# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  Hydroponic rain maker

## KMAC

Hello,

I have been visiting my local hydroponics store but im sure you can appreciate they are not frog specialists and Mor am I.

Does anyone have any recommendations on sprinklers, pumps I could use to create a rainy season for my RETF's?

This unot will run probably once a year after I learn how long and when rainy season starts for them.

This is the enclosure:

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## KMAC

Moving on with this project I have ordered a maxi jet 750, black sponge will be wrapped round the input end, seems powerful enough for the 90cm climb.



I appreciate everyone is away enjoying summer holidays etc but what sprinkler head type would be more suitable out the 2 below? 

Type 1



Type 2



Standard irrigation pipe will be used.

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## privet01

Yeah.... I think you'll pretty much just need to experiment with some small aquarium pumps and a combination of sprinklers and drips that you might find at an irrigation supply house or hydroponics shop.

So you plan to leave this thing running for 24x7 for a month or so?  I'd think you'd need to still turn it off for a little to let some of the water drain from whatever your plants are rooted in.  But maybe not if your drainage is good.

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## KMAC

Here is my drainage layer, water level at 7cm the guy in the shop thinks I need 10cm, my plan is to do this in max 8cm if I can get pump submersed at this level.



The media is biolife drainage 



I created a thread questioning seasons but no one has got back to me.

I was thinking 15 mins of rain say 6 times a day on a timer for about 2 or 3 months?

Im still researching the best times to do the season.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## privet01

> Here is my drainage layer, water level at 7cm the guy in the shop thinks I need 10cm, my plan is to do this in max 8cm if I can get pump submersed at this level.


10cm of water or 10cm of drainage above the water??   I would think the water level should be whatever is appropriate for your frogs or whatever.  You do need some drainage layer above what ever the water level is, but 10cm seems excessive.  

I think it's kind of a balancing act depending a lot on what live plants you use.  Some won't mind their roots being totally in water 24x7 and others will not want their roots to be completely immersed constantly.  Maybe looking at some aquaponics sites will help you too.

Cycling your rain maker will probably work great for many plants, particularly if you get the drainage layer correct.  It should provide you a setup that slightly mimics the advantages of ebb and flow hydroponics.  But then what happens to them in your dry season??

Another issue might be trying to keep enough nutrient in the water for the plants without having too much nitrate/ammonia for the frogs.  I think it will be interesting.  So keep letting us know what's working for you and whats not.

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## KMAC

I will do and your absolutely right about getting balance.

I would say my drainage layer as in media is 10cm the water about 7. They think for the pump to work my water level will need to be 10cm. NH3/4 >> NO2 >> NO3, typical Nitrogen Cycle stuff but will be cool if it works. 

Plant wise Pothos seem to be doing really well with the current water level and I think it will be ok with 1-2cm more

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## KMAC

Forgot to say my main plants are...

*Pothos, doing really well

*Ficus, doing rubbish

*Schefflera arboricola, doing really well

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## KMAC

I have now decided on the parts im going to use.

The above maxi jet 750 I got from eBay for £14.00, used once for a job.

Below is the parts I have chosen for my rain kit....

Straight hose that will be used for the upflow from the pump, quite expensive at £10.95 a meter but neater looking.



Next is the flexible rubber hose for the top, this is where I will put the sprinklers, £2.30 a meter. 



The chosen sprinklers pack of 10, these can easily be changed but these are adjustable, £4.50 for 10





End bung to close the end of the pipe and elbow for the join at the top, £2.68 for both






So as it stands this unit is costing less than £35.00 and thats me using a branded pump and I would say expensive straight hose, normal irrigation pipe is a lot cheaper. 

This unit is still way cheaper than available rain kits and I have another company getting me a price on solid pipe, so it might work out better in price again.

I wreckon my next update will be when the unit is up and running. 

If you have any further ideas or suggestions please share.

Thanks,

KMAC.

