# My waterfall project (Pic heavy)



## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Started this recently, It's to go in my Irian Jaya's viv. Gonna do a full background eventually, but thought I'd start with the smaller portion as it's my first go. 

I wanted to make it removable rather than fixed into the viv, partly so it can be taken out and cleaned, and partly because I didn't want to cock it up and ruin a £160 viv. So I started with some plastic that I liberated from work. It's 5mm foamex. Fairly rigid, but easy enough to cut with a stanley knife, and slightly porous so the expanding foam stuck really well. I just tacked the pieces together with a glue gun (dirt cheap on Amazon, seems to work well)


For the actual water container I used a cat litter tray, which was also dirt cheap on Amazon, tacked in place with a few blobs from the aforementioned glue gun:


The pump is an Exoterra that I got from... somewhere, ages ago. The pipe is also pilfered from work, and luckily is exactly the right size. I did some tests first to make sure the pump would be able to push the water up high enough, this seemed to be about the limit. 
I attached some pieces of plastic (same plastic, same glue) to guide the hose, it's fixed in place at the top but loose at the bottom to allow the pump to be changed easily if it conks out. 


Next it was time for fun with expanding foam. I'd never used this stuff before and didn't know what to expect, but it seemed to work really well. I used a Polycell variety that cost me about £8, and it seems great. Not rock solid by any means, but quite dense and very easy to cut and shape. 
(I actually forgot to take a photo of another step here, there's another bit of plastic behind that foam, so the hose is in a void rather than encased in the stuff, just in case I ever need to replace it)



More foam. I marked out on the plastic the rough shape I wanted the piece to be, and just foamed to the lines. At this point I started putting some in the tray too. 


Foamed, cut to size and a little bit of shaping done. I've just used various knives to slice chunks of the foam away, cleared out the cavity where the pump will sit (still need to figure out how to hide the pump while still keeping it accessible, but I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it). 


Shaping finished and first coat of grout applied. I used the grout powder and made the first coat quite runny. I;m hoping it will kind of absorb into the foam and make it nice and solid. I'll probably thicken up the coats as I go along. I've also got some pigment powder (burnt sienna) on order that I'll mix in with subsequent coats, so colour won't fade over time.


That's as far as I've got so far, will keep this thread updated as it goes on. I'm pretty happy with it at this point, just hoping I can get the colouring right and make it look nice and realistic. Once I've got my methods sorted I'll do the same for the rest of the background. 

Any advice, comments or constructive criticism welcome! (I'm actually wondering what the best thing to coat it with would be, obviously need something that won't release any nasties into the water. Any ideas?)


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## mick83 (Jan 19, 2014)

fantastic work so far.

be interesting to see it when its finished.
to seal it, you could use a polyester resin/catalyst mix. You'd have to leave the finished piece in a well ventilated area for a week or 2 afterwards as has quite a strong (chemical-like) smell. But once cured, its completely non-toxic.
It'll be 100% waterproof then.

I've used it to seal the inside of my chameleons viv. Worked extremely well.


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

mick83 said:


> fantastic work so far.
> 
> be interesting to see it when its finished.
> to seal it, you could use a polyester resin/catalyst mix. You'd have to leave the finished piece in a well ventilated area for a week or 2 afterwards as has quite a strong (chemical-like) smell. But once cured, its completely non-toxic.
> ...




Smashin, I'll look into that. Cheers! :2thumb:


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

This thing is taking longer than I expected, but I'll have some more pics up soon. It is starting to look the part though!


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Started chucking some colour at it today. The pigment idea didn't really work out, they sent me the wrong colour and it just turned out pink. I ordered some cheap acrylic paints and mixed that with quite a wet grout mix. Just experimenting at this stage really, but I think it's starting to take shape.


