First off, here is the almost finished waterfall:
And the back side (ignore my dog):
To highlight the basics, this is going into a 75 gal terrarium with a mix of CP's ranging from a N. glabrata to D. falconeri. Yes I realize two very different environments but just wait
The base of the rock wall is hollow and houses the 720 gph waterfall pump, the 260 gph pump/filter assembly, the UV filter, a quickly crafted fogger, and all of the piping. There are three pots built into the wall. The one underneath the waterfall is an undrained standard pot that will house a smaller Utric. The other two are in the cliff face and have been designed for smaller highland nepenthes. Both pots have two 1/8" PEX pipes ran through them that are attached to a main coolant line. Water is circulated in a closed loop through these two pots, through the back half of the "grow area," and out of the terrarium into a reservoir housed inside a mini-fridge.
To get a small idea, this slightly dated schematic shows most of the action. The original 300 gph pump was not strong enough so that was re-purposed to the coolant loop. A Fluval U4 Pump/Filter took it's place. The UV filter is attached to it's output & further behind it (or left on the schematic) is the 720 gph waterfall pump running freely.
I have just finished sealing everything and made a few tweaks (like capping off the stream reservoir so water doesn't go everywhere). I am in the process of washing sand, black lava rock, and waiting for my extra pound of Besgrow NZ Sphag to get here. The current plan is about 2" of sand, 2-4" of black lava rock, and sphagnum to bring all the pots together. Here's another Google SketchUp image to illustrate this (again, slightly dated, I've boosted the total number of pots quite substantially).
Depending on my temps, I have found a waterproof heat rope over at Big Apple Herp that I can wrap around plants that need the heat in the front half of the grow area. The rock wall pots average about a 10 F delta but I have no idea what that is going to do inside the main area.
Feel free to ask all the question you want. I know I have left out a ton of stuff but this was kind of an impromptu decision to post this tonight. I plan on videoing the rest of the assembly so people can have a better idea how it is assembled. For more pictures just click on the Photobucket link in my signature.
Oh and because videos are always better. This was taken about a week ago. Since then I capped the stream reservoir with acrylic so the water actually goes INTO the stream and have cleaned up the waterfalls just a bit to make them flow better. Cheers!
And the back side (ignore my dog):
To highlight the basics, this is going into a 75 gal terrarium with a mix of CP's ranging from a N. glabrata to D. falconeri. Yes I realize two very different environments but just wait
The base of the rock wall is hollow and houses the 720 gph waterfall pump, the 260 gph pump/filter assembly, the UV filter, a quickly crafted fogger, and all of the piping. There are three pots built into the wall. The one underneath the waterfall is an undrained standard pot that will house a smaller Utric. The other two are in the cliff face and have been designed for smaller highland nepenthes. Both pots have two 1/8" PEX pipes ran through them that are attached to a main coolant line. Water is circulated in a closed loop through these two pots, through the back half of the "grow area," and out of the terrarium into a reservoir housed inside a mini-fridge.
To get a small idea, this slightly dated schematic shows most of the action. The original 300 gph pump was not strong enough so that was re-purposed to the coolant loop. A Fluval U4 Pump/Filter took it's place. The UV filter is attached to it's output & further behind it (or left on the schematic) is the 720 gph waterfall pump running freely.
I have just finished sealing everything and made a few tweaks (like capping off the stream reservoir so water doesn't go everywhere). I am in the process of washing sand, black lava rock, and waiting for my extra pound of Besgrow NZ Sphag to get here. The current plan is about 2" of sand, 2-4" of black lava rock, and sphagnum to bring all the pots together. Here's another Google SketchUp image to illustrate this (again, slightly dated, I've boosted the total number of pots quite substantially).
Depending on my temps, I have found a waterproof heat rope over at Big Apple Herp that I can wrap around plants that need the heat in the front half of the grow area. The rock wall pots average about a 10 F delta but I have no idea what that is going to do inside the main area.
Feel free to ask all the question you want. I know I have left out a ton of stuff but this was kind of an impromptu decision to post this tonight. I plan on videoing the rest of the assembly so people can have a better idea how it is assembled. For more pictures just click on the Photobucket link in my signature.
Oh and because videos are always better. This was taken about a week ago. Since then I capped the stream reservoir with acrylic so the water actually goes INTO the stream and have cleaned up the waterfalls just a bit to make them flow better. Cheers!