# Show us your successful running water features!



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Ok, we have been bashing the idea of running water features in first builds (by people new to vivarium construction for dart frogs) in another thread. I want to say that I am not talking about just having a deep spot in a corner that exposes water from the drainage layer nor am I talking about full on paludariums (though we can include these in the discussion, too, if we want to!). Maybe what is needed is a single location where people can post their successful builds.

So, let's see pictures of builds that have running water features that have been running a while and that you consider to be successful/are happy with. 

It would be great if you could include a little bit of description about: 
1) how you constructed it
2) how long it has been set up
3) what you think has made it successful 
4) any pitfalls you learned about on the way that should be avoided
5) size of the tank
6) who lives in there
7) anything else you want to share that might be useful to the discussion

I am hoping that we can see some patterns in what makes a successful water feature build so that we have a place that people can go to get inspired and improve their odds of success in their first build.

Let's see 'em, folks!

Mark


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Sep 2, 2010)

Let's make this a time capsule. How many of these water features people post here will be running in 1, 2, 3, years or more?


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

I hope this thread takes off! I really want to see some awesome water features and paludariums!

BTW Mark, I read that my highland bronze _might_ be more willing to come out if there is a water feature, which is my motivation for wanting to try out a water feature in my next build. They're such beautiful frogs that need to be seen more!


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## MELLOWROO421 (Feb 21, 2007)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/27060-new-40g-breeder.html 

I built this one back in 08. The plants all changed, as did the inhabitants but the viv and the water feature continued to run perfectly until I tore it apart about 3 months ago. Unfortunately I do not have any more current pics of it. I would consider almost 8 years pretty successful. I am building another one now in a 36x18x36 exo for tree frogs. I'll post some pics of it in a few weeks when it's finished.


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## zachmaynard (Jul 16, 2016)

I'll post mine once I finish it lol. I'm making mine so it's foolproof.

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## Auri (Jan 7, 2016)

Ok, here we go. 











Construction: False bottom. Pump is hidden at the back of the pond behind a removable chunk of cork (which is behind the gargoyle in this pic). Pumps through 1/2" tubing that runs behind the background. I siliconed that sucker in place along with the cork and branches before I added the Great Stuff. The water exits the tubing top left, runs down a rock, into a channel formed from GS, and back into the pond on the bottom right side.

It's been in operation for about a year and a half.

Success definitely due to accessibility of the pump- it's clogged once already and I had to move the cork panel, detach the pump, and clean it. I whined a lot about how annoying it was, but realistically, it took me maybe 10 minutes to fix. 

Pitfalls: Water flow is a bit exuberant even with the pump adjusted down. It splashes some, and I know it wets down the substrate a bit. On the other hand, the few plants planted directly in the substrate seem to be thriving. The Phal is in bloom right now for the third time since I planted it a year ago, and the Paph just shot out a flower stalk. So it seems not to be a critical fail yet. A more realistic concern is the amount of space it takes away from floor space for plants and frogs.

Mitigating the space concern for me is the fact that the tank is 76 gallons and contains 4 leucs, so it's not exactly crowded. 

Bonus info: Really helps with maintaining my humidity while allowing for awesome ventilation. The orchids like the airflow, and if it weren't for the water feature, I'd have a much harder time keeping the humidity up with the amount of outside air flowing through this tank (I live in Colorado, so it's pretty dry here). 

Last bit of relevant information: I am F^#$ing stubborn. So of course I picked something that I knew was a potentially bad idea for my first build, just to prove it could be done. Basically what I'm saying here is that while I made this work for me, I would not condone it as a universally good idea, and would recommend it only to people who have an excess of space and low risk aversion. And I still rate the tank as a success*, because while I love it now and it's working out great so far, I'm not discounting the possibility that the frogs will outlive the water feature.


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## wikiwakawakawee (Jan 24, 2013)

I made a 29 Gal last year i believe (Maybe 2 years ago actually) with a waterfall and its been running ever since.

It all started with this drawing I made in class (When i was still in High school)









Then I made an initial cut out of the false bottom.


















Did a test of the waterfall i had in mind.









Covered it in screen mesh.









Added a back panel so i could remove the pump.









