Ways to increase the sound and flow appearance
- Thread starter knicks1met
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I'm hardly a water fall expert but look at it this way. Take a garden hose and hold it up above the water at full stream. As it hits the water and pushes it's way down it only has one impact . take the same hose same flow and let if fall onto a rock that then falls down onto another rock . ROCKS WITH CHARACTER no smooth river rock but rock with steps and i would place the steps backwards against the flow. i can't imagine the latter wouldn't be twice as loud. The same water that hits obstructions 3 or four times has got to make more noise. Another possibility is to have the water concentrated fall into a very shallow pool with the smoothest of small river rock as the water churns in this area if strong enough should move the rocks making a completely different sound i believe i saw the pond digger with that trick.
I just went back and looked at your old posting. Now i do not know what the gph is of your 3hp pump but i can BET that a 2" line is WAY to small. I use a 3" line for a 1 hp low head pump at 12.000 gph. i would be you have the choice of a 3 or four inch line to plumb to your pump. Now i would be willing to bet this 3 hp pump is going to cost you a nice electric bill it CT. i know because I to am in ct. What i would look at is this, to split the stream in two. and by that i mean tow totally different streams. Have a pump in the middle and a second pump on the end/ bottom. you will cut down the head pressure by approximately half. when pushing so far up hill it takes a lot of energy to push all that water up hill. And Never add standard 90 degree elbows if you absolutely must make sure they are at least a street 90 but the best is to have two 45's or four 22.5's or use flexible SMOOTH pvc. make your upper stream a disappearing stream half way down. make it disappear under a tree stump or a bridge. and start the lower section in the same area tricky yes but get creative . cutting down the distance and head will gain you the flow without the cost.
But the best way to get sound up to your deck where i am assuming you want to hear it you could create small ponds where you back up the water as it comes down the stream and make drops waterfalls But i see that won't be all that easy with the land droping of toward the back. Get crazy pump water up onto the deck to a stream have it fall over the edge down to a pool below it appears it's a four foot drop that could be crazy.
But the best way to get sound up to your deck where i am assuming you want to hear it you could create small ponds where you back up the water as it comes down the stream and make drops waterfalls But i see that won't be all that easy with the land droping of toward the back. Get crazy pump water up onto the deck to a stream have it fall over the edge down to a pool below it appears it's a four foot drop that could be crazy.
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The pump I’m using is a variable speed pump. I am using 3” plumbing. The pump has 4 levels. Level 1 isn’t powerful enough to pump to top. Level 2 gets it there but not much force. Levels 3 and 4 I don’t notice much difference. As far as energy, level 3 only uses 1,000 watts so not too bad. I appreciate the idea to split it up and change but at this point that would be a big project.
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Here’s a video I took (no sound) You can see what I mean about the flow in the middle sections and how it appears mainly stagnant.
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I actually think your flow looks GREAT. To me it seems more natural to have areas that are faster and others that are mostly still. I love it!
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Thanks, I guess I just had a different vision when I was having it built and wanted more of a flowing look throughout. I dont mind it to be moving fast in some areas and then not as fast is others but right now it moves fast right after each fall and maybe a foot past but then it comes to a complete stop and is completely still.
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wait a minute if the flow is coming to a complete stop. Then how is water recirculating.
Are you sure it’s coming to a stop. Or is it just so deep the water flows/runs completely smooth. which gives the appearance of coming to a stop.
Nevermind. I just watched the video.
the reason it appears to stop flowing. is because of how deep the water is in those spots.
The spots were you think the water is moving fast. It’s not. it’s actually Shallower and moving slower. This makes the water rougher more rapids and turbulence . Giving the appearance of more movement. It’s not. It’s just more turbulent. The spots where the water does not look like it’s moving. the water is actually deeper and flowing faster which makes it appear to be smoother flowing not as turbulent. Deeper water moves faster and smoother just like on a river. When the river water is low it’s more turbulent it’s more rough makes it look like there’s more water flow. when there’s actually less. Better for white water rafting.
When it rains and a river is deeper it becomes less turbulent less rapids but the water itself moves a lot faster and a lot smoother not as good for white water rafting .
If you placed bigger rocks or somehow get the rocks already in there closer to the waters surface it will create more turbulence. Giving the appearance of more movement.
It’s not that you don’t have movement. It’s just really fast and smooth in those deeper spots. You need to break up the surface in those spots
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I feel like I tried this in areas where it didn't appear moving. If you look at the video again, you'll notice rocks above the surface but even in those places, the water appears still. Maybe I just dont have enough force...
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you can also try to place rocks just before those spots to create a channel pinch point. That most of the water has to travel through. If you place rocks in the water on the sides of the stream to narrow the width of the stream it should make a channel pinch point. Kinda like putting your thumb over the end of a hose.
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Thanks. Do you think it would help if I got another pump and sat it in the water to push water along? Something like this 120W, 2700 GPH pump?
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if you put it in a pool area and do not direct the water out of the pool just to have it appear to have more water and movement. sure why not if thats what you want. but to point in down stream i would think it would deplete the water in the pool Fill the areas that have standing water with rock when you get close to surface you can decide if thats the look you want no need for more pumps pushing water down stream
I think it would - I've noticed more pro pond builders using the addition of an in-pond pump as a water jet to get movement where things might otherwise get stagnant. Again - I see what you're saying about the spots where the water seems almost still, but to me that gives it a really natural appearance. We grew up playing in creeks and streams around our house and that's exactly how they would develop - areas where there were "rapids" (and as @Joejoe80 mentioned - those were the more shallow areas) and then areas that were more still. We would send little homemade rafts down the stream and always knew the points where we could catch up.
A stronger, more constant flow would seem odd, given that your stream has very little natural elevation. Just an opinion though - it's your stream, your dream!