# exo terra waterfall



## jzorn (Dec 19, 2006)

Hey is there any downside to using an exo terra waterfall and fogger with my dendros? the only thing I was worried about is if they move their tads or lay eggs that they would be harmed or will they keep them in the broms? I searched and could only find posts on exo terra terrariums. 

thanks, 
Josh


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

It depends on which frogs you are talking about as to whether things stay in the broms. As for the Exo Terra Waterfalls, I have found that they have a tendency to leak water ultimately flooding the drainage layer and the frogs track dirt into the water and the pump tends to clog up due to frogs tracking in dirt, pooping in the water, etc. You can delay the clogging by putting some foam or other barrier inside the reservoir to catch most of the junk.

I am running an experiment now where I have an ExoTerra waterfall inside a glass bowl sunk into the viv substrate....so far no leaking as the bowl contains the spill. It keeps the humidity up and the frogs seem to like it but it is a tad bit ugly. But then again my frogs seem to like the ugliest vivs for breeding so perhaps I'm in luck. 

Bill


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

To be honest with you there a pain in the a**! 

My son has one in his Exo Terra viv for his tree frogs and it's a MAJOR pain. The fogger unit is rather touchy. You should use R/O water in it when you run it. You have to change out the water in the water fall about every 2 weeks. It collects debris from the frogs dragging it in.

I'd just never do it again.

My 2 Cents.


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## rbrightstone (Apr 14, 2004)

Foggers are ultrasonic, and after a while they can heat the water enough to burn and cook your frogs. So if you use one in a tank with frogs in them, make very sure they cannot get to the water source for the fogger.


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## lacerta (Aug 27, 2004)

I have to agree with the Dartman -- they are more trouble then they are worth. In my latest attempt at using the waterfall in an exo-terra, I sunk mounted the base into the substrate to better blend it in with the landscape. It looked awesome and ran great, for about a day. Flow would be reduced to a drip and I had to take the "cover" off to clean the debri from around the pump intake. Tired of taking the cover off, I found that just adding a bit more water often helped to keep things flowing. I was soon "overflowing" the reservoir. While I had the turkey baster out to remove excess water I would again open the reservoir to clear the intakes, and was always amazed at how much debris found its way to the pump. After two weeks, and after burning out the pump, I decided to excavate the entire waterfall. Unfortunately I had the power cord running behind the foam background. I ended up cutting it off (pump was shot anyway) and leaving the cord behind, rather than fully breaking down the entire viv. Not worth the hassle IMO.
George


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

George, that pretty much what has happened to us and what we do to clean it out .......................... the o' turkey baster trick! We've luck out so far and haven't burned an Exo Terra pump up yet, but it is constantly slowing down to a slow drip about every 3-4 day.

I love Exo Terra's and most of their product, but the waterfall/fogger is Lame-O!


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## SusannahJoy (Jul 3, 2006)

i tried to use an exo terra waterfall in one of my tanks. it didnt work. it was constantly leaking, there was never enough water flow, it was getting clogged up all the time, eventually i took it out and replaced it with a tupperware dish. not exactly pretty, but the frogs actually like it better and it's way easier. *shrug*


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

As an update, I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the waterfall in a bowl concept is working. Pump flow remains good and I'm not having the old issues of water leaking and flooding the drainage layer, etc. 

As you can see from the photo, I silicone 'painted' the bowl black to make it a little less obvious. Also filled the majority of the bowl with small gravel (and also filled the inside of the ExoTerra waterfall with gravel to a large extent for filtration purposes). It seems to be working as I have not needed to go in and clean out the pump at all so far.

As I said before, not terribly attractive but I'll take functional over attractive :wink: 

Bill


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## jundox (Jul 5, 2007)

Why not glue a piece of mesh screen directly to the inside of the waterfall where the holes are? You wouldn't need sand to filter debris, could still use the fogger, and would only have to turkey baste the small debris stuck on the outside of the holes instead of removing the entire structure weekly. Just a thought.


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