Boiled the mopani wood like 10 times so it wouldn't leech out so many tanins into the water.









Applied silicone to the back so the foam could stick better.









Initial wood placement.









Foam Added.









Peat moss applied to background with silicone.









Looks like i could only post 11 pics at a time, gonna have to make another post.


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## wikiwakawakawee (Jan 24, 2013)

So then I added aquarium gravel and did a test of the waterfall.









Initial setup.









3 Months later.









Top View.









Java Moss Close up.









A couple months after that.(Before I trimmed)









Then After I trimmed it.









Its a lot of work to try and maintain it because you have to do constant water changes or else algae will build up and cover the waterfall. I was doing water changes every 3 days, this kept the water looking a lot clearer too though. I think i'm done doing water features for now... If i ever make another one, it'll only be for a bigger vivarium and have all the water being constantly filtered with a sump probably.


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## zachmaynard (Jul 16, 2016)

This one Leuc seems to like this particular spot next to the waterfall. Not sure if he's calling this spot his, but he keeps returning here. 

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## czpana (Aug 13, 2016)

wikiwakawakawee said:


> So then I added aquarium gravel and did a test of the waterfall.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Is that Java moss the ones u buy for aquariums?


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## wikiwakawakawee (Jan 24, 2013)

czpana said:


> Is that Java moss the ones u buy for aquariums?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Yeah, it's the same type of moss. I'm actually growing it on just a plain cork round right now in a different vivarium, and it's growing like crazy!

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk


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## skanderson (Aug 25, 2011)

a few pics of mine. been up for around 4 years or so I think. viv has a sump under it that the water drains into then I pumped to the top and middle of the waterfall. small stream then crosses the viv down to the pond that then overflows into the base of the viv to exit in the drain down into the sump. I do see frogs in the pond on occasion but have never lost one. tads from my vitatus are always swimming around in the pond. a couple oldish pics.


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## skoram (Apr 20, 2015)

Posting photos of my vivarium after skanderson is like playing a guitar solo after Jimi Hendrix. Oh well.

Although I have about 20 years of experience with fish tanks, this was my first vivarium and the only one with a water feature. In my case, it was kind of necessary since the tank is for vampire crabs. Although they are terrestrial, they do need a bit of water and this species (Geosesarma dennerle) is typically found on the banks of streams in the wild. The tank measures 60 x 45 cm (roughly 29 gallons) and the water feature takes up around 20% of the area. 

As you can probably guess from the photos below, the water feature is basically one corner of the drainage layer. The water is approximately 2.5 inches deep and the substrate sits above that on elevated platform made of PVC pipe and plastic egg crate. I used great stuff foam and silicone to create a sloped bank out of rocks and gravel. I blocked frontal view of the drainage layer beneath the substrate by placing a long piece of acrylic about an inch away from the glass and filling the gap with sand, rocks and gravel. 

The tank has been running for about a year (built it last summer) and I would consider the water feature successful since I placed a few Amano shrimp in the tank and they are still alive to this day. The crabs have also molted in there several times without any problems. 

what worked well:

1. It is very simple. Just an exposed corner of the drainage layer. No waterfalls, sumps, pumps or circulation. I did consider adding a trickle waterfall down the rocks on the left side using a peristaltic pump but decided against it since it would add a lot of complication for almost no benefit.

2. lots of floating plants. floating plants do an amazing job of removing nitrates and other pollutants from the water. As you can see from the photos, my water feature is saturated with water lettuce.

3. mini-sponge filter for extra filtration. They say you can't really have too much filtration though, with such a low water level, my options were very limited. Even if it was possible for me to use sumps or canister filters, they come at the cost of added complexity, maintenance and potential for things to go wrong. a mini-sponge filter was the perfect compromise for me. simple and effective (and probably not even necessary with all the floating plants). 

what didn't work so well:

Even though I left a small gap between the water and the substrate, the water still seems to be wicking upwards. I'm not sure of the exact reason (there are probably several) but, at any rate, if I could do this over I would have used longer PVC pipe pieces to elevate the substrate more. This is not a huge problem for me as all the plants I have in the substrate can tolerate wet and soggy soil, though this is not ideal.


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