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## AAron

Looking forward to seeing this!


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## KMAC

> Looking forward to seeing this!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


M8 looks as if it could turn out to be a belter if not ill drown my sorrows in the Scotia bar  :Wink:

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## KMAC

What are ppls thought on the seasons being.... rainy season Sept - Oct. Dry season Nov - Feb. Mid season mix of light rain and dry from March - August?

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## AAron

That sounds very accurate and if you have the time to do this, go for it! 


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## KMAC

The next question will be Larry what light cycles would be best during these times?  Ill just use a programmer or timer switches to make it easier

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## AAron

Am I correct you said this would be the in between season?


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## KMAC

Looking for best light schedules for all seasons bud

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## AAron

> Looking for best light schedules for all seasons bud


I wasn't looking at the question as a whole, I thought you just meant like for right now lol... If you are doing a rainy season then that might get less light then the dry season seeing as when it rains it's cloudy. So I would think 12-14 hours of darkness along with the heavy rain you mentioned would work. That's just my thoughts with trying to have a close representation of the rainy season. 


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## KMAC

Well thats the rest of the irrigation kit ordered so I should have it all up and running in couple of weeks and in good time for wet season.

Ive decided to try these 2 nozzle heads, one is covered above in my previous thoughts, the first type is more mist, my plan is to use 1-2 of these only.




I will more than likely use most of these for rain/drip effect if not all of them as each are adjustable in flow.




These frogs are housed in an exo terra 90 x 45 x 90cm and the hood has 4 UV bulbs which all are currently on 11 hours a day and off the rest just now.

Im lightly misting only every 3 - 4 days to give a spike in humidity.

I do have a dehumidifier I can run so I can also make it quite dry for when the wet season is over.


during wet seasons I was going to reduce daylight to say 8 hours but at the same time remove 2 of the bulbs to get it darker during day light.

Do you think this is a better idea?

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## AAron

> Well thats the rest of the irrigation kit ordered so I should have it all up and running in couple of weeks and in good time for wet season.
> 
> Ive decided to try these 2 nozzle heads, one is covered above in my previous thoughts, the first type is more mist, my plan is to use 1-2 of these only.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will more than likely use most of these for rain/drip effect if not all of them as each are adjustable in flow.
> 
> ...


The dehumidifier might be a little bit worrisome with them, you know what you are doing though so I am interested to see this, you are going all out for this which is good to see. 


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## KMAC

I live in the UK m8 so its rainy season all year round for me. 

But I Dont think ill really need a dehumidifier either tbh unless my house gets to humid at the wrong froggy season then ill run it.

Im a big believer WC or CB being kept as close as you can get to a natural environment so if I have a way of improving their captive environment I will do it for them.

Hopefully this thread will also help people to make a semi decent DIY rain maker, as you know these type of things can be expensive to buy especially canisters filter type kits.

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Larry Wardog

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## AAron

Yeah, this could be something people will share years later and someone can get ideas of of it. Will you be making a thread of the complete build like ho I have the 75 Gallon thread?


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## KMAC

I might do a diary on the full setup when the frogs have matured

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## privet01

> during wet seasons I was going to reduce daylight to say 8 hours but at the same time remove 2 of the bulbs to get it darker during day light.


You have live plants in this setup, don't you??  Have you considered how much light they require to stay healthy?  The single flourescent tube I use for my lighting doesn't put out the equivalent energy over the plants as the sun would, so I wind up leaving the light on about 15 hours a day to give the plants enough energy to thrive.

I've always been under the impression that typical lighting for your viv, aquarium, terrarium or what ever might look bright but when the strength of the light is measured in the wavelengths desirable for good photosynthesis, that they fall quite shore of what the sun gives out for the same square measure of area.

So just running your light cycle to match whats nature does may not be adequate unless your lights do put out the same energy that the sun would give that same area.

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## KMAC

These are the 4 bulbs running the now in this setup, think it will be enough? 

