Pondless Waterfalls - Adding Interest to Your Landscape Design

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Build a Disappearing Waterfall

Pondless waterfalls are unique focal points for any size yard or garden setting. They require a lot less maintenance than traditional ponds and water gardens yet still provide the sights and sounds of moving water. And watching the flowing water disappear down into the ground is a bonus that adds interest and intrigue.

The small footprint of a pondless waterfall enables you to create a water feature in areas that are not suitable for ponds including small yards, decks and patios, even rooftop gardens. A pondless waterfall consists of a catch basin to hold a reservoir of water, a submersible pump with tubing to pump the water from the catch basin to the top of the water feature, a grate with a gravel covering to disguise the catch basin, and a decorative element such a large urn or granite pillar. Here are a few tips for building pondless waterfalls.

Kits for pondless waterfalls are available at many garden centers and online, or purchase the components individually. Invest in a quality tub to bury in the ground and hold the water reservoir. Heavy-duty rubber livestock tubs work well, are reasonably priced and available at feed supply stores.

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How To Install A Pondless Waterfall

Dig In!

Mark out the location for the pondless waterfall. Measure the height and depth of the catch basin, and dig a hole slightly deeper and wider. Add a layer of sand to the bottom of the hole, and position the tub in the hole. Use a level to ensure that the rim of the basin is level in all directions. Once satisfied with the positioning, add sand around the edges of the tub to secure it in place, tamping the sand down into the bottom of the hole as you filling the gap around the rim.

Attach the tubing to the outflow of the pump, fill a bucket with water and test the submersible pump before installing it permanently in the catch basin. It is much easier to test the pump in a bucket than to disassemble the finished water feature to troubleshoot a finicky pump.

Place the submersible pump at the bottom of the basin. To prevent debris from fouling the pump, cover it with an inverted plastic flowerpot. Drill holes through the sides of the flowerpot to allow the water to flow freely to the pump.

Cover the catch basin with a heavy grate. The grate must be strong enough to support the design element that you are using to create the waterfall effect, yet the grating mesh must be small enough to prevent any of the river rocks surrounding the water feature from falling through.

Plastic faux rocks specially designed for pondless waterfalls are lightweight, inexpensive and easy to install. Granite pillars and ceramic urns look good, but the extra weight requires a study, well supported grate system

Get the Water Flowing

Run the tubing up through the grate and to the water feature. Arrange a pile of rock to form a waterfall, adjusting the tubing as the waterfall grows to avoid kinking the tubing.
If using an urn or other decorative element for the water feature, drill an entrance hole for the tubing at the bottom of the water element, and seal the opening with waterproof silicone caulking. Position the decorative element in place, reinforcing the grating as needed to support the weight of the water filled decorative element. Spread a layer of river rock around element to cover the grating and provide a finished look.

Fill the basin with water. Turn on the pump. Dirty water may flow initially, but will quickly dissipate as the soot and sand settles to the bottom of the pondless waterfall. Add plants around the pondless waterfall to soften the edges and blend the water feature into the existing landscape.

Tips & Warnings

Position the pondless waterfall near a ground fault electrical outlet. Contract with a licensed electrician if an outlet is needed to power the submersible pump.

Do not allow the water reservoir to run dry. Operating the submersible pump without water will quickly burn out and destroy the pump.

Premium Pondless Waterfall Kit

This LiquidArt Pondless Waterfall & Fountain kit is perfect when space, or a budget, is limited. The kit includes a very realistic-looking, hand-made "faux" bubbler that was molded from a natural stone. It provides the durability, look, and texture of a rock bubbler, without the weight of natural stone! It only weighs approximately 25lbs, and is easy to position on the fountain base without having to use expensive equipment.

The "bird-bath" style bowl in the top of the rock, holds about an inch of water, which then gently cascades over the sides and back into the hidden water reservoir. The fountain base (reservoir) is completely self-contained. It holds approximately 12 gallons of water, and the submersible magnetic-drive pump can move 396 gallons per hour. The pump, water flow adjustment valve and hose are all included, pre-cut, pre-glued and ready to go.

Simply screw the connections together, fill the reservoir with water, plug your pump in, sit back and enjoy your fountain!

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Pondless Waterfall News

Window well designer offers beauty for basements
?It's an endless, pondless waterfall. The rest are typical pond plants ? an encapsulated terrarium protected from outside elements.? McGuire started a new business called Window WellScapes in January, in which he designs a scene for a window well and ...
Building Beattie Bobcat Falls
Beattie Middle School Principal Angela Newhaus and Assistant Principal Peter Lock check out the new pondless waterfall installed at the school May 23. Built by Theponddigger.com with assistance from more than 90 Beattie students and funding from the ...
Swimming Pool Services Wins 2011 Wisconsin Remodelers Award
A pondless waterfall gurgles from its other side, the water bubbling and cascading down the rocks before disappearing into the bottom stones. A new pool house matches the owner's nearby home in design and materials. The building has an open area ...

Installing a Pondless Waterfall

This video produced by Aquascape Inc shows the step-by-step installation of their Pondless Waterfall System.
Aquascape - Pondless Waterfall Installation
by TedGreiner | video info

26 ratings | 52,187 views
curated content from YouTube

Pondless Waterfall Design Ideas

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Water Gardening in the News

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Featured Lens: A Small Garden Pond

A garden pond is another option for creating a water feature, especially if you are interested in keeping koi and goldfish.

Left behind from the retreating glacier that covered the Northeast during the last Ice Age, the granite ledge and large rock outcroppings in our backyard provided a dramatic backdrop for building a little garden pond. A gap between two boulders left a natural trough that was perfect for building a little stream to trickle down towards the pond, cascading over the edge of a waterfall and then spilling into a small pond that we dug out between the rocks and contained with a cinder block retaining wall.

Building this small garden pond in an area surrounded by ledge and boulders, under trees and on a slight slope was a challenging project, but it was a lot of fun too.
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  • bjslapidary Mar 23, 2012 @ 9:22 am | delete
    Great info. Need to come back to this. So want a pondless waterfall.
  • pawpaw911 Mar 18, 2012 @ 10:23 am | delete
    Great idea. Wish we had more room, so I could implement some of the ideas in your great how to lenses.
  • TheLifestyleChanger Mar 16, 2012 @ 7:49 pm | delete
    I love this type of water feature. I have two water features either side of my front gate. Imported from Bali and just beautiful. It is so peaceful and welcoming.
  • Ladymermaid Mar 9, 2012 @ 6:47 am | delete
    I love the new fountains and you can now even get solar powered ones which is great. Our old property had a creek running around it so we didn't need fountains but our new yard could sure use a pond or fountain. We get lots of birds and I am sure that they would enjoy a little water out there to bathe in.
  • KimGiancaterino Feb 3, 2012 @ 1:10 pm | delete
    We bought a pond kit, but there's really no room for it in our garden. The neighborhood raccoons would make a mess of it anyway. I like your ideas for urn bubblers, and they would hold up with the night critters.
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