# How to make a drip wall?



## Hornet (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm considering turning the back on my 45gal viv into a drip wall. Its make from expanding foam coated in a mix of coco husk, coco peat and sphag with a couple bits of wood and cork embedded into it. The things i'm mainly concerned about is that i have no drainage just a layer of leca and i'm worried about the false bottom overfilling and making the substrate soggy. Also i was wondering instead of a pump could i let gravity do the work with a bottle hanging above the tank feeding water to the drip line?


----------



## bshmerlie (Jun 2, 2010)

I use a small pump placed in the 3 in deep leca. The hose of the pump I covered with silicone and then coco fibre to disguise it. The hose follows a curvy path along the side behind plants and a stick. It then comes out at the top behind some wood. Mopani makes a good choice to direct the flow of water. The water level never goes above the leca. The soil should stay moist but not soggy. I'm not sure about an external water source as you would most certainly need a drain.l in your tank. The could be more troubl more than TS worth.


----------



## btcope (Jan 7, 2009)

its definitely easiest done w/ a submersible pump. then you don't have to worry about adding/removing water at a certain level ... however ... if you really want to do it w/ gravity and drilling the glass, you can drill a hole on the side of your viv at the height where you want the water line to stop and put a bulkhead on it w/ a screen over it and a tube going into a bucket. then whenever you feel like running it you could switch the bottom bucket and the top one that you mentioned earlier. or you could hook up an external pump to move from the lower one up to the top. 

it's not impossible to do it this way, but it is a lot harder. drilling glass is a skill i've yet to master. also, adding it to an already finished viv is a lot harder than building one in from the beginning.

good luck,
brett


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

About the easiest way to do a drip wall is with a Tom's vacuum pump. It sits out side the tank, It works as long as the water covers the intake line, which is about a 1/4 an inch thick, so if you silicone it to the bottom glass of the tank it will pretty much run in 1/4 inch of water, its small, and all you do is run air line tubing as the intake line, and a short piece as the output line, with a "T" and run 2 more pieces off the "T", melt or drill a few holes in the line every few inches and silicone it into place while hiding the intake line behind the background. Use the Tom's pre-filter or just rubber band some foam or teabag type material around the end of the intake line to prevent small particles from being sucked into the pump. Sit the small pump on top of back of tank, or hang it off the back of tank. Its super easy, pump access is no problem. Can probably do it start to finish in 10 minutes maybe less if you are quick 

Check this thread for more details....
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...-mosaic-living-drip-wall-pond-method-how.html


----------

