Build A Waterfall And Pond To Make Your Backyard A Tropical Getaway!

How To Make A Pond And Building A Waterfall Basics

Building rock waterfalls and natural waterfalls can add a very nice touch to a pond or tropical backyard, or if not too carefdul they can totally overwhelm a small area.

More often than not, people tend to build backyard waterfalls and ponds too big, too tall and with too much water. Kind of like when your hungry and you pile too much food on your plate then regret it later.....

That is why the design phase is so important, you must know what effect you want to create.

A good thing to remember is that all waterfalls should have a minimum of 100 gallons per hour of water flow over each inch of width of your waterfall.

If your fall has a width of 20 inches you should have a flow of 2000 gallons per hour for it to look good, otherwise it will be more of a trickling affect.

When building a backyard waterfall for your pond, the sound is a combination of three basic factors:The volume of water
What the water is falling onto, and
The distance the water falls

As that volume increases, say to 200 gallons per inch, the sound of course will increase. If the volume is cut to 50 gallons, again, the sound will decrease.

Pond Waterfall Design and Waterfall Ideas....
There are several types of sounds created by what the water is falling onto. The most pronounced is water falling directly into a pool of water. Next is a shallow pool, followed by water falling onto a rock or boulder and then water sliding over rocks or boulders.

The distance the water falls is a very key factor. A 3 inch to a 4 inch drop can be quite subtle, but as it’s increased to 18 to 20 inches, the sound increases significantly. Of all the factors when building a waterfall, this is the most distinct.

You can experiment with a garden hose running into a bucket or a pool and note the difference. Determining the Size of Pool or Basin
The next thing to determine when building waterfalls for ponds is the basin or the pool the water will go into.

The size of the pond in square feet of surface area needs to be 1 1/2 times the square footage of your waterfall and stream.

If your waterfall and stream is 20 feet long and 3 feet wide, then the pond should be 90 sq. feet. This is to allow the pond to capture all the water from the stream and waterfall when the waterfall is turned off, without the water overflowing the pond.

Building a Waterfall without a Pond
If there is not room to accommodate the size of the pond, then a different technology can be used called a Pondless Waterfall. The water would just fall into a small collection basin to recirculate the water, instead of a swimming pool or larger pond for a water garden or Koi fish.

Most the same applies for how to build a fountain.

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