# Biopod Aqua 2: Scaping



## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

I posted in the newbie forums a couple weeks back, but have since commenced scaping after having Christmas come early with all my deliveries! The viv will be housing some Ranitomeya imitator 'Varadero' in about a month's time.

The Biopod itself came well packed, though it was a hell of a job getting it out of the box with only one pair of hands. Must weigh close to 30kg and you can only lift it by the base so I ended up recruiting the help of my pensioner neighbour to get it up onto the stand I had set up for it. 

Here's a picture of it in situ:









I added a drainage layer of hydroballs (~4in). The cardboard cutout you can see in the picture allowed me to have gravel on the outside, against the glass, obscuring the less visually appealing clay balls behind whilst still maintaining a good drainage medium. A pain in the ass to keep in place and those pesky balls didn't always stay where I wanted them to. I ended up using a dough scraper to shimmy the gravel down against the glass and would likely just do this in future instead of messing around with cardboard again. 

As per standard procedure, hydro fleece separated the drainage layer from the substrate (essentially an ABG mix). 

The Biopod has a living wall at the back that acts as filtration for the water within the system, passing it through the roots and moss in the wall to act as a biological filter. 
My first time using sphagnum moss from a brick, it was actually quite entertaining to watch it expand. Surprisingly quick and a great material to work with.
Next step was filling each of the pockets in the wall with the sphagnum, as well as throwing some on the substrate. All in all probably took about 30mins.

I ended up adding a spare piece of cork bark to create an elevated section of substrate towards the back. I had meticulously planned out the layout of the cork branches I'd picked in the days waiting for the vivarium to arrive, so I was fairly confident I knew how I wanted them positioned. 









Threw a few sheets of live moss onto the back wall to give it a bit of green and started poking holes in the cork with a screwdriver so I could place the bromeliads. All neoregelia sp. and my first experience with broms, but they're cute as all hell. Love 'em. 









Not final placement by any means, but I didn't have a lot of time and wanted them in the controlled environment as the flat is getting a bit cold now winter's arriving. Placed the other plants in the substrate in their pots for now. Some will be planted epiphytically and others rooted into the dirt/sphagnum. 
Plenty work left, but it's looking promising. 

Here's a list of all the plants I've gotten so far: 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...4sf2JpXD8lD3gBtzjY4t0jWZ3r4/edit?usp=drivesdk

There's actually an issue with the back wall filtration at the moment, and I'm awaiting a response from an engineer at Biopod to help me get it sorted soon. In short, the water level needs to be much higher than it should be in order for the pump to work as intended. I've just switched it off for now as the misting will be keeping everything moist enough for now. 

I'll keep posting updates here as I go. More moss to add to the branches and plenty planting to do. Exciting!


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Oh, and some closer shots of the plants!


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## Evan (Mar 4, 2004)

Wow. Looks good. I can't believe all the features those have.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Evan said:


> Wow. Looks good. I can't believe all the features those have.


Yeah, should be fairly hands-off if all gizmos work as intended! Time will tell.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Had to remove the entire substrate in order to gain access to and fix the pump situation. Easy fix, just fiddly taking the back wall apart (and a pain in the ass trying to separate hydroballs from gravel so I could put them back in again as they were).
Here you can see the perimeter of gravel around the hydroballs so as not to see them through the glass.








Went in much better the second time though, and looks a lot cleaner. Plus, the pump works now. 

Planting went well, actually filled in a lot better than I expected. Will be interesting to see how it grows in over the next few months! 
I wish I had a picture of the tank before I added the moss for comparison - it's amazing how much it ages the scape.
Here's the finished article anyway.


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## cold-blooded12 (Aug 20, 2012)

I love this build, and I'm definitely subscribing. You'll have to post some updated pics once you add the frogs.

I think everyone is chomping at the bits to see how well the Biopods work including myself. The Biopod discussion has been a big talk on the board since its conception. It's great to see that they're showing up in build posts now and finally rolling out to customers. 

I like what you did with keeping the drainage layer on the inside and lining it with gravel on the outside. I also like the piece of cork you placed in the corner to create an elevation. I'm actually doing that for my current build and was going to place it in the exact corner you did. I'll probably change my mind on the positioning of it, but I'm definitely adding a few elevated spots. It adds so much more to the layout and looks better than flat in my opinion. 

