Step-by-step installation: Pondless Waterfall with 25 foot stream
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 Click to enlarge Deciding on the layout |
 Click to enlarge Setting in the Biofalls |
 Click to enlarge Digging in the Biofalls |
 Click to enlarge Trenching for the plumbing |
 Click to enlarge Digging the pit |
 Click to enlarge Deeper in the center for vault and centipede |
 Click to enlarge Adding black dirt |
 Click to enlarge Shaping the 25 foot stream |
 Click to enlarge Shaping around the pit |
 Click to enlarge Making the stream level |
 Click to enlarge Setting the vault and centipede in the pit |
 Click to enlarge Rocking the stream |
 Click to enlarge Frankie watches the waterfall |
 Click to enlarge One year later... |
Dave and his crew installed our first pondless waterfall in August of 2006, and it has proven to be a popular attraction. Kids love it. They can walk right up to the last waterfall and play in the water. They usually get wet, but no one has to worry about them falling in the water. It took the crew just a day or so to install. A pondless waterfall has most of the same ingredients as a pond does: a BioFalls, rubber liner for the stream, rubber liner for the pit, a pump, plumbing, and rock. Instead of a skimmer box, there is a snorkel and centipede in the pit.
The snorkel is a chamber which protects the pump and allows access to the pump for servicing, and for removing the pump in the winter. The centipede is another chamber, attached to the snorkel, which allows water into the snorkel so that it can be pumped back to the top of the waterfall. Compared to a pond, the pondless waterfall requires less rubber liner and less labor, so it is a little cheaper to install. Maintenance is much less. Since there is no pond sitting in the sun, there is no significant algae problem to deal with. Cleanout in the spring consists of raking out any leaves and twigs that have accumulated in the stream over the winter, pumping out the old water in the pit, and replacing it with fresh water.
You can still enjoy plenty of aquatic plants in the stream, but not water lilies, of course. Nor can you have fish. But for those who want the sight and sound of a stream and waterfall, and like the idea of safety and low maintenance, a pondless waterfall is a great choice for a water feature.
The main waterfall kit that we like to use will make a stream up to 16’ long. If the stream is longer than that, then the pit must be larger in order to hold enough water to supply the longer stream.