water fall of death

[dossy]

no not really just thought a good title would get more readers

anyway last few weeks i been woking of this water fall and today i did the 1st wet run. after a lot of fiddling arounf to make the pump fit on the sump it finaly got water moving around and i added red food dye to see any leaks and im glad i did because there is a small leak i would not have seen.



the leak is between the top and the bottom pice, i made it in 2 pices so that i can get to the sump and pump . anyone got any ideas how to keep it in 2 bits but seal the leak?

also any comments welcome even if "it looks ****** " i do not mind

and yes its geting re painted and some patches need to be re done with grout.

 

[cadwallader]

looking good dude, the red food dye idea is a great idea. keen to see the final product

 

[dossy]

thats prety much finished. i thought the dye was a great idea up untill i spilt it all over my hands and the pavers haha

 

[cadwallader]

haha lol well in theory it was a good idea great good what is it for?>

 

[dossy]

its for my cbd enclosure, i thought he neede a cave so thought lets make something difrent. there is a 3rd part with the set

 

[James..94]

Looks good Hayden Osca will love it!!

 

[dossy]

i hope he does to james

 

[browny]

fixing the leak is a tough one without looking at the problem in person....how is the water fall dumping back into the sump? is the sump sealed or open topped? maybe have a good sized piece of tube thats fixed and sealed to the top half hanging down into the sump will fix it but dont hold me to it as i dont know how/where its leaking

can you give pics and description of how/where its leaking from?


BTW....love all the 'personal touches' being done of late and this one really looks the goods

 

[dossy]

browny it is the 4th pic that shows the leak. the sump is under the waterfall and it has a 35-45 degree angle, the water is just sticking to the top part once its gone through the hole and comes out the gap. i could seall the entire thing with silicon but if something goes wrong with the pump i cant get into it.

a vine will be added at some point aswell

the tube of sillicon hase come out and im going to try the double lip method, a line of silicon on the top bit and a line on the bottom bit hopefully that will stop it, if not then back to the drawing bord

 

[Just_Plain_Nuts]

I think i know what you have done, the underneath of the top piece is flat right? You expected that the water would fall straight down and into a pool of water where the pump sits? If that is the case there is an easy fix....do a thick bead of silicone around the underneath of the top piece around the hole where the water falls through. Make it about an inch from the hole and right around it in a full circle and make it about 1-2 cm thick from the bottom of the top piece. This will stop the water tracking out because it can track along a horizontal surface it will not go around and back up.

 

[redlittlejim]

you just need to make it fall from an overhanging lip onto the second piece. make it about 1-2cms and it wont travel back up the lip.

 

[dossy]

yer stein thats exactly whats happend, i have done what you said basicly and just added a small circle of silicon to the sloped bit minuse the bottom end just incase. now i got to wait 3 days to re run it with water so see ( the silicon tube says 24-48 hrs but last time i used it it took 3 days befor it skined properly then 3 more days and it was all good)

once its all working ill fill in the gaps with some putty then water proof them and it should be all good

 

[Just_Plain_Nuts]

We were making little waterfalls for bonsais in a similar manner and we had the same problem. You could also try and scrape foam away from around the drain pipe, if you are using a pipe. How much sealer did you use? Keep an eye on it as in time it may start to ooze through the foam.

 

[dossy]

it is a 10mm bead of silicon ( thats what the nozzle was cut off at). is there a way to speed up silicon dry time like a hair dryer or something?. also stein do you have and good links that i can get nice looking fake vines from around sydney?