Re-lining old pond, advice on adding a waterfall?

8 years ago

Hi folks! Plant nerd stopping by from the rose forums hoping for some advice/encouragement.

We have a 10ish by 6ish by 2ish (kidney shaped with rock ledge) pond that came with the house we bought in 2012 so lord knows how old it is. Flexible liner, no fish, 500gph pump with filter and spray thingy, plus a spitter in the opposite corner for decent aeration.

We are finally getting around to replacing the liner and because of how things were excavated and settled over the years we find ourselves with a decent place for a waterfall. Would you folks mind weighing in on our tentative plans?

1. 15x20 Firestone 45mil EPDM and underlayment. Drain /empty and take out the old liner, look around for roots/etc, lay the new stuff, weigh down with pavers as it is now (photo). All this time it’s been gravity only, but may fix a few with spray foam stuff this time around so it’s not such a death trap.

2. Waterfall box tucked in around where St Francis is leaning. Looking at the $30 Danner with 8” spillway. Since our current 500gph pump probably won’t swing it, should we get another 500-1k just for the waterfall? Are there boxes with pumps attached or is that just dumb?

3. We are in New Orleans so rocks are not really a thing. We’ll be using these pavers plus a few nicer random flagstone type things around the yard, maybe some concrete chunks for foundation. Again possibly the foam goo. Maybe 2-3 short steps adding up to 18-24”. Cover the box with an easily removed flat stone and eventually plants. (Not the dollarweed)

Anything obviously wrong or missing with this “plan”? Any recommendations for or against the cheap waterfall box? Just want to get a general feel for what we’re getting ourselves into.

Many thanks for any pointers and I’m happy to answer rose questions in return!

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Comments (2)

chas045
8 years ago
I gather that the black box is a pump filter box? They aren't necessary but can be helpful. My pump came with its own case that is a filter of bigger objects. I don't have a spillway box for my waterfall; I just have a pipe that pours out over a flat rock bounded by a couple rocks on the sides sealed with 'Great Stuff'. The pipe is covered by other rocks.

I don't see any practical issues. I wonder if your original liner is still OK? Regarding goop or 'great Stuff', make absolutely sure you have old clothes on, EVEN
WHEN you are just retouching that little place over there...I now have way more 'old' clothes than I should have.
lyannastarknola thanked chas045
lyannastarknola
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks so much! The archives here have been more helpful than the whole rest of the internet honestly. The 25% or so photos that remain after the great Houzz coup are all really lovely and helpful as well.

Yes, that's the "plastic ball in a box" filter for the pump that came with the house in 2012. So all things considered it's held up well! It's in almost total shade so we've never had any problems with algae, just being too lazy to skim out the leaves. It really had become its own little ecosystem by the time it finally started leaking for real, so I figure we'll give the new one a chance to do the same. I'm very eager to get some actual plants in and around there again. And we miss our toads!

There are visible holes in the old lining, which is also very definitely not 45mil EPDM. The pavers are all just plunked down at random and slide in all the time, and there is visible slippage (please note the angle of poor St. Francis there; that "cascade" underneath him used to be flush with the rest of the rim of the pond). That's actually my only worry, especially being literally below sea level, is what it looks like under there and whether we'll need to worry about the structural integrity of the hole/rim itself. But we'll find out!

Liner arrives today, 100lbs. Sorry, UPS guy. And I learned, probably on here, that doubling up on gloves is not at all overkill when dealing with the foam!

Again many many thanks for the reassurance that at least in theory we're doing it right! I hope to have pretty pictures to share soon.
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