I might have missed it, but what are the dimensions on your Biopod model? What size exo terra would you say it's closest in size too?


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

cold-blooded12 said:


> What are the dimensions on your Biopod model? What size Exo Terra would you say it's closest in size too?


18.65” x 13.36” x 28.00” (LxWxH) 
Probably closest to the medium/tall Exo Terra. I've not much experience with them though, haven't owned one in years.

I didn't anticipate I'd use up as much vertical height with the substrate, but having played around with the inner workings of the pump etc. I don't see how you could have sufficient drainage layer for the living wall irrigation to work without it. I actually wanted to try to replicate Yufan Yang's scape in the Aqua 2, and he seems to only have a very shallow substrate layer. 








Perhaps the back wall is turned off here.
It can of course perfectly function without the irrigation as I'm sure the misting cycles would keep the vivarium well watered, but it's a feature I was drawn to and wanted to have it working. Very cool to watch the water drip through the moss and plants as well. Here's a clip of it in action (before planting) 




I don't think the tank looks worse off for having such deep substrate and I'm sure there'll still be plenty verticality for the thumbnails to enjoy. Glad you like it too! Really hope the moss greens up and the rest grows in well.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

So, a brief update: I've discovered the humidity sensor in the vivarium is faulty - continually reading humidity at ~97%. I purchased a hygrometer of my own and it fluctuates much more realistically.
It's shown readings as low as 65% when the app was reading 97%. I've sent a lengthy e-mail to Biopod support so will keep you posted on what they have to say - I've heard they're fairly happy to send out a replacement if need be. If that fixes it, I have no beef. I'm aware I'm not the first whose sensor is stuck reading 97% humidity.

I'm very optimistic and at every opportunity will give them the benefit of the doubt, but the fact I had to fiddle around with the irrigation to get it working (and even now I'm not sure it's as I expected it to be, having 6 inches of substrate/drainage), a faulty humidity sensor and not the fog-clear glass I was led to believe the Biopod could maintain (sides almost permanently fogged up towards the top of the viv, front glass generally clear) I'm left feeling a little played. For £700 ($922USD) on hardware alone I feel I could've built a bangin' vivarium that'd match the Biopod's functionality and surpass its build quality - there are a few pieces that feel a little cheaper than you would hope. 
The low-iron glass is cool, definitely noticeable difference, but unless they change or update things as time goes on, I'm not sure I would purchase another. We'll see what time has to say - perhaps I'm letting my annoyance get the better of me for now.

Trying to stay positive. There are still moments I look at the vivarium and think "wow, this is really happening! Finally getting darts and it's looking better than I expected!" I don't want these minor issues to overtake the enthusiasm I have for the project as a whole.


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## christina (Nov 9, 2017)

My sensor also seems to be stuck at 97% let me know if you hear back from Biopod. Also how are your noise levels. Mine is very loud when Aerating- I was thinking of opening it up and see if I can fasten down whatevers rattling.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

christina said:


> My sensor also seems to be stuck at 97% let me know if you hear back from Biopod. Also how are your noise levels. Mine is very loud when Aerating- I was thinking of opening it up and see if I can fasten down whatevers rattling.


They responded fairly quickly and advised me to remove the sensor and shake out any excess water built up inside. In order to do so you will have to pull some excess cable from the back of the pod through the top right-hand corner. 







Do the same for the camera cable and slide the camera unit off the runners. You should then be able to remove the humidity sensor in the same manner and tap it out over some kitchen towel. They then advise you use a hairdryer to dry it out and monitor it through the app to ensure it is reading a change in humidity. Mine very quickly (10-20secs on low heat) dropped to ~25%, seemed dry, so I reinstalled it. 

However, I found it was easier to remove the casing around the sensor as it is only held on by small clasps where the cable enters unit. This actually happened to me by mistake as I tried to take it off the runners. The sensor casing can be popped apart very easily and I think this means you could avoid moving the camera altogether. Do note, this is not what they said I should do. They told me to slide it off the runners, so if you do decide to follow the route I took and something goes wrong, I'm not sure they'll want to cover the cost of repair. Worth noting.
Biopod then advised that I move the sensor closer to the front of the Biopod where less condensation occurs. Here's how it looks now -- so far seems to be working as intended and isn't stuck at 97% (for now).







