The Water Pump for the terrarium - I am going to use a pretty nice water pump for my terrarium. The actual pump is on the right side of the picture. This part will sit right in the water and it pumps the water up through the hose. The black object in the middle of the picture is the on/off switch so I won't have to let it run all the time.

You have many options for your water pump and you can get one at either a hobby shop, a crafts shop or an aquarium shop. And you can usually pick up a basic one for five bucks. I have even seen them plenty of times at yard sales and flea markets. Sometimes you can get a real cheap table top water fountain and just take the pump right out of it. My pump has a little adjustment knob so I can adjust the amount of water flow which is a nice addition and you should look for this if you can get one.

Before you assemble your waterfall inside your terrarium you should test and build it outside the terrarium. This will allow you the freedom to make changes and arrange it in different way so you can come up with the best looking arrangement.

The first thing you should do is get some kind of a water container, fill it with water and test your water pump. This way you can see what kind of water flow it has. My water pump was set on high so I ran it and adjusted it to its minumum setting. This way I got a nice slow bubbling of water.

Here is a rough arrangement that I like. In the final version I ended up putting large flat rocks around the back as a sort of wall. You should put plenty of colorful and interesting stones and rocks in the bottom of the pool too. If you want to actually build this waterfall into a structure you can use a bathroom caulk to assemble all the rocks together but do it in a way that does not trap the pump in a manner that won't alloy you to get it out. Let the caulk completely dry before you add water to the pool. You don't want the caulk to contaminate the pool. This would not be healthy for your pet.

Once you have found a good location and setting for your pump and you have made an arrangement you are happy with all you have to do is transfer the pump and stones into the water pool in your terrarium.