Has anyone built a waterfall with a log as part of the cascade?

[bagsmom]

I'm really liking the look of ponds with waterfalls flowing over "fallen logs." I've seen them in photos and videos, but haven't been able to find a How To on this. Have any of you done this in your waterfalls? I am going to have a bog just above the pond, with a long shelf below it. My plan is to have the bog spill over in a few places near the center. I was thinking this might be an ideal place for a log. Does the wood rot and get gross? Could it mess up the water chemistry? Is it fixed in place? Or just set in place?)

I'm attaching some pictures. In the overview picture - with all the spray paint, you can see the giant hole for the intake bay at lower left. At the upper right is the hole for the bog. You can see that long expanse where water can spill over at different points, depending on how I decide to make it. There is a big white circle there, too. My original thought was to put a big rock there, then have the bog overflow on either side. I might still do that, if the log thing is just too difficult. (And where would I get a log? What kind of log?)

The lilies are from the other pond, just for fun! ( For some reason, they went into this post before the bog hole close up.)

 

[Stephen Noble]

I have never used real wood in an outdoor pond/water garden waterfall but have used in both paludarium and riparium waterfalls. The wood used was Malaysian driftwood and Mopani Wood. Both worked well. They last for many years and they don't float. You might have to search for pieces large enough for your application or consider resin faux wood.

 

[brc]

I once had a huge piece of driftwood in an aquarium. It stained the water slightly for a short time in the very beginning, but afterward it stayed nice for the several years I had it - it never got gross or anything like that.

Not as sure on the waterfall though - if there are parts that stay out of the water, I wonder if fungus would attack it there?

 

[Lisak1]

I love the idea of wood in the waterfall but have wondered the same as you - will it last? We've got some driftwood and fallen limbs here and there in the pond and gardens and some last a really long time, others rot relatively quickly. Interestingly, the parts that are fully submerged seem to last forever, so maybe staying wet helps preserve the wood somehow? Or at least protects it from bugs and other small critters that may feast on it!

I guess if it were me, I'd do it as long as I could make it so it was easy to replace if it fell to pieces.