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## Joshuar. (Dec 7, 2009)

Looks great, will look even better with the water running! Is it going into a planted viv?
Good tip for rock effect is to cover all over in your darkest colour to get the low light shadow areas, then with next to no paint on the brush go lighter and lighter until you're almost to white and catch the most raised bits of 'rock' only very slightly, then it'll resemble a rock that's outdoors.


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## alex_snake_gunit (Oct 15, 2010)

looks nice 
wanna see it finished


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## Reptasia (Mar 19, 2013)

*Water Reservoir*

When spraying the foam over the top of the litter tray did you have anything under neath to stop it just filling the tray or did you just fill it leaving a smaller reservoir?

I like this idea and going to get started on my own tomorrow.


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## *Blackadder* (Jul 16, 2011)

Will that Exoterra pump be upto the job? I've used them before,needed cleaning out non stop.would stop working all the time etc etc.Apart from that,looks super so far  :2thumb:


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Reptasia said:


> When spraying the foam over the top of the litter tray did you have anything under neath to stop it just filling the tray or did you just fill it leaving a smaller reservoir?
> 
> I like this idea and going to get started on my own tomorrow.



I actually chucked a load of foam in there and then when it was partially cured I sat a weight on top to stop it expanding too much. I shaped it a bit when it was dry so it's still plenty deep enough. 



*Blackadder* said:


> Will that Exoterra pump be upto the job? I've used them before,needed cleaning out non stop.would stop working all the time etc etc.Apart from that,looks super so far  :2thumb:



That's the only thing I'm concerned about. I'm not planning on having the pump running full time, it'll be on a timer. The cavity where the pump will sit is fairly big, so if it conks out I should be able to replace it with something better without too much hassle. I hope.


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Right, I've basically decided this is close enough, colour wise. I've chucked a million layers of paint at the thing, it's taken forever. But I don't think it looks too bad. Just need to get it sealed and make sure the pump does the job now. And then do the rest of the viv.


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## reptogirl (Apr 7, 2014)

oh man it looks really cool! I want! but can you replace the pump if needed or is it all sealed in with the foam?


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

reptogirl said:


> oh man it looks really cool! I want! but can you replace the pump if needed or is it all sealed in with the foam?




No it should just sit under that ledge, easy enough to get in and out. All I'll have to do is take the plug off if I want to replace it.


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## reptogirl (Apr 7, 2014)

What animal is it for?


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

reptogirl said:


> What animal is it for?


Irian Jaya Jag


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

WELL I chucked some polyester resin at it, which completely undid the rock effect and made the whole thing ridiculously shiny:










I think I might have a go at it with a scourer or something and try to knock some of the shine off. But on the plus side, it's been tested, it's completely water tight and the pump does the job. Little bit of finishing off to do, but for a first attempt I'm mostly happy with it. 










Hoping to get the viv pretty much set up over the weekend.


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## KDale (Jan 26, 2014)

glue a fine layer of sand to it 
that should stop the shine


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## iangreentree (Nov 5, 2007)

You can buy mat varnish so recoat with a mat varnish be less shiny


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

KDale said:


> glue a fine layer of sand to it
> that should stop the shine




This is what I've done, I put another coat of resin on and dusted it with Repti Sand. The colour's not as good but the finish is much better, will post more picks when I've finished patching it up.


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

So, this is pretty much the final product. I think it looks way better with the sand, in the future I'll probably skip the painting and just go straight to the resin/sand stage. You live and learn! But I'm pretty happy with it now, gonna give the resin some more time to cure properly, and the girl can finally move in!


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## Boidation (Jan 4, 2008)

Looks great mate, nice build thread!


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Finally finished the thing. Got a much better pump installed and it does the job nicely. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154119269735158&l=4331769660590933361


That was a bigger job than I was expecting, but I'm pretty happy with the result!


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## edgar1981 (Nov 6, 2007)

Gah, had to take the waterfall out again. Some of the resin seemed to go soft, I'll have to let it dry out properly, give it another coat and hope that does the trick!


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