My wife is either lazy or a genius, as for my birthday she told me I could acquire a new animal. While I will never admit it to her face, it is definitely the latter. Anyways I decided against snakes as I wanted to make a 20 gallon long planted terrarium that sits at the foot of our bed. The species I am interested is said to be found by small streams so I added one with a water fall.
I used expanding foam, silicone, coco fiber, a cork insert and slate to create the background and waterfall. After the foam dried I inserted a piece of aquarium hose to move water to the top. I placed the pump in a piece of black pvc pipe that had holes drilled in the sides. To cover the pump I used several layers of carbon infused filter material. I initially surrounded the pvc with the dirt media but realized this was a mistake and added a buffer if gravel. I started up the pump to check out my creation, but it took adding a few pieces of slate to get the flow of the waterfall correct.
The bottom layer is clay balls I picked up at a grow store to save some money. Screen was laid over this and then a mix of spagnum moss, eco earth, organic potting soil, and some sand in the areas around the water feature to encourage drainage. For the end of the stream I laid another piece of the filter material under gravel to hopefully get a bit of filtration.
At first I tried to lay down a thin layer of plastic with gravel over it for the stream. The plastic was impossible to form, and even once I thought I had it in place the water leaked out onto the dirt soaking it and muddying the water. I tried a few iterations and was able to fix the problem, but concerned about longevity. So I decided to rip that out, and make an insert out of expanding foam. To do this I sandwiched a piece of pipe between two boards then played some cling wrap over the whole thing. I sprayed the foam over this layout and let it set. After I held the set foam up to the light to find any holes, which I filled with silicone. Then I cut the layout into pieces and figured out how they laid in the tank and siliconed them back together.
Now I could just tell you my plans for the inhabitants but what fun is that? How about a little guessing game? The second hint is that the whole thing is inspired by a recent trip I took out of the country.
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