The plants will more than likely have a period in the natural environment where UV is lower and the clouds are belting down of rain.



This is why im going to half the light and UV during wet season.

I think I can get a good cycle for all life in this environment. 

Well I hope so anyway.

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## KMAC

Remember this is a 90cm L x 45 W x 90 H, its a decent size setup

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## AAron

I slightly agree with Privet, you may need at least 6-7 or a little more depending on the type of plants and you said about having fish possibly if I'm remembering correctly, that imo might need to have 6 hours with those bulbs on. I have them for my 55 Gallon 48x13x20 in a compact top and they wouldn't be enough alone imo to give these plants and fish enough artificial light. Perhaps a more powerful light could work with 1 or 2 of them on during your wet season. Just giving ideas and trying to be infomative. 


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## KMAC

All ideas are welcome from everyone thats why im here.

I dont know about adding more light,  70% of the plants are Pothos and philos so I guess I better have a read at what they can tolerate. Maybe ill just reduce the time but keep the 4 bulbs going to aid the Pothos. 

I think the philos will be ok as I know they can tolerate lower light but its the Pothos I need to read up on.

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## KMAC

The master plan is 8-9hrs of light per day instead of the normal 11

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## privet01

I don't think UV plays an important part of photosynthesis for plants.  But I was recently shown to be wrong about UV and FBT's, so I'm certainly not saying that as gospel.

However it's not something that will be immediately disastrous.   You'll see if the plants are suffering.  Then you'll just have to decide if it's the lack of light, or the "rain" leaching the nutrients from their planting medium or something else entirely.

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## KMAC

I think UV vs plants depends on the species of plant life and other aspects out with photosynthesis. I do like ecology etc and im a celtic fan so supposidly we are naturally green fingers and toes ha ha.

 But lets cut to the chase do you think Pothos could handle a drop down to 8 hrs of light a day using the current 4 bulbs?

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## KMAC

I have a bright idea!!!!

What about having the lights on a timer so they go off or cut down to two when the sprinklers start but turn on when the water stops?

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## privet01

> do you think Pothos could handle a drop down to 8 hrs of light a day using the current 4 bulbs?


We have a lot of pothos as houseplants in some of the lower light areas of our house and it does well.  Though these areas do get a couple hours of good indirect sunlight each day.  On the water side of the issue though.... our pothos plants do seem to be a source of gnats when we overwater them to much.  Not sure if the gnats are from just the wet soil or that they are from parts of the overly large root system that pothos has that may be rotting in places.



> What about having the lights on a timer so they go off or cut down to two when the sprinklers start but turn on when the water stops?


Personally I'm okay if the lights stayed on entirely when it rain is going.  If rain is a feature you want to "showcase", then I would think you want others to be able to see it.

But if your object is to recreate and model a rainy season environment then I suppose that modulating the lighting is a must.

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## KMAC

Cheers privet  :Smile: 

Its not really show case feature or anything im just trying to create as close as I can to rainy season for them.

I guess its what we once spoke about before, getting a balance for all.

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## KMAC

Regarding gnats I know some people that add nematodes to your house plants to help combat them but I dont know how they would be in a viv, has anyone tried? 

Species such as Steinernematids or Neoaplectanids.

Edit: but then again they could affect the feeder insects.

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## KMAC

Im thinking for the rainy season to increase the plant pot heights within the soil to add additional drainage by using these, bags are £1 each



Basically what ill do is lift the plant pots for each plant thats either covered with moss or soil and add the above stones to the base thus raising the pot.

I do have a good drainage as per above posts and pictures but I think this will improve it even more for the plants when the base has puddle coverage.

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## KMAC

Well guys here is my rain maker but the maxijet 750 cant handle the climb to much rattling so I have ordered a 1000 series, but here is what it looks like anyway till its tweaked...



Couple of more supporting D clamps to add...







And of course some frogs....







Excellent at hiding......

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