First pond, stuck on waterfall

[John Walker]

I am building my first pond and I am having trouble with the waterfall. I bought a total pond 8' spillway but I can't get it to sit right. I also tried wedging the hose without the spillway in between the rocks but I didn't like the flow. I didn't berm up the area. I just stacked rocks. I also have a problem with leaking from the sides of the rock formation. Do I have to use the spillway? Do I need to berm the area up? The pond is around 7x5 and around 18 inches deep. I would appreciate any help.

 

[tbendl]

Can you post some pictures to help us help you? I mean you don't need to use a spillway which I'm assuming is a pre-fab waterfall thingy (technical term). If you are leaking I would assume berming the area up would help. Do you have aliner underneath it all? The other option is to dial down your flow from the hose and play with the rock setup until it flows the way you like.

 

[John Walker]

Here's a pic. I just started placing rocks. I wanted to get the waterfall right before I set the rest of the rocks. Yes, the spillway is one of those plastic pre-fab ones I got from Home Depot. I used an epdm 45 liner.

 

[tbendl]

I got it. If you want to build a waterfall you can search google for pictures. I think on here, a few of the showcases, like @pecan and @RobAmy have pretty good pictures to show you how they did it. You will definitely need to berm an area for the water to flow back in otherwise it will leak. You can modify the water flow rate or the positioning of what the water hits on its way back into the pond to get the right sound, it's all subjective. For me, the best way to do it, is build the waterfall before finishing the rest so you can get the look and sound you want. You can also do a short stream with as much liner as you have if you wanted to.
I had to move my waterfall rock 5 times before I got it where I wanted it so it's a process.

 

[tbendl]

I just checked and Jesse's pond in the showcase has a good before and after look at how they built their waterfall.

 

[John Walker]

Thanks for the responses. Jesse's looks pretty good. Do most people use foam sealant around their waterfall?

 

[Mmathis]

Hello, and welcome! I don't have one (yet) but waterfalls can be the darndest things -- and the bestest! @tbendl has posted some great starting places for you.

Oh, and a word of advice..... Be sure to have good liner coverage under the falls! Not IF, but WHEN (it happens) you have a leak or water wicks for some reason, you want the leaked water to flow back into the pond -- if at all possible.

It's going to be very nice when you are through.

 

[John Walker]

Thanks. It is really frustrating. I've wanted to just pull the liner and backfill the hole several times.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Waterfall foam is not a sealant. It is used primarily to divert the greater part of the water flow over rocks and not under. A proper berm is a necessity for avoiding leaking.

 

[morewater]

I am building my first pond and I am having trouble with the waterfall. I bought a total pond 8' spillway but I can't get it to sit right. I also tried wedging the hose without the spillway in between the rocks but I didn't like the flow. I didn't berm up the area. I just stacked rocks. I also have a problem with leaking from the sides of the rock formation. Do I have to use the spillway? Do I need to berm the area up? The pond is around 7x5 and around 18 inches deep. I would appreciate any help.

As you haven't finished with your build as yet, here are a few suggestions:

1. Dig a small perimeter shelf around the edge of your pond on which to place your stones so that the perimeter stones are partially submerged. This will achieve a natural look and conceal the liner.

2. Excavate an appropriately-sized addition to your hole where you want to put your waterfall. Put your liner into your hole and then build your waterfall on top of the extra excavation that you did. In this manner, if the waterfall leaks, it will leak into the pond, not onto the surrounding landscape.

These are simple steps that are nearly always overlooked by the DIY pond builder.

 

[John Walker]

Thanks for the tips. How deep should the waterfall excavation be? The pond itself is around 16-18" deep.

 

[morewater]

Doesn't need to more than a foot or so deep, but wide enough to accept the rocks that you're going to use.

If you haven't already dug the entire pond out, be advised that 16-18" deep in your area is much too shallow to overwinter fish.

Your pond should be at the very least 3 feet in depth if you plan on overwintering fish. It's easier to do it now than to do it later.

 

[Lisak1]

Actually in our area 2 feet is deep enough to overwinter fish. We've seen lots of ponds in that range with fish that have been in the pond for 10 plus years. We saw a pond last month that was almost 30 years old that was 2 feet deep in just one spot. Great big beautiful koi. Not that three feet is bad - it's just not necessary to go deeper than two if the pond owner has a compelling reason not to.

@John Walker - Check out The Ponddigger on Youtube. He has some great videos on building waterfalls. He shares simple concepts that anyone can follow to make their waterfall both functional and natural looking. Good luck!

 

[John Walker]

I'm not sure about fish yet. I may put a few goldfish in next spring.

 

[John Walker]

My yard isn't fenced in and if its over 2 feet deep my town requires a fence. I did watch a few of PondDigger's videos and they were pretty helpful.