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- - Winterization of Ponds and Lakes
- - Beneficial Bacteria: Helping A Pond Naturally
- - Algae: Basics of Pond Algae
- - Oxygen Transfer Rates, SOTR & Pumping Rates of Aeration Systems
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- - Waterfalls: Building a Waterfall
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Waterfalls: Building a Waterfall
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Your pond pump is one of the most important aspects of your pond One of the highlights of a pond or backyard watergarden can be the waterfall. A waterfall is something that when we experience one in a natural setting always fills us with awe. I have been camping as a child and some of the most vivid memories are of seeing a cascading chute of raw river water tumbling over a natural granite formation!
The thing is, I always tell my clients that there is no such thing as a really well built cascading waterfall that is cheap. I have seen some of my clients refuse to believe that they needed a 45 mil EPDM membrane to line their rocky cascade and instead they went and bought a cheap pond liner that was nothing more than a geotextile that they used to line their waterfall. The result? Well you can imagine that the waterfall leaked and the liner disintegrated within a year and the pump clogged and well....you get the picture...if you are looking for the best way to build a waterfall you should always try and build it right...you can build a cheap waterfall but it often won't be right. Having a leaking waterfall or a waterfall pump that doesn't have the right flow for the head or width of the waterfall can make it look like a leaking swamp! Building a waterfall, doesn't really require an expert as much as it requires expert advice. The thing to do when you are building a waterfall is to make sure the pumps and liners and rock structure and waterfall lighting is actually appropriate for the height of the rock pile and width of the water cascade you are envisioning.
Your Pump Is The Heart of Your Pond and Waterfall
Just like our own nutrition is important so is the nutrition of a pond and again, the pump plays a primary role in ensuring that the water doesn't stagnate and keeps moving through the thermocline and into the upper levels of the pond and to the surface where the oxygen transfer can occur. I know it isn't in some of your genetic code to spend more that $19.99 on a pump but if you value the investment you have put into building a pond and stocking it with fish then you should perhaps use professional equipment to aerate and make your waterfall instead of trying the DIY route! I'm not against trying to whittle a beer-opener out of a tree branch, heck, I've done that many a time but when it comes to my pond I want to just buy a cheap pump that lasts for years and has good reviews and then I'm all set! My time is becoming more valuable as I get older and I don't want to spend 12 hours in the garage building my own aeration pump if I can order one for a few hundred bucks! The Pump
Stage 1 - Placement of pump Secure flexible tubing to the outlet of pump using a stainless steel hose clamp. Submerse at the furthest point from the waterfall. Route the tubing over side of pond (can be hidden under perimeter stones). Make sure the stone does not pinch the tubing, and avoid sharp bends in the tubing so it does not kink and reduce flow. Stage 2 - Tubing Route the tubing to the waterfall. Bury under soil. Stage 3 - Building waterfall pond Use displaced soil from pond to build an elevated area for waterfall. Consider making a small auxiliary pond in this mound. Position the spillway to flow into main pond. Build the small pond using the same techniques and liner as the main pond. Two layers of liner are recommended for this pond. The first one contains the water. The second liner channels the water towards the fall. Important! Be sure the liner drapes underneath the waterfall spillway stones - otherwise you will experience water loss when the waterfall is in operation. You may need to use liner seam tape in this stage. Stage 4 - Building spillway Once the spillway liner is in place - you will want to pump water up to the auxiliary pond and watch it flow down the liner spillway. (At this stage - your pond should be full of water). Carefully select stones and position them - while the water is flowing over them. With the water flowing over the rock, you may replace, shift and add stones so you achieve the desired water spills you desire. Place plant moss and small plants between the stones around the waterfall to achieve a natural look.
Back To Your Waterfall
We used a molded pond often called a "molded" pond by perfectionists and folks from Canada so we had to excavate the hole in the backyard to place the pre-formed pond.
For waterfalls it is recommended to have between 50 Gallons per Hour and 150 Gallons Per Hour for every inch of width of your waterfall. I.e.: If you want an 18" wide waterfall you should have a pump giving between 900 and 2700 Gallons per Hour.
Why should I have a pump?
The size of the pump you choose depends on what you want it to do. If it is just for a fountain then most pumps come with suitable attachments. If it is to run a filter and fountain then it needs to be slightly bigger.
The quantity of water in the pond dictates this. If you have a "average pond" then the water should be turned over every 3-4 hours, but it should be every 1-2 hours for a koi pond. Your choice of pump should be one that is big enough to turn the water over often enough and run a fountain (if required) It is better to have a bigger than required pump as you can reduce the flow easier than trying to increase the flow of an undersized pump!
