# Waterproofing viv for waterfall



## stern69 (Feb 12, 2009)

Hey all

I am wanting to put a waterfall into a viv and have opted for the "false floor" method. Problem is, it's a wooden (contiboard) viv. 

The joints internally are all silicone sealed and as I mentioned, it's made of contiboard so it's already splash proof but it's obviously gonna need more than this if the whole bottom of the viv is going to be full of 5 or 6cm of water!!

What is the best way to completely waterproof the bottom 5 or 6cm of the viv? Pond liner? Fibreglass? Heavyduty bin bags!? If pond liner/binbags are the way, how do I fix them in place? (spray glue...?)

The viv itself is a corner unit so the footprint of it is basically a triangle which makes it even trickier!!

Any advice would be massively appreciated! 

Cheers!!


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

aquarium silicone?


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Pond liner sounds good or a choice of two sealants: Epoxy resin or G4 pond sealant.

If it was me I'd use as much of a combination as I could afford. Say a layer of sealant incase of any spillages through the pond liner.


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## stern69 (Feb 12, 2009)

To seal the whole bottom? Would it be any good over large areas?


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## haunted-havoc (Aug 6, 2009)

its pond sealer. ponds are genrally bigger than 2x2ft so that would be the best bet


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## stern69 (Feb 12, 2009)

haunted-havoc said:


> its pond sealer. ponds are genrally bigger than 2x2ft so that would be the best bet


Sorry if this sounds stupid but is this pond sealer just a paint on sealant then or does it come in a cartridge for a sealant gun?


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## stern69 (Feb 12, 2009)

Morgan Freeman said:


> Pond liner sounds good or a choice of two sealants: Epoxy resin or G4 pond sealant.
> 
> If it was me I'd use as much of a combination as I could afford. Say a layer of sealant incase of any spillages through the pond liner.


Well the whole viv is sealed with standard silicone and is made of contiboard so no pourous surafces. All shiny! That should deal with any moisture etc or slight spillages. At the end of the day there's only gonna be a couple of litres in there so it's no like there's gonna be huge amounts of water pressure to worry about.

Pond liner sounds great. I assume any heavy duty plastic liner would do the same job though (B&Q pond liner starts at about £20 but they do plastic car boot liner for £5!)

What would be the best way to stick the pond liner to the viv though? More silicone?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Yup, silicone. OR, you could try and find a shallowish plastic tray (cat litter tray etc) to use in the areas of the actual water fall- covering the whole base of the viv would be best, but a substantial proportion (with the rest sealed as much as possible) might work.


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## haunted-havoc (Aug 6, 2009)

stern69 said:


> Sorry if this sounds stupid but is this pond sealer just a paint on sealant then or does it come in a cartridge for a sealant gun?


paint on


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## Devon_Paul (Jul 28, 2008)

Unless, of course, you are customising an existing vivarium that you own, can I suggest that you consider a fibreglass vivarium? These are completely sealed and guaranteed not to leak. This way you can introduce a variety of water features with the knowledge that the unit will not rot, leak, swell or indeed cause baterial risk with moisture being trapped in joints. Here are a couple of photos of ones that we manufacture. :whistling2:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Good marketing, dude!:2thumb:


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## Jellyman (Sep 22, 2009)

Aquarium sealant for the edging and yatch varnish for the wood. It will smell for the first few weeks but its non toxic : victory:


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