Hi Everybody Joey here again and welcome back.
So today we are going to talk about the underwater waterfall.
Some of you guys might not know what this is, well a lot of you do.
All it is, essentially is a waterfall underwater and you are creating that waterfall with sand.
In this video we will talk about the sand to use, the type of flow you will need and
the materials you will need to build it.
I'm going to make sure this video is very cost effective, and this costs next to nothing
to do.
I've tried several methods and I've come up with one of the easiest and cheapest methods
I can think of.
So, let's start out by first taking a look at the materials, and then we will take a
look at understanding how it actually works.
Ok guys, so the materials you are going to need are really straight forward and simple.
I have some 1 inch PVC, I found that this diameter worked the best in order to pick
up the sand.
What we are going to do with it is really simple.
We are going to cut out a small notch that is about an inch deep at the bottom, making
sure that it sits flat.
As you can see the lip allows water and sand to enter but the PVC still stands up straight.
Second, we are going to need a 90 degree elbow.
It's a 1 inch elbow - what we are going to do there is drill a small 1/4 inch hole in
the top, that is going to allow your air hose (which you also need) to be able to slip through
the hole.
You will also need a small air stone - I found it doesn't matter what type you use, and you
will need an air pump.
If you're using a larger air pump make sure you get some sort of a valve that allows you
to adjust the air pressure, as you may need more or less air flow through this.
Putting this together is going to be very straight forward and simple - we are going
to take our elbow and put it on the opposite end that we notched out.
Just like that - that's pretty straight forward.
Before you do that you're going to need to take your airline hose and run it through
the hole in the elbow.
Where you put it doesn't really matter, but smack dab in the center is probably best.
From there, put it on the PVC and run the air hose down to the bottom.
Once that's on you don't need to cement anything, it will stay together just like that.
Where you have the notch, typically you're going to want it to face the same way as the
elbow.
So as you can see it's facing out and so is the notch.
From there we are going to ahead and attach the air stone to the bottom just like that.
We are going to pull that until it is pretty much flush with the bottom.
Then of course you attach the airline hose to the pump - and that's it.
That is your underwater waterfall - done.
About 50 cents for an elbow, I only used maybe a foot of PVC - another dollar, so about two
bucks.
Air stones are like 25 cents, airline hose 10-25 cents a foot, another dollar - your
air pump maybe 10 bucks.
In total about 15 dollars; minus the air pump about 5 bucks since you probably already have
an air pump.
Let's put this on the tank and see how it works.
Ok guys, so I have my air pump plugged in.
What we are going to do is insert this into the aquarium - don't worry about how foggy
it is I just added the sand and filled this tank up, it will clear shortly.
What is going to happen is when I put this in, air bubbles will travel up the bottom
of the pipe and exit through the top.
What's going to happen behind the bubbles is a suction and that suction is going to
suck water up with it.
What we will see here is water is going to start rising up the tube.
Because of how high this tube is above the water surface we won't see it raise up too
high - but the closer down we go look what happens; water is going to start exiting.
You're probably wondering “how tall do I need to have this pipe?”
Essentially the pipe needs to be long enough that the top half of the 90 degree elbow stays
above the water surface.
Now, what happens if we go ahead and put this into the actual sand?
What's going to happen is, not only water is going to be sucked up but sand as well
- and that's where you get the underwater waterfall effect.
So let's have a look...
Quite messy, but it works.
Messy because I'm using a very fine sand - and that's what comes up next is "what kind of
sand should I be using?"
This sand is probably too fine - I'm using something very similar to play sand, it's
too fine and takes too long to sink in the water.
What you're going to want to use is something similar to pool filtration sand or something
that is maybe 1 millimeter in diameter or half a millimeter in diameter.
What I suggest is get a few samples of different sands and try them out and see which one works
best.
You want the sand to rise up the tube, but also fall directly back down out of the tube.
The reason why we are looking to have an adjustable valve to control the flow, is because this
is probably too much flow as you can see it's pushing the water out - I want it to come
out and drop down.
I can simply adjust the flow if need be and have the flow simply drop straight down like
that.
This is only half of the do it yourself underwater waterfall.
What you're also going to need to do is eventually the sand is all going to be gathered up from
below the standpipe it's going to be sucked out and blown out throughout the aquarium.
The reason why you're going to want to have it in one place is simply so it can keep sucking
up the sand.
So what you're going to want to do is create some sort of a trap under the water.
What I've gone ahead and done is you can take some cement and styrofoam, (like I've showed
you before in DIY backgrounds) and create some sort of a barrier that is going to go
in front and collect all the sand that continues to drop down in front of the standpipe.
What that’s going to do is give the underwater waterfall a constant supply of sand.
Second thing you could do is cover up the standpipe, build something else that
covers it up.
It’s up to you, I'm not going to complete this as you know I want to leave this open
to ideas from yourselves and create your own unique idea.
To keep this in place before you fill up the tank simply silicone the standpipe to the
corner of your tank - or it will work at any angle of your tank silicone it in place.
It's not heavy, it doesn't float or anything like that, but as you can see it does create
that waterfall effect.
Of course the sand I am using is too fine, but you get the idea and that this idea certainly
does work.
OK guys, so that was essentially it.
That's one way to create an underwater waterfall.
Tongue twister!
You guys might be wondering “what's the point of creating one?”
Well it's definitely something unique and could be a new focal point for your aquarium.
They’re fun and easy, as well as cheap as I showed you - only costing about $5 for all
the pieces you're going to need.
I hope you enjoyed the video guys, and we will see you next time.