Water course Building a water course?
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| Now that you have a pond you decide that it needs a
waterfall / water course but how do you build one?
Material Basically you have two choices for material, either you can buy pre formed water fall sections or you can build one yourself from a liner. Construction If you are building a pond and waterfall from scratch then the soil you excavate for the pool can be used to form the slope on which to base your waterfall. The height, angle and length we will leave up to you, but the angle should not be too steep. This is also the time to install the pipe from your pump to the top, or you can use gravity and put your biological filter at the start of the course and use the out flow from this. The water course it self should really have "pockets" that slope backwards so that when the pump is not running there is some water still left on the course. This is important because you do not want the bottom pool to empty before the water starts to return. You do not have to have a pond at the bottom of your water course you could just have a reservoir which is hidden from view. If you are using a liner then we suggest that it is built like a shallow letter "u" but the top of each side leans outward slightly. This is so that no water can "escape." you should also install the liner using the same method as if it were a pond. Click here to see how to install a pond liner. The hardest parts of a waterfall to build is the top and bottom. The bottom needs to overlap your pool slightly in order for the water to be able to fall. The top can either be a "header pool" (small reservoir) or just an outlet from your pump. You should either put a stone in front of your outlet pipe or submerge it so that it can not be seen. Decoration The decoration we leave up to you but it is best to use the same type pf material that you have used to edge your pond. Things to consider There are several things that should be considered when building a water course / waterfall. The sump of your water course should be big enough to hold All the water when the pump is switched off. before you switch on you should only fill the sump, as this then shows if it is big enough or not. You may also loose water due to evaporation, so the bigger your sump the less often you will have to fill it. The feed from your pump should have as few bends as possible so as not to decrease the flow too much. If you decorate you waterfall with small rocks and you find the water is going under them rather than over this could be due to one of several reasons. The rocks are too far apart, enabling the water to find an easier route, your water flow could be too weak, your rock has an uneven surface and does not sit flat, to overcome this you can cement the underside down, but if you do let it thoroughly dry out first, a better idea would be to use silicone sealant to "glue" the rocks in place. If your water fall is not "gushing" like you thought it would that could be because it is too wide or your pump too small. For more information regarding waterfall flow rates, please see our sister site, want to go? then click here When choosing a pump you need to take into consideration the "head" This is the height at the top of your water course to the surface of your pool, the higher it is the bigger the pump you will need to maintain a steady flow. Most pumps will have somewhere on the box a chart listing the flow rate at what head. You can also grow cress in your water course making it into a biological filter. We are looking for your pictures of a waterfall why not send us yours.
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