Previously it sat a good couple inches further to the left. 

The aeration I have turned off completely as I've already tried fiddling around with making it quieter when I was adjusting the pump and it seems it is not possible. It's also a pain taking your system apart to gain access to it. It's not vibrating off anything other than itself. 
Even in my aquariums, I've never used bubblers and I don't think they make as much of a difference as people are led to believe. Certainly in our terrestrial setups there is absolutely no need for it to be running, so I just suggest you switch it to 0min/hr to avoid the intrusion. My back wall irrigation provides little intrusion and is on for 1min/hr so the fact it's a little bit more audible proves to be no bother. 
Other than that, I have the ventilation on constantly and it's no louder than a computer fan. Very quiet whir and not irritating by any means.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

On another note, I wonder if anyone can tell me if this green is the moss coming to life, or algae from the drip wall. It's been a week since planting.








Aside sphagnum bricks, I purchased the moss 'live' in sheets which I broke apart and dotted around. They were fairly green initially but have browned since and I'm not sure if this is them exhibiting new growth of if it's unwanted algae from being almost permanently wet and within 20cm of the light source. The second photo I suspect is algae as it's growing on sphagnum moss which came as a dried brick -- I'm not sure if those normally start to grow again.

I'm actually considering buying a few aquarium mosses in vitro (Christmas, java) or taking clippings from my aquarium to try and add a bit of life as I'm not convinced this moss is doing so great. I've heard some people have had success growing aquarium mosses emersed in vivaria - would love to hear if any of you have done so!







Especially here on the cork branches, where it is always moist and gets sprayed for 30s twice a day, it looks as though it is dead or dying as opposed to thriving as expected. 
Any advice would be appreciated!


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Elsewhere, plants are growing! Very exciting.
Peperomia rotundifolia is sprouting fresh leaves left, right and centre! Must be enjoying its prime location in the light.









Peperomia 'hope' is doing the same! Two cute little leaves poking out at the top and growing quickly!









Ficus Columbia also looking good. Reaching for brighter spots and sprouting new growth.









The star of the show has to be the neoregelia fireball though. I'm assuming this is a pup it's shooting out as opposed to a flower, but either way it's exciting and growing at an alarming rate!


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

Love your set up looks great. I'm getting a Biopod Aqua (well replacement my first one arrived cracked) and have a few questions. 
So on your setup you removed the plastic false bottom that comes with it? Any specific reason for this?
Also about how many inches or bioballs do you have? How many of the abg mix? 
Do you know how many inches of water needs to be in the aqua for the back wall to function properly? 
Any info would be amazing. Thanks. 


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

aricall said:


> So on your setup you removed the plastic false bottom that comes with it? Any specific reason for this?


The Aqua II didn't come with a false bottom, so I just threw my drainage layer of hydroballs right in!


aricall said:


> Also about how many inches of bioballs do you have?


4-5in of the clay balls, roughly enough to fill up to the top of the slats on the living wall, where water passes through to the pump intake.


aricall said:


> How many of the abg mix?


I'd say 2-3in deep at the front and 6-8in at the back where the cork bark creates an elevation. The more substrate, the more space for the microfauna to live! I see them crawling about the entire depth of substrate through the glass from the sides - interesting to watch, especially as I wait on my frogs arriving.
I felt I needed at least a couple inches for plants anyway.


aricall said:


> Do you know how many inches of water needs to be in the aqua for the back wall to function properly?


Good question, I was definitely misled on this one.
I have found a minimum of 3/4inches be required, depending on how long the pump is running for. As it sucks up water, the water level drains from the bottom and it takes some time to pass through the system back into the drainage layer. This means that if there isn't sufficient water, it will run until the water level is below the pump intake and you will run the pump dry, creating an air lock.
I, with Biopod's blessing, took apart the back wall as previously I needed a good 6in of water for the pump to run at all (seemed excessive/unusual). There is a sponge cover to the intake tube for the pump as seen below.







