the flow adjustment knob into consideration. One little oversight and I've been at a standstill for three days now trying to make it work with the plumbing....




One good thing to come out of this build.....Now I know to never ever ever ever ever use a submersible pump again. Canister filters from here on out!

[Dendro Dave]

I hit upon the trick of using the top of a medium or large exoterra and letting the pump dangle in the top/middle of the water column. Since sediment and junk tends to float on the top or sink to the bottom a pump is less likely to clog if it draws water from the middle or just under the surface. You can hide the guts/bottom of the waterfall with driftwood or something. Here is an example...


This tank also serves as an example of how I do ponds, which is similar to how others mentioned they do it. My pond reservoir shares its water with the false bottom. So I keep my false bottom fairly full most of the time. If you don't over mist you should never flood your tank, and the misting in conguntion with a larger volume of water makes evaporation and thus frequent topping off of the water less of an issue.

If you do flood your tank... you're over misting A mostly sealed viv with water in its drainage area will maintain humidity just fine (but I highly recommend some ventilation on every viv). You should hand mist or set an automated misting schedual that wets the surface of everything and a lil moisture will of course get into the substrate, but not be misting so much that everything is wet looking and saturated all day everyday. Moist substrate will keep ambient humidity in the green, the misting is for a temporary boost and to replenish the soil moisture. That is a healthy balance, saturated is not a healthy state for a viv or its inhabitants usually.

Oh and keeping your pond surfaces at or below the base of your substrate combats waters tendency to wick or craw out of the pond. If it does it goes immediately into the bottom most layer and the drier soil above absorbes it, but once that very bottom layer is moist the rate If any at which water wicks out keeps the upper levels of substrate moist but not saturated.

I'm not sure I'm explaining that well so here is an example:

Bury a bowl so the top of the water in the bowl/shoreline is pretty much at top of your dirt where moss and plants are... and watch the water "crawl" out and saturate the substrate from the top down.

Bury a bowl so that the top is even with the false bottom water level, and any creeping or crawling (wicking action), will be going straight into the bottom layer, and only very slowly working against gravity to moisten the upper levels of substrate... as long as you don't help it to much by over misting. Drilling a tank for overflow is nice and useful, but I've made dozens of successful vivs with water features capable of supporting tads or a few small fish with no filter in the last decade and never drilled a tank, or owned a drilled tank.

Planting the pond, and letting the water mature over weeks or months till it finishes the nitrogen cycle and letting beneficial bacteria colonize will be enough filtration for tads and fish tolerant of low oxygen or capable of breathing through their mouth. Add an air pump/stone for less tollerant fish. The key is not to over populate the pond and to let the water age. Usually stagnate scum will eventually disappear when the pond has aged enough. If it persists and/or you're impatient, throw some frogbit or salvia natens in there for the lily pad look and to hide the scum and help filter the water further. I stay away from duck weed. Since once it is in you never get it out unless you let the vivs dry and die completely.

I seal the driftwood, rock and/or foam shoreline enough to keep animals out of the false bottom but otherwise let water pass through. In the rare event my shoreline is to waterproof I jam a coat hanger along the bottom glass and punch holes in the foam/silicone holding my shoreline material in place. Gravel seals these holes enough so fish and tadpoles can't get under the falsebottom.

Many construction pics in my signature gallery links. Looks like **** when your building it, but comes out nice in the end


Oh and the water is only foggy in that pic I posted because i had recently been screwing with the tank.

Using a layer of activated charcoal in your false bottom or as the bottom layer of your substrate and/or a mostly inorganic soil mix should keep water from becoming to tea stained from taninns.