Experience with Backyard Waterfall / Pond

2,220 Views | 17 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by 10andBOUNCE
10andBOUNCE
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AG
Has anyone put together their own rock waterfall / pond in their backyard? Any tips or resources you can point me to? Thanks!
Whitetail
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AG
Don't forget to try clicking through some youtube videos on the topic.
sts7049
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AG
i haven't built one, but my old house had a pond/water feature thing in the front yard.

the biggest pain in the butt with it was in the spring when pollen was crazy, or fall when leaves start dropping. having to clean out that sucker and keep the pump box clean was non stop. my only advice to you would be to have a simple way of filtration/cleaning.
FortWorthF3
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I haven't installed one but I bought a house with one and had to maintain it for a number of years and ultimately removed it.

A few things I saw that were good and bad:

If you have dogs that like or tolerate water, forget this project. All of the debris you don't see falls to the bottom to make a black sludge. If your dog did like mine, and jumped in every morning, you'll have a dirty dog to clean before leaving for work.

Use multiple (3-4) layers of heavy lining so you don't end up with a small leak that requires complete draining and repair.

Dig deeper than you think at first because a shallow pond will evaporate faster. Ours was 28" in the center and 5' across and the former owner said he started at 18" deep but had to redig to get the right look and depth. He also commented on the need to not make the hole so much of a bowl as a cylinder so you don't end up with a "beach" situation which will look bad if not covered with water.

You'll probably buy numerous submersible pumps since the smaller ones for little water features don't seem to last a long time if you have lots of debris (pollen, leaves, sticks).

Invest in a good border (flagstone or heavy rocks) because that will give it a clean finished look and is easier when trying to keep other lawn debris out (mulch, grass clippings).

You may find this attracts all sorts of wildlife. We had dogs after a year of living in the house, but before they joined the family we had frogs (you could hear them all night long), raccoons, squirrels, rats, birds and even some snakes. We lived in the center of Fort Worth so this was fun.
sts7049
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AG
i forgot about the evaporation. the previous owners had run a hose from a nearby spigot to fill our pond, but every day in the summer we had to top it off. ours had fish in it so keeping the water up and clean was important.
Milwaukees Best Light
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AG
I took out a stupid pond at my current house. Obviously it was a diy job. They used full boulders to build the damn thing. They didn't use concrete blocks and then put stone on it. They just stacked up big ass rocks and dumped some colored cement between them. A couple of the rocks were so big I had to drill them a couple times, then sledge them apart before I could get them in the wagon to take away. In short, don't do it that way.
Sticks&Stones
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AG
Keep something like this on hand. The microbes will break down the sludge and after a few months the pond will become crystal clear and remain that way with little additional effort. Beware of most pond clarifiers...they are safe for fish, but will severely damage plants like water lillies.

AgLA06
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AG
Nelson's water garden is your best bet for supplies and how to info. They have a lot of info on the website as well. I would recommend doing the pond tour in order to see lots of different designs and talk to owners about what they would do different.

We built an amazing pond at our old house with a bog for a filter that fed a stream that fell into the pond that had fish. We really enjoyed it and friends were amazed by it at parties. I wouldn't recommend something like this with small dogs / puppies or small children. Just too dangerous.

Something most people won't tell you is any pond becomes an annoyingly loud frog orgy.
Sticks&Stones
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AgLA06 said:

Something most people won't tell you is any pond becomes an annoyingly loud frog orgy.

So true
Texmid
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AG
I had one years ago that was quite large. I bought a used pool pump and sand filter. That kept the water very clear.
agdx88
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AG
If you want the water feature and sound of water, do a pondless water feature something like this.

https://www.diyhomecenter.com/aquascape-backyard-waterfall-landscape-fountain-kit?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzK_bBRDDARIsAFQF7zOnkk1ke9SMRR1lT3u6jy31jY0QhAasdcHdXeixUqdB1Bzfm3F-Lg8aAna3EALw_wcB

Catch the water in a basin that covered with rock, filter fabric etc. Keeps the animals and debris out. With it rock covered evaporation should be reduced as well. Its also small kid friendly and if you don't want to mess with the water you have a nice rock garden. Its also small enough water quantity that you can replace the water if it gets to icky
FortWorthF3
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We actually put something in like this to replace the pond (after filling it in and setting a flagstone patio). I bought a very large ceramic pot, filled with gravel about halfway up, then put a large plastic "bowl" on top of the gravel but below the top of the pot, then filled the rest with river rock and the pump we took out of the pond. The bowl fit from edge to edge so the water generally just went back into the bowl (where the pump sat) and the fountain pipe carried the water just above the rock. It made a nice bubbling sound when it was freshly filled and then was just a nice running water sound when the water dropped a little.
ABATTBQ11
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AG
Oooooooooo
AgLA06
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Yah, there's lots of creative ways to do dissapearing fountains these days. We put in something more traditional in our new house to replace a crappy prefab pond that was there.

I like this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=disappearing+fountain&safe=off&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz6-aN7-DcAhVBmK0KHRxmDpQQ_AUIEigC&biw=360&bih=512#imgrc=7rpgZ66NcB1RTM:
10andBOUNCE
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AG
Thanks all for things to consider. Not planning to put fish in, and we're in CO so high rate of evaporation is one of my main concerns in addition to the power supply.
AgLA06
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10andBOUNCE said:

Thanks all for things to consider. Not planning to put fish in, and we're in CO so high rate of evaporation is one of my main concerns in addition to the power supply.


That changes everything! Your profile says Katy, Texas so that's how I tailored my response.

You're going to need to understand freeze / winterizing in much better detail. The typography of your property is going to play a big part in this as well. Outside of big towns in Colorado a lot of properties have a seasonal rocky / Boulder creek where runnoff creates a natural water feature with small waterfalls. That might be a great way to go if you add a disappearing trough at the end that pumps (recirculatiles) back up to the top.
10andBOUNCE
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Sorry!

My initial thought would be to drain the whole thing and power off during the winter. Not going to be outside to enjoy it then.
Aggieangler93
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I would never wish a backyard pond on anyone, even my worst enemy. Our current house had an in-ground one when we moved in that was roughly 16'x12'. I battled pump failures, clogging constantly, flow levels, herons eating the koi, nutrias....rats and mice love them for the water. I will say the huge bullfrogs where cool when they got fired up in the spring, but that is an acquired audio taste.

One of the best days of my life was when I paid someone to remove the 2 sego palms and dig that damn pond out with a pick axe and shovel. Took me and my son and 6 yards of dirt with a pallet of sod, to repair that other guy's fantasy of a pond. I love looking at the green grass in that area of the yard now.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I would look for a fountain, or anything that makes water noise, instead of making lots of problems for yourself and the next guy down the line. Maybe something above ground with a trough type tank, that could easily be hauled off when you or your wife gets tired of it?
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!
10andBOUNCE
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AG
Thanks for the replies, even if bad experiences.

If this happens it will be mainly for the water feature affect. There will be no fish involved. I'll have to look into a potential pond-less water feature.
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