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For example on this photo:


[Image: workterrarium.jpg]


Why isn't the pond draining into the rest of the gravel?

Is there a step by step instruction on how to seal a pond area? This will be my first viv, I've looked for instructions but must be blind, can't find any.

Thanks in advance
Danny

PS. I'm almost curious as to which types of PDF's are available to me in the UK (legally) and which would remain smaller than 2 inches when a fully grown adult.
xdannyboyx Wrote:For example on this photo:

Why isn't the pond draining into the rest of the gravel?

The water level in the pond is the same as it is throughout the drainage layer (gravel), so there is nothing to "drain."

Quote:Is there a step by step instruction on how to seal a pond area? This will be my first viv, I've looked for instructions but must be blind, can't find any.

Basically, you just create a low spot in the drainage layer that is lower than the water table is in the viv, and voila! you have a pond. It's not sealed off at all.

You can use a number of materials for the pond's embankments. We usually use peat bricks or driftwood as a "dam" to hold back the drainage layer material, creating the low spot for the pond to form when water is added to the viv.

In this case, we used urethane foam, covered in concrete, since it was a commercial job that we didn't want anybody to be able to just reach in and pull out the embankement.

[Image: Stream_tank1489.jpg]

____
Jim
Thanks very much for the reply! Am I mistaken or if I don't seal it off, won't the pond water be mixed in with drained water and therefore be dirty?

Your pictures look like it's seperate to me.. the foam/concrete seems to be sealing the pond off.
xdannyboyx Wrote:Thanks very much for the reply! Am I mistaken or if I don't seal it off, won't the pond water be mixed in with drained water and therefore be dirty?

Your pictures look like it's seperate to me.. the foam/concrete seems to be sealing the pond off.

This may not have been the best photo to illustrate my point, but I can't find the one I posted on a different board featuring a peat brick embankment.

For this tank, there are holes through the foam/concrete that allow the water to flow freely into the drainage layer, which is important in this case, because the customer wanted a flowing stream, so at the back left side of the tank there is a submersible pump pulling water through the drainage layer to a waterfall. It then flows down a "stream," and back into the pond.

Flowing water is, however, not important to the functioning of the tank. The drainage layer provides a great place for the colonization of aerobic bacteria (especially when using LECA instead of gravel) which provide the same sort of biological filtration as that found in aquarium filters. The water will never look as pristine as aquarium water, but then it's a pond ... mine all have layers of detritus on the bottom of them, and are quite "dirty."

Frankly, other than as a place to tank-raise tadpoles, ponds/water features really don't serve a useful purpose to the viv inhabitants, and we only include them in ours because customers like them, and it gives us an easy access to siphon water out of the tank if itl gets too deep.
Found the other pics.
This is a peat brick embankment:
[Image: WaterFeature1371LR.jpg]
[Image: WaterFeature1370LR.jpg]
I'm just really confused Big Grin

because I can see the pond water in your picture, but no water in the drainage layer. If there were holes wouldn't the drainage layer have the exact same water line/level as the pond?
I'm going to have a pebel base layer rather than gravel with the mud/soil on top of them, then moss on top of that with a few leaves as my ground base.

I will use pete bricks as an embankment for my pond, I just don't want a huge embankment into the water. And if the water level of the pond was the same as the level of the water in my drainage layer, then It'd be a pretty steep embankment wouldn't it?

If I was to seal it off, would this cause any sort of problems? I won't be having a waterfall or any running water. If I had still, sealed off water, it'd need a part change every week wouldn't it? change a 3rd of it weekly?
xdannyboyx Wrote:I'm just really confused Big Grin

because I can see the pond water in your picture, but no water in the drainage layer. If there were holes wouldn't the drainage layer have the exact same water line/level as the pond?

I'm not sure why it doesn't show up in the photo, but there is water in the drainage layer (which is actually LECA, but the customer wanted it to look "natural" so we put a layer of gravel up against the glass, held in place by a vertical piece of "eggcrate" covered with window screen).
xdannyboyx Wrote:I'm going to have a pebel base layer rather than gravel with the mud/soil on top of them, then moss on top of that with a few leaves as my ground base.
We use fiberglass window screen to separate the drainage layer from substrate, but you can also use tree fern or coconut panels or other semi-permeable materials.

Quote:I will use pete bricks as an embankment for my pond, I just don't want a huge embankment into the water. And if the water level of the pond was the same as the level of the water in my drainage layer, then It'd be a pretty steep embankment wouldn't it?

I'm not sure what you mean. In some cases we rip the peat bricks at a 45-degree angle to give a gentler slope to the embankment, if that's what you mean.

Quote:If I was to seal it off, would this cause any sort of problems? I won't be having a waterfall or any running water. If I had still, sealed off water, it'd need a part change every week wouldn't it? change a 3rd of it weekly?

Yes, sealing off the pond would decrease the total volume of water in the viv, so it would probably need to be changed more frequently. But, then again, it will be very difficult to seal off the rest of the viv, and you will probably get leakage anyway, so I would just take advantage of the added volume of water and aerobic filtration and let it flow into the whole drainage layer.
Pretty decent Pond build thread discussion....
Jim sold me my very first darts. He was and has been a very big help to me over the years. His store is still open if you want to check it out.
Derek