First time, DIY pondless waterfall questions

11 years ago

I am just in the beginning stages of building a small, pondless water feature in my backyard. I have never built anything like this before and am wondering if my expectations are completely out of wack. It will be a waterfall that is about 3-4 feet high, and only travels about another 3-4 feet, before the water returns to the reservoir. It will be about 12-15 inches wide.

A few questions for the experts:

1) I was planning on burying 2 large, rectangular milk crates to use as a matrix for the water reservoir. This comes out to be around 35-40 gallons of water, depending on how deep I bury them. Will this be enough water for a feature my size? How much water approximately should I expect to be in circulation while running?

2) I Was planning on getting a 1000gph pump. (I will be using an 8" spillway for the first opening). Is this enough power? I don't really want a roaring brook. More like a quiet stream. Also, if my water reservoir has to be small, would buying a smaller pump help at all?

3) I was just going to lay the pump directly on the liner under one of the milk crates. I see they sell all kinds of fancy containers for holding the pumps that are very pricey. Is there a problem with the way I'm planning it? If the pump just sits on the bottom, will it have any issues getting enough water circulation to it? For maintenance, I would just remove the big rocks on top of the milk crate and access the pump that way.

4) I read all sorts of stories about problems with algae, bad smells, brown water, etc. Since I won't have any fish, or live plants, is there some sort of chemical I can put in the water that will basically kill everything or prevent any life from forming in the water? I do have 2 young kids, who I'm sure will put their hands in the water at some point, so I don't want something that would be too toxic.

5) Last question - sort of relates to #4. I was planning on only really using the waterfall 1 or 2 times a week - i.e. not running all day. That means that most of the week, it will just be standing water. Is there a product from #4 question, that will also prevent problems from having the water be standing most of the time? I would be OK with putting it on some kind of timer so that it runs for a few hours a day if necessary. I know that I will probably have to top it off every time it runs due to evaporation, but that's OK with me.

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

chas045
11 years ago
I have no experience with pondless systems so I may need correction. I would certainly agree that a smaller pump would mean less worry about a limited vault volume. However, I think that a 1000 gph pump is already on the small side but perhaps just right for a gentle flow. Four feet is getting up there, and could decrease your expected flow depending on the pump. Check stats for height vs flow.

Hopefully, someone who has one of these things will speak up. I would guess that your vault volume might be too small. Your micro stream will take up more volume than the plumbing. Perhaps much more depending on what you want it to look like. Personally, I find a barren falls or stream to be dull. I also use plants as my major filtering system and I would think you would find plants in the stream to be very useful and attractive.

I don't think there is a serious issue with your pump location. However, I assume that you would need to install a sump pump like float switch to kill the pump before the vault runs out of water.
frankielynnsie
11 years ago
I agree that a pump that size would need a much larger reservoir. See the videos on the is web site to get some ideas. Their products are nice but costly. http://www.truepump.com/pondless-waterfalls/pondless-components.html
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PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
We have two, much smaller pondless features. One is a bubbling rock with a depression for birds to splash and the other is a round concrete ball that water bubbles from the top of. Each one has a ~350 gph pump that only lifts 18-24 inches and they are in 35 gallon tubs. I think that your water reservoir will need to be significantly larger. Think of it this way, all the 'active' water in your feature will need to be contained in the reservoir when it's turned off plus you'll need some extra water to confirm that your pump is fully submerged. You can probably use household bleach to sanitize the water.

I'm sure that there is a calculator online somewhere that can figure the volume for the size feature that you are planning. I found on that calculated 3 feet long by 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep to be 22.44 gallons, that seems conservative to me.

I can't really link the one I used since it belongs to a commercial website.