I had to remove the sponge (slips off) and trim the tubing as much as I could in order to lower the required water line before the pump ran dry. A painful process, and I'm not sure why they didn't just design it with the intake further towards the bottom.
For the Aqua II, they mention it can be scaped terrestrially but it's clearly designed - as the name suggests - to have the bottom half of the tank submersed. Despite having seen scapes that had very shallow substrates in the Aqua II on Biopod's social media, I can't confirm whether or not their irrigation is switched on, though I highly doubt it if theirs is constructed anything like mine.
I'm not sure how the various models compare but the way the Aqua II is set up you definitely need to set aside a good 6-7inches of vertical height for the substrate in order for it to run.
I only have mine switched on sporadically, otherwise the moss remains too wet - even when set to run for 1min/hr. It receives sufficient water from the misting cycle in any case.

Hope that's of some help! If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer.


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

Thanks for the quick reply. It was alvl very helpful.
Looking at more pics I see the only the aqua has the floating island. I did find a video of how to remove and lower that. 
Looking forward to seeing more pics of your growing in while I wait for mine lol


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Tropical varieties of moss arrived to replace the old, dead and moldy. Came home at 11pm and was up till 2am fiddling around!

Some more orchids too; Masdavellia minuta, Mas. nidifica and Pleurothallis grandulosa. 

Pilea glauca was the last addition and I think that's me out of space -- which is good because I'm also long out of budget! 










Some really nice colour coming through on the Neoregelia fireball which when arrived was almost entirely green. Fascinating to watch its pup grow too - started opening up over the last couple of days.









Frogs should be arriving next week - dates to be confirmed by the courier a couple days before.


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## Carlito (Mar 9, 2015)

Looks good


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Christmas came early for me this year! After a lot of hassle with a courier cancelling and then being quoted for a run well into the New Year I decided to hop on the train at a little extra expense and pick up the little beggers myself. 8 hour round trip after 3hrs sleep, but well worth it!

Here are the first few snaps!







Confirmed male as he was calling on the way home. Will be easy to spot as the markings on his back are fairly distinctive - breeder pointed out that it looks like one of the Stonehenge standing stones! 

The remaining four are as of yet unsexed - time will tell. Can't help but share photos, please forgive.







Moving in time!


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## Red Beard (Nov 4, 2015)

They look fantastic. Congratulations! Beautiful pics as well. Keep them coming.


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## Woodswalker (Dec 26, 2014)

Oh, no! Not photos! Especially not crisp, clear, colorful ones with beautiful frogs clearly in view. That is definitely NOT what this forum wants.  

Congratulations on your frogs! They look like a choice group. Kudos to you for picking them up, too. I think that's much easier on them, and it's fun to plan trips around things like that.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Woodswalker said:


> Congratulations on your frogs! They look like a choice group. Kudos to you for picking them up, too. I think that's much easier on them, and it's fun to plan trips around things like that.


 I must say, I was giddy with excitement the entire way there. Could hardly stay still!


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## viv_erin (Dec 4, 2015)

I gotta ask...why the deep substrate/drainage layer? My understanding was that the living wall acts as filtration and that the typical “many layered” viv water table setup is not necessary. All the Biopod setups I’ve seen (been following this project for years and was an original backer) all have just the super thin gravel and moss layer... is there a reason you did it this way? I have a regular aqua and a Grand coming and was looking forward to the super low profile substrate


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Yeah, I had the same desire for a minimalist substrate. Ultimately a deeper one is healthier for the vivarium but it wasn't expected.

I mentioned in more depth in a previous post in this thread that it was due to the back wall irrigation. Its intake sits about 3-4 inches from the bottom (with a big sponge filter as seen in photos above) and the water level must be above this in order to function. Definitely intended to be a paludarium. I ended up cutting the hose that forms part of the intake down a bit so it required less water sitting at the bottom. I had to add extra depth to the substrate even still to ensure I didn't swamp my soil.

If you're not fussy about tinkering and voiding warranty, I reckon you could fiddle with the pipes at the back, making your own custom modification in order to have the sponge intake sit much lower and be much smaller than it currently is.

If I'm not mistaken, in the image you shared, there is sufficient depth of water for the back wall to function as the grand has a good few inches of it at the bottom. The back wall isn't essential, and you can have it switched off all together if you prefer to have a shallower substrate.

Let me know if there's anything else you have questions about! Hope that was of help!


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Looking great - it seems to be filling in nicely!


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## viv_erin (Dec 4, 2015)

ahhhh Ok. Dang. Makes sense. I wonder if the non-paludarium aqua-scapes they show just have the back wall turned off? I wonder if the misting is enough to keep the wall alive/green... but yeah, kind of a bummer since the wall is a great feature. 

