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indoor waterfall |
laney
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 20, 2002
Posts: 631
From: orange county CA
|  Posted: 2002-12-24 3:49 pm Permalink
The fish may be a good idea but I've found that those algae eaters need warm water (heater) or they will die. My koi eat a lot of the algae in my outside tank but it may just be the bamboo rotting. I had a bamboo vase I got in Kona and it rotted fast. Good Luck!
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-10-07 1:24 pm Permalink
Bumping this thread because we're trying to build an indoor waterfall and could use some help or advice. Has anyone done this before? As in an indoor waterfall?
We thought about just buying one, but haven't had luck finding one that was both safe for indoor use and also the right size -- most were either tabletop fountains or only a few feet high at most. Some of them are illuminated, though, and we liked the looks of them (example), but they tend to be too wide and not tall enough -- the only one we found that was 4' tall was only for outdoor use. So we are starting to wonder if should just make our own, because then we can include all the lava rock and giant clam shells we want.
We read this thread on building an outdoor rock waterfall and more recently Bamboo Ben's lava rock waterfall for the Breezeway, but has anyone done an indoor fountain? We're not even sure where to start with this one...
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Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 5863
From: Costa Misery
| Posted: 2012-10-07 2:11 pm Permalink
This was a project I also considered a while back, the problems out weighed the the good,so I dropped it.
You have to consider issues like (Do you have kids, pets?, there will be alot of moisture
so mold & mildew is a serious issue, will you need to add chemicals to the water?, what if it leaks ? etc.)
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-10-07 3:20 pm Permalink
ATP, we hadn't yet considered the mold and mildew issue. There's nothing grosser than walking into a Chinese restaurant and seeing a poorly maintained pond in the front all murky and dark.
Any kind of pond is definitely out. If anything we might still consider a smaller, premade indoor floor fountain, provided this moisture thing isn't going to be an issue. Oh, and the position for it is only a few feet away from a huge electric fireplace. I.e., splashing water is not an option!
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tikilongbeach
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Aug 05, 2011
Posts: 1272
From: Long Beach, CA via Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2012-10-07 6:59 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-07 13:24, mike and marie wrote:
Bumping this thread because we're trying to build an indoor waterfall and could use some help or advice. Has anyone done this before? As in an indoor waterfall?
We thought about just buying one, but haven't had luck finding one that was both safe for indoor use and also the right size -- most were either tabletop fountains or only a few feet high at most. Some of them are illuminated, though, and we liked the looks of them (example), but they tend to be too wide and not tall enough -- the only one we found that was 4' tall was only for outdoor use. So we are starting to wonder if should just make our own, because then we can include all the lava rock and giant clam shells we want.
We read this thread on building an outdoor rock waterfall and more recently Bamboo Ben's lava rock waterfall for the Breezeway, but has anyone done an indoor fountain? We're not even sure where to start with this one...
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I'm not sure if you guys live in the Los Angeles area, but Marukai in Gardena has bamboo pole fountains that you can put together. I think they were in the $30 and under range. Their home decor is on the second floor of the market.
The algae problem will happen with any fountain and it requires consistent cleaning.
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-Lori
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swizzle
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 03, 2007
Posts: 832
From: Melbourne,Australia
| Posted: 2012-10-07 7:59 pm Permalink
As someone who spent several years working in the aquarium industry let me explain what causes algae and what you can do to prevent it.
Algae is something that cannot be avoided in an aquarium or pond and does no harm other than look unsightly. Algae is a plant, albeit a very simple primitive one, that needs the same things to grow as other plants, and that is food and light. When keeping an aquarium or pond, YOU are the one who is in control of both those factors. Generally both of those things will be present but it's not until you have an excess of one, or both, that the algae becomes a problem.
Food is any decomposing matter, whether it comes from organic materials rotting in the water i.e, dead plants, driftwood, or from fish waste and excess fish food (if keeping them).
Light i don't think i need to explain, however it is always best to avoid natural sunlight hitting the tank/pond as that is something you cannot control.
Algae is one of those things where prevention is better than cure, as once it has established itself it is very hard to get rid of. If you are having a problem you need to look at which one of the two things i mentioned, food and light, are in excess and address that issue. Sometimes it is both.
A saying i always used in the pet store was that 'You are a water keeper, not a fish keeper. If the water chemistry is good the fish look after themselves'.
Same goes with algae. An aquarium/pond is a mini eco-system that you are in control of.
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-10-09 7:40 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-07 18:59, tikilongbeach wrote:
I'm not sure if you guys live in the Los Angeles area, but Marukai in Gardena has bamboo pole fountains that you can put together. I think they were in the $30 and under range. Their home decor is on the second floor of the market.
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Alas, we're not -- if we were we would probably have Bamboo Ben work his magic.
The wall's about 6.5' high and we figured that the waterfall would be no higher than 4'; the plan was to build fake rock shelving on the rest of the wall area to hold artificial plants and all of our little shell dioramas. We could cheat and get one of those premade rock waterfall things they have at the hardware stores but as they're only like 2' tall we're not sure if it's going to spoil the effect. The tall 4' one we did see was unfortunately outdoor only.
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-10-09 7:44 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-07 19:59, swizzle wrote:
When keeping an aquarium or pond, YOU are the one who is in control of both those factors. Generally both of those things will be present but it's not until you have an excess of one, or both, that the algae becomes a problem.
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Swizzle, thanks for the algae lesson. We can say that light will probably not be an issue because the area where the waterfall will be is nearly pitch black most of the time. No sunlight at all, and the only light that hits it is when we're down there. There's also no fish or anything else, so no organic matter either ... so can we consider ourselves safe from algae?
We actually plan to use tonic water instead of plain water, allowing it to go flat first, because it glows in black light.
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 7237
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2012-10-09 8:13 pm Permalink
Tonic water glows under blacklight? That's a new one to me, must be the quinine. Swizz is right about the algae, I keep it down in my outdoor pond by blocking out the light with floating plants (water lilies and water hyacinth). If it's kept in the dark, has no organic matter, and is recirculated and aerated frequently it should stay clean.
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Lukeulele
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 04, 2006
Posts: 377
From: So Cal-holic
| Posted: 2012-10-09 8:32 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-09 20:13, MadDogMike wrote:
Tonic water glows under blacklight?
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Yes! It does! I think it is the quinine that does it. Mix yourself a Gin and Tonic and flick on the black light sometime. It's a total trip.
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Hakalugi
Site Administrator
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 3025
From: Redondo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-09 9:21 pm Permalink
I'm moving this thread into the Home Tiki Bar forum.
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RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7438
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2012-10-10 08:01 am Permalink
I have a decent size custom indoor I'm building soon with Giant Clam Shells. Will post pics. The Pagan Room....
...(nix the giant clam shells)
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[ This Message was edited by: revbambooben 2013-02-09 09:18 ]
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-10-21 7:35 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-10 08:01, RevBambooBen wrote:
I have a decent size custom indoor I'm building soon with Giant Clam Shells. Will post pics. |
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Mahalo, we appreciate!
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Hale Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Posts: 1798
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2012-10-25 05:56 am Permalink
Excellent! I'm about to start construction of mine as well.
Thanks for the tip on the tonic water! I may just end up doing that. I've got clam shells, rum barrels, and a tiki or two for the fountain!
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mike and marie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 24, 2008
Posts: 127 | Posted: 2012-11-01 6:15 pm Permalink
Hale Tiki, good luck with it! We'd love to see pictures when it's done, and also hear about the construction! Are you building a fountain with a pump, or using a prefabricated one as a base?
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