Terrarium question

[MikeM670]

Don is right on planning out the water feature. I just finished my 18x18x24 with a waterfall feature that spills into a small pond with a return pvc pipe to the reservoir hidden behind the rear rock feature. I tested the water feature for a few days with no signs of leakage so went ahead and put in the substrate and finished things off with planting..ect. Well now the water feature seems to need to be refilled every few days and the substrate area now seems to fill up way to fast. I suspect one of two things has happen. Either the water feature itself developed a leak or after observing the water feature I noticed that in one location the water seems to be seeping over a ledge and into the planted area. In either case it has made for a very disappointing build due to higher maintenance then I wanted. I had the water feature separated from the false bottom to keep only clear water in the pond. There is really nothing wrong with mixing the false bottom water in a water feature as the water is only discolored due to tannins which occur naturally in the wild.

In my current build using a 55 Gallon tank I will have a water feature that utilizes the false bottom water and marshy area so the discolored water won’t be distracting.