Waterfall vs. Fountain

[Jason]

Waterfall for me too. If you look at my showcase you can see my setup with the skimmer on the opposite side of the pond. I have a filter in the waterfall and a filter in the skimmer but that is more of a prefilter for the pump that is in there.

View attachment 73373

Very Nice setup with the Best Proven Brands! I want a Pond just like this one day

 

[JBtheExplorer]

So usually the filter is better in a waterfall feature than a fountain.

That's only dependent on how you create it. For instance, my waterfall, though incomplete, has no filter (other than the pump pre-filter), and probably wont. My only filter is my bog, and so far water quality/clarity has been excellent.

The thing about ponds is that there are so many ways of doing so many things that it really is up to you. We have all done trial and error at some point, and success for some may be failure for others, because each pond is unique.

 

[Tula]

My waterfall has quite a drop and goes into 3 feet of water. It has no filtration, other than the fact it's pump sits inside my skimmer and it has double sets of filter mats. It creates a lot of aeration, but I still run an air pump. I like the sound, but some folks don't....so another think to consider.

 

[RobAmy]

Very Nice setup with the Best Proven Brands! I want a Pond just like this one day

Thank you

 

[brokensword]

I'm in jb's boat; waterfall without a filter (and a bog AS my filter) with similar water quality. And I'd do as dp says; I put it where I wanted to best see it. With regard to your leaves, I think you're probably going to invest in a net to keep all the leaves out of your pond anyway, so maybe plan on it now? And put your waterfall where YOU want it???

For my setup, I have the waterfall (upper rt corner) and river (flowing FROM the bog = rt side, lower right) into one end while my submersible pump sits at the other end (left).

and with a waterfall, you can do this!

Michael

 

[j.w]

I vote for waterfall. Mine falls straight down and no filter in it. Tried putting the plastic bottle caps in the basin of my waterfall to collect good bacteria on them as a bio-filter but that didn't work right so took them all out and tossed them. Gunk was building up in there w/ them all in there. Just leaving my falls w/o a filter from now on. Water swirls up from the bottom nicely and over the falls now.

 

[JohnHuff]

Gunk was building up in there w/ them all in there.

By gunk do you mean beneficial bacteria?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Some people build actual filter boxes in behind their waterfalls, with filter pad and bio-media and plants, etc...
But if you build your waterfall (or stream) so it cascades over the rocks, it will function as a simple trickle (bio) filter all by itself.

 

[Lisak1]

I'm in jb's boat; waterfall without a filter (and a bog AS my filter) with similar water quality. And I'd do as dp says; I put it where I wanted to best see it. With regard to your leaves, I think you're probably going to invest in a net to keep all the leaves out of your pond anyway, so maybe plan on it now? And put your waterfall where YOU want it???

For my setup, I have the waterfall (upper rt corner) and river (flowing FROM the bog = rt side, lower right) into one end while my submersible pump sits at the other end (left).

and with a waterfall, you can do this!

Michael

Gorgeous!!

 

[JohnHuff]

@Mucky_Waters, so are you gonna tell us what's in those 2 glasses?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

@Mucky_Waters, so are you gonna tell us what's in those 2 glasses?

I just used that picture as an example of a "cascading" type of waterfall, I had originally uploaded a couple years ago and used it in a thread about my DIY Foam Fractionator I built. If you go to the thread now the picture links no longer work and there are just blank areas where the pictures were. (ask the forum moderators why that is?).
Anyway, the clear glass contains ordinary pond water scooped directly out of the pond, the other glass, that looks like frosty root beer, contains some condensed foam liquid (Concentrated DOCs) that were excreted from the foam fractionator.

 

[snoozer]

I will also vote for a waterfall. My two pumps are in the skimmer pumping waterto a header pond. One side of the header pond feeds the water fall and the other the stream that runs the legnth of the 30 foot berm. The sound of a waterfall and watching the water spilling over the rocks can't be beat.

 

[j.w]

By gunk do you mean beneficial bacteria?

No it was thick floating clumps of stinky stuff and the bottle caps were all just floating up at the surface not really moving.

 

[j.w]

@brokensword Thanks to Michael for fixing my photo for me. I shall repost and show you what a nice job he did:

 

[JohnHuff]

No it was thick floating clumps of stinky stuff and the bottle caps were all just floating up at the surface not really moving.

By thick floating clumps of stinky stuff do you mean beneficial bacteria?