Do you think it would be possible to sort of make a "pond" around the pump (maybe with great stuff or silicone/rubber etc so that the pump/tubing can be submersed but the surrounding area is drier? 







illucam said:


> Yeah, I had the same desire for a minimalist substrate. Ultimately a deeper one is healthier for the vivarium but it wasn't expected.
> 
> I mentioned in more depth in a previous post in this thread that it was due to the back wall irrigation. Its intake sits about 3-4 inches from the bottom (with a big sponge filter as seen in photos above) and the water level must be above this in order to function. Definitely intended to be a paludarium. I ended up cutting the hose that forms part of the intake down a bit so it required less water sitting at the bottom. I had to add extra depth to the substrate even still to ensure I didn't swamp my soil.
> 
> ...


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

viv_erin said:


> Do you think it would be possible to sort of make a "pond" around the pump (maybe with great stuff or silicone/rubber etc so that the pump/tubing can be submersed but the surrounding area is drier?


For sure! Though worth thinking about the fact that less area for water means less water volume, so the pump will have a greater impact on the depth when running. If it was running for a couple minutes or more at a time I can imagine it drawing up water quicker than it'll trickle down through the back wall.

Just came back from a few days away and all seems well in the vivarium. Notable growth all around - one of the broms is pushing out a pup that wasn't there when I left four days ago and another looks like it may be flowering, though confirmation would be great from someone more experienced.








Thoughts? I've not seen growth like it before.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Thought I'd share some more photos! 
I reckoned it might be neat to put similar shots from earlier in the project side by side to see how far the viv has come.

13/11/2017










29/11/2017










28/12/2017









Here's a picture of the tiny new brom pup and bonus froggo and mushroom.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

(top right) This is a plant that came with a load of moss and I absolutely love it. It has tiny elongated leaves and grows long stalks(?) not dissimilar in shape and size to some of the mosses in there. It's also a lovely vibrant green. Very directional growth too which looks great imo. 

I have no idea what it is so if any of you can ID it that'd be much appreciated!

Here's another picture of it


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

The blooming of the bromeliad has come along quite quickly! 

Ten days ago it looked like this:








They were noticeably taller with each day passing until one finally opened up yesterday.
















Now there are 2 other blooms open and the first has since shut. Not sure if I should have expected the flower to last longer than one day, but still plenty flower spikes to open up.


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## Smoke-Town (Dec 6, 2017)

Gorgeous tank man. Gj. I like the time comparisons. It really greened up in those first 2 weeks. 

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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Be careful with the air pump. I had water all over place from my Terra. I took a look at the cause tonight, and I think the check valve on the air line failed. So the air pump was siphoning water out of the tank. 

It is really a bad design having the pump below the tank. Any issue with the check valve and all the water is running back into the pump.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

I have the air pump turned off. I don't see it necessary and it makes a lot of noise, hopefully that'll keep me safe from any leaks! 
So far, no problems. The occasional escaped fruit fly but nothing more.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Interesting. I could not get mine to shut off. Even with the setting at 0 minutes, it would still run if the humidity got too low. Have you done any firmware updates? Maybe they made changes along the way, and we are on different versions.


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Haven't updated it since I got it. It took some time to turn off when I set it to 0 but it hasn't come on since. Definitely sounds like something was wrong in your case. 
I've noticed when drying out the humidity sensor with a hair dryer (as advised by Biopod themselves) that it will trigger the aeration to run for some reason, but quickly turns off.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I'm hoping they allow more control of the components in the future. Would be nice to have the ability to just disable components in the app, instead of setting them to "0". If I can ever get Biopod to respond and send me new parts, I think I'm going to either disconnect the air pump altogether or get my own tubing and run a longer line. That way I can loop the tubing over a higher point above the water level. It won't fully prevent a siphon, but should make it more difficult.


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## jam5971 (Apr 27, 2017)

You could possibly add a second non return valve as a failsafe in case one fails?


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

That might solve the issue as well. 

The best solution would be to move the air pump above the tank in future versions. Would eliminate any chance of this happening. Short-term solution is to just give owners more control through the app. Those of us running all terrestrial setups don't really need the air pump.


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