Rain System, Ideas?

[dave1992]

Has anybody got an idea of how to make a rain system for their viarium, but i dont mean the kind that use misters, i was thinking actuall drips from the ceiling of the viv. Would this be possible using pipes or a sealed tray fixed across the roof of the viv, simulating the rain fall. Using timers, to create rainy parts of the day. Just an idea i was thinking of, anybody see the pros or cons of this pleaaaase feel free to point me out, because i was thinking of making this a reality in a test tank (with only plants at first). Ive put this on a few areas of the forum because id like to get an idea of what people think

[alan66]

I have seen this tried using a small fluval fish tank filter, on a timer.

Essentially, the water is pumped into a semi porous lid liner for a minute or so and this then drips for a fairly long time.

The substrate has to be coir or the like on top, with pea gravel below, all resting on a minimum 3 degree slope so the watr can return to the sump and be drawn through th filter once more.

Hope your ideas work out.

Alan

[dave1992]

Im just thinking of how to go about it though, because i cant see any pumps that hose diameters small enough, im not really that savvy with my aquarium stuff. Anybody got any advice with them?

[alan66]

No need for a small bore tube, the tank fills in seconds, but drips slowly into the viv, and filters back to the pump,

Other than 1 minute of pumping from sump to semi permeable membrane at the viv top, it s entirely gravity driven.

You adjust speed of rain fall by the membrane you choose and the duration of the shower by the quantity of water pumped.

Alan

[mrmikey]

Originally Posted by dave1992

Im just thinking of how to go about it though, because i cant see any pumps that hose diameters small enough, im not really that savvy with my aquarium stuff. Anybody got any advice with them?

Hi, I am also thinking about doing some thing simliar but if you using a pump wouldn't it create more of a continuous stream dripping down ? Abit Like This:

If your after drips I think looking in garden centre for there watering drippers and seeing if gravity is strong enough to create drips ?

Just ideas, Hope it helped.

[dave1992]

Hmm, what could i use for a semi permiable membrane? I was thinking along the lines of like the screen top on an exo terra but removing that and having something that would be able to fit over the top of it and drip through the mesh, or removing it and creating a new top. Trouble with exo terra, i sprayed one ONCE and it started to rust, i think thats called crap vivs. Was think of making the pump external inside a bucket pumping it up to the top to drip from the top of the viv. Hope this gives more information but im still up for suggestions

[alan66]

I believe the st up I saw used some kind of lining from a specialist hiking coat.

[Jim2109]

i reckon the easiest way has to be a plastic pipe with some very small holes drilled in it (probably about 1mm). then have one end plugged up, and the other end fed by a water container sat on top of the viv. gravity will do all the work, no need for pumps or anything. if you wanted to have it controllable then just fit a valve to the supply pipe. either a manual valve, or even a timer controlled one as used on automated garden irrigation systems.

[alan66]

The problem is that round holes don't drip. The surface tension holds the water in.

Larger holes will make it gush but smaller holes require enormous pressure, which means an enormous tank.

[dave1992]

pumps seem to be the best way, ive heard (from other posts on differenrt forums) because they can provide more pressure but i have seen system with on peice of pipe with holes drilled in, called a rain chamber, which i think im going to try and base the idea around. The main problem i can see is getting the hole the right diameter. This is proving a difficult topic lol