# waterfall help



## TeamCockroach (Nov 22, 2010)

I have a 5x4x2 (lxhxw) wooden vivarium I'm going to use for a trio of plumed basilisks and want to make a fake rock background with a waterwall running down it into a large pool on the floor. This is my first time doing any of this homemade fancy decor stuff and have no idea about equipment, had a look around but can't quite get my head round it. Can someone just plain and simple tell me what to use for the background (I think expanding foam is suitable for this?), whats best for covering the foam with, and how to get the water from the pool to the top of the waterfall. I'm hoping theres somesort of long pump out there, maybe with a filter built in? And any other little details I've overlooked.


----------



## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Are you planning on sealing the whole viv or just having the background as one big waterfall? From personal experience its a complete a:censor:e ache putting waterfalls in, I've done a few custom backgrounds and played with diff waterfall options and never really had much long term success.

However, if you're determined, I would try either making a removeable background with a built in filter pump, or better still, an external filter such as an aquarium canister filter. You can drill through the bottom or low part of the side of the viv to drain the waterfall into the canister, and run the other pipe up the back or side of the viv and drill through to have it as the top of the waterfall. 


Hope this helps

Dave


----------



## TeamCockroach (Nov 22, 2010)

Wasn't planning to completley seal the viv, just have a fake background on all three walls with a waterfall running down part of the back wall over some rocks.


----------



## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

You may get problems with the humidity, but thats your decision. With an external filter pump you will have more space inside the viv, if you go for a built in pump you'll need to be able to access it easily for water and filter changes etc, so its really dependant on whether you are happy to keep going into the viv to access it or not and and if not whether you're happy to drill holes for the pipes for an external pump.

Dave


----------



## TeamCockroach (Nov 22, 2010)

I'm sorry but I'm totally new to this, whats the difference between external and internal pumps? Like what parts do they have and how they work? I was planning to have the pump inside the vivarium behind the backing.


----------



## Marclogan89 (Mar 24, 2012)

External is outside the tank.

Internal is inside the tank.


external are usually very big, very powerful and much, much better, requires less cleaning etc and if you get it with a UV bulb they kill bad bacteria and alge etc.


----------



## Rabb (Jan 13, 2010)

I used one part of a pond water course similar to the ones on the link below.

Rockways Water Features Range - UKWaterFeatures.com

I ended up using it upside down and at a much higher angle to the way it would be used in a garden. 

I built some rock background using Insulation Polyboard that was coated in a couple of layers of Levelling compound (sets harder then grout) the added a layer of tile grout for texture.

I put the background and water fall in place the filled all the gaps with grout to blend the pieces together. then painted it all to farther blend it together to what you see below.


----------



## ch4dg (Jul 24, 2008)

the background....
i would use foam but maybe bulk it out with poly(so you dont use as much foam)

then grout,

then paint(if need), i use spraypaint and acrylics for large projects


then seal, with any pond sealer.



























the pump was for the t-rex one was a pain as it needed to trave upwards by about 3.5ft


----------



## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

If you're totally clueless as to what would be required and the pro's and cons of making a waterfall within your viv you're likely to have a rough time of it. Many people such as myself with lots of experience still really struggle to get the effect that was hoped for, with all the practicalities taken care of. 

However if you do go ahead here's a few pointers:

1 - Seal the entire inside of the viv, except possibly the roof, although i'd even do that.
2 - Use a large canister pump outside the viv, filters the water more effectively and almost always pumps the water at a good rate to an adequate height.
3 - Use a good quality pond sealer such as G4 pond sealer or fibreglass to cover your entire waterfall in, this will prevent it becoming a soggy mess in a few weeks or months
4 - Test, test and test again. Make sure you've tested the way the water runs, that it pools where it's supposed to, atc at every stage, as theres nothing worse than getting it all finished and looking great inside the viv and watching your water spray halfway accross the viv and start pooling miles away from your pump sump.
5 - Put in a seperate drainage pipe, so you can drain the water from the viv before disconnecting the pump, which should help you not spread water across the whole house.

Hope this helps

Dave


----------

