Increase appearance of flowing water

[knicks1met]

I made a long stream (about 100 feet) with multiple falls. One of the sections of the stream does not really show any movement. It just looks like standing water. In reality it is moving because it does flow over the fall and into the next channel but it just doesn’t appear to be moving at all. Are there any ideas on how to make it appear to flow better? I obviously can’t change the pitch at this point and the pump wouldn’t be changed out since it’s pretty powerful and moving the water sufficiently. The channel with the lack of movement is about 2.5 feet deep and 3 feet wide. I’m wondering if I filled it up with rocks if it would appear to move faster as it played off the rocks. Do you think that would work? Any ideas?

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I would think if you stacked some rocks (or used large boulders) so they broke the surface of the water, you would see the movement of water as it directed around them? Perhaps do this in a few random places along that stretch & see if you like the look? Or, maybe a piece of driftwood strategically placed that again, the water would have to flow over & around, would give you the look you're after?

 

[cas]

Nice stream. Maybe if you made in narrower in places?

 

[Lisak1]

I agree with @cas - "pinch" the water with big rocks in several places to give the appearance of faster flow. You do need to be careful, though, that you don't back the water up to the point where it's going to go over the edges. Play around with it until you get the look you like!

 

[knicks1met]

I agree with @cas - "pinch" the water with big rocks in several places to give the appearance of faster flow. You do need to be careful, though, that you don't back the water up to the point where it's going to go over the edges. Play around with it until you get the look you like!

So do you think it should be pinched on the sides to force it to a more narrow stream and also pile rocks in the middle so rocks are above or near the surface?

 

[Lisak1]

I'd play around with it. You'll quickly figure out the look you're going for.

 

[addy1]

Down the road, watch for plants, debris collecting on the rocks and causing a over flow. I have to monitor my 85 foot stream since the deer walk in it, moving rocks around, plant debris from them munching falls into the stream, leaves etc. And volunteer plants growing.
I can go from zero leaks to over night a new one from the deer.

 

[knicks1met]

I tried the large rocks and it didn’t really help too much. Do you think if I filled each channel up with large gravel stones to minimize the water depth it would help? Right now the depth of each channel is about 2.5 feet so I’m thinking if I raised the floor so there wasn’t as much water it would flow better. Thoughts?

 

[Ronfire]

If you raised the floor with rocks the water will flow between the rocks. The best way to make it shallow would be to lift out the liner and rebuild it.

 

[knicks1met]

Too much work to take the whole liner out and rebuild. You don’t think by adding a lot of rock it would raise the floor? I know water will find the bottom but I was thinking it would still help a lot.

 

[Lisak1]

2.5 feet deep! That's your problem right there. You could definitely do it with large rocks, but now we're talking 3 man boulders. It's doable, but it's not a one person job.

I wouldn't try adding enough rock to raise the level - that much rock on the bottom will cause issues with muck collecting between the rocks and be difficult to keep clean. A stream bed needs to be shallow to get the look you're going for, but unless you rebuild there's not an easy way to make that happen.

You could try building some "dams" with some boulders - they need to be big enough to breach the surface and still allow spaces for water and debris to flow through. You don't want to ACTUALLY create a dam - haha!