Now...choose the best pump for your surroundings If you want a fountain and filter will the pump be strong enough to run both? I often suggest that you have two separate pumps but the 110V submersible pumps are often the best choice for the average small pond or water garden. Do not forget at night the general ambient noise level is quieter than during the day so what may be a pleasant "lapping" or "tinkling" sound when the fountain is splashing during the day can become an extreme "crashing" or "gushing" noise at night which may upset you and your your neighbors more than the teenager with the new car down the street with his new sound system in his totally tuned Honda! If you have two pumps you can turn the fountain pump off when it gets late, or better still fit a timer on to your pond system and have the noisy pond bits running only when it is appropriate!. Another thing to be considered is how much will it cost to run? The cheap pump from the hardware store or the one you bought on Ebay may be cheaper to purchase but what about its running costs and the warranty? A "sump" pump is fine and you can buy one from the local hardware store for less than $100 but those sorts of pumps are mainly for sucking the flood waters from your basement and not designed for continuous duty in a pond! A system that must run 7 days a week and 24 hours per day must be reliable and when it is running most of the summer, with the cost of electricity, you need to avoid the cheap "power hungry" models and get something that is efficient...the initial cost may be high but just because you get a deal from Jimmy in South Dakota selling his aquarium filtering pump on Ebay doesn't mean it's the right thing to do! How to calculate the right size waterfall pump: First you should look at the width of your waterfall. When you measure the width you are looking at the width of the top of the waterfall, starting from where the water flows out of the catchment pond if you have built one. Of course, you can always setup a system of a single tube from a pump or multiple outlet pipes from one or more small pumps in the pond at the far end, typically the deep end of the pond, that simply cascade over rocks. If you are not using a catchment basin and are only having hoses hidden under stones or rocks to create the waterfall then you have to make sure the pump and tubing is correctly sized or you may have a waterfall that sprays out like my my Gramma used to say looked like "Pee out of a Tomcat!". A waterfall, when it is natural, flows, drips, dribbles and splashes...it definitely does not spray out like a spitter or a fountain. This is why having a small elevated pond or retention basin to be the start of the falls is often preferable. For every inch of width of the lip of your waterfall you need to have on average of 100 Gallons Per Hour or 1.6 Gallons Per Minute. For every 10 feet of tubing between the pump and the output end of the pipe you should calculate a loss of about 1 foot of head. Plus the final height between the pump in the pond and the top of the output pipe must be counted. It's a simple calculation really. EXAMPLE: The waterfall is 36" wide (width at the top, this is how wide you want the water stream over the waterfall lip to be) The total "head", the height between the bottom intake of the submersible pump to the highest point of the tubing, is 4 feet. There is a 50 foot length of tubing running from the pump on the main pond to where it enters the retention pond or the top of the waterfall. The 36 inch wide waterfall requires 3600 Gallons Per Hour (100 Gallons Per Inch) There is a 4 foot head (Height difference from pump to top of tubing) 50 feet of tubing is equal to an additional 5 feet of head. (Every 10 feet of tubing equals 1 foot of head) You need a pump that can pump 3600 Gallons Per Hour at a 9 foot head, or lift as it is sometimes called. Make sure your pump can deliver the correct flow at the correct head! Now...choose the best pump for your surroundings There are two types of waterfall pumps we use. The External Pump and the Submersible Pump. The external pump sits outside of the pond much like a swimming pool pump would. It has an intake hose in the pond, preferably at the deepest point of the main pond and far from the waterfall to provide the best circulation efficiency for the system. The Submersible pump is actually in the water and sucks water directly through the pump into the outlet hose to the waterfall or retention basin. Promotional Materials, read these and understand what the different componants are that they use. Instead of a kit you can build your own! " Aquascape's Waterfall Kit comes complete with everything you need to incorporate the sight and sound of cascading water into your yard or landscape All necessary components are provided in a convenient, all-in-one kit that takes the guesswork out of purchasing individual components The innovative AquaSurgePRO 2000-4000 allows you to adjust the flow of the pump wirelessly Includes Waterfall Vault makes accessing your pump and checking water levels quick and easy and Complete LED Lighting Package for night-time enjoyment Aquascape is passionate about the products we produce, providing unique products, designs, and features that stand above the competition. The Aquascape Medium Waterfall and Stream Kit comes complete with everything you need to incorporate the sight and sound of cascading water your yard or landscape, providing up to a 16-foot Waterfall and Stream. All necessary components are provided in a convenient, all-in-one kit that takes the guesswork out of purchasing individual components. The innovative AquaSurgePRO 2000-4000 allows you to adjust the flow of the pump wirelessly. The included Pondless Waterfall Vault makes accessing your pump and checking water levels quick and easy and the included AquaBlox eliminate the need to fill your basin with large quantities of gravel and stone. Aquascape is passionate about the products we produce, providing unique products, designs, and features that stand above the competition. " That sounds all good but in the end are we buying the sizzle or the steak? External Pond Pumps
External pond pumps are usually mounted on the shore and are great because they are easier to service because you don't need to go up to your elbows in stinky, smelly pond water to retrieve them!
Waterfall Websites
Waterfall Design Examples, Parameters & Techniques: https://www.rockwoodforest.com/aq
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