Pondless waterfalls offer home owners a chance to enjoy a water feature even in small yards or spaces and they represent one of the easiest DIY projects for beginners. This article outlines, in simple terms, what you’ll need to know to put one together.
When people think of waterfalls installed in the backyard, many associate them with a large pond. Ponds are nice, but they require a lot more maintenance than many people are willing to undertake. In fact, just a few weeks of neglect during the hot summer months can turn a beautiful pond feature into an algae ridden cesspool. In order to avoid this, many homeowners are adding a pondless waterfall feature to their home.
It is a fairly simple do it yourself project that can be undertaken and completed in the course of one weekend, making it ideal for the aspiring handyman.
What You’ll Need
1 Pondless Waterfall Kit
PVC Piping
Shovel
River Rocks
Foliage
Sand
Small to medium sized flower pot depending on pump size.
It is recommended for beginners to start with one of many pondless waterfall kits that are available from many home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowe’s. These kits will provide all of the piping, the tub, and some of the rocks you will need for your feature, but in order to make a truly outstanding waterfall, you will need to incorporate your own decoration using stones, rock, and plantings.
Dig In
To get started, you will need to dig a hole roughly the size of the tub included in your kit with around 4″ of space left around the sides of the tub for leveling. Once the hole has been dug, place the tub in the hole and begin filling it with your garden hose. Allow it to fill up half way and then open your sand bags and place the sand around the tub. This will ensure the tub fits snugly within the hole and you will not have to worry about it adjusting due to the water.
Install The Waterfall Pump
Now that you have placed the sand, you can install the pump. The pump has to be anchored to keep it from moving, so you will need a flower pot to house it. Place the pump to one side where you will install the rest of the river rocks so that you can hide it inconspicuously within your water feature. Make sure the tubing can be moved to the top of the rocks when you are ready to arrange them.
Matching Your Landscape
With everything in place, you can begin arranging your waterfall. Most do it yourself pondless waterfall kids come with some rocks, but for true beauty, you might want to incorporate some rocks from around your area. If you live in a semi-mountainous region, you can find large flat stones that are perfect for making a waterfall for free. You will need several of them, so you may want to keep an eye out for rocks even before you purchase your construction kit.
Once you are happy with your arrangement, you can turn on the water and resume filling up your pond until the water nearly reaches the top of the tub. Placing small river stones at the bottom of the tub is a great way to hide the bottom and keep focus on the water feature. Since there is no pond, any foliage you place around the pond can be suited to your climate, instead of water thriving plants.
Pondless Waterfall Maintenance
Keeping a pondless waterfall looking great is pretty simple in most cases and as we noted above, they usually require less care than a full fledged pond. This is not to say that they are maintenance free. You will still want to remove any debris that may fall in the stream bed and at times algae may form on the rocks. If it does, various products can be used to kill it or keep it from growing. One of the more popular products is called Algae-Off which is a granulated form of hydrogen peroxide. This can be sprinkled topically on the rocks while they’re wet and it will kill most algae on contact.
With less time taken in the building and maintaining of a pondless waterfall, you now have more time to sit back, relax, and enjoy your handywork!
