Water Garden Features - Window Shopping :)

[Lisak1]

My landscape plans for the front yard include a set of these - but don't tell my husband... I still have to convince him that it's his idea! I've also seen these installed as spillways into ponds - beautiful!

 

[morewater]

View attachment 88348 My landscape plans for the front yard include a set of these - but don't tell my husband... I still have to convince him that it's his idea! I've also seen these installed as spillways into ponds - beautiful!

Those are pretty simple to install. They incorporate an AquaBasin (large). If you get one, be sure to install the bottom basin on the AquaBasin so that there is access through one of the top "hatches" in the AquaBasin for winter pump removal.

 

[crsublette]

Before we had the frog statue we put up a temporary ramp, and although the ramp seemed to be working I wasn't completely convinced the frogs were actually using it to get back in the pond. To satisfy my curiosity I set up one of the motion detection cameras from my home surveillance system, and sure enough, the camera caught videos of the frogs using the ramp one by one to get back into the pond. Previous to setting up the ramp we were finding frogs stuck in the courtyard area just about every morning, especially after a rainy wet night which seemed to be when frogs prefer to go on there terrestrial foraging walk about's. For a while we got into a routine of checking the courtyard for stranded frogs and returning them to the safety of the pond, but sometimes we'd forget or miss them and find them later dead or desiccated. Even though as soon as we put up the ramp we stopped finding frogs in the courtyard in the morning, I still wasn't sure they were using the ramp, I though perhaps they just decided to stop hopping down into the courtyard at night, but the camera confirmed that they actually had the spacial awareness of where the safety of the pond water that they came from was, and they had the intelligence to utilize a physical feature that would allow them to get back in.So although I've never actually seen them using the frog statue to get back into the pond, I'm pretty confident they know how to use it, and to back up that confidence I've never found any dead or desiccated frogs in the courtyard since we moved it to that location.

Very good sir!! I very much appreciate you sharing this observation!

And for the possibility of your nephews peeing in the pond,,,,just think of it as more nutrients for your bio-filter system.

Ugh, that reminds me of... not surprisingly... In the aquaponic arena, there actually are folks using their own human urine to fertilize their vegetables... I understand they say it is "all natural" and "sterile", except our body uses this bodily function to flush out toxins, which included byproducts from medications and pesticide residues from the food we eat and other toxins... and so then they reintroduce this back to their system... Supposedly, you are to "mature" the urine by liquid composting it for a period of time to neutralize these toxins, but I am not convinced everyone actually does this.

 

[crsublette]

Those are pretty simple to install. They incorporate an AquaBasin (large). If you get one, be sure to install the bottom basin on the AquaBasin so that there is access through one of the top "hatches" in the AquaBasin for winter pump removal.

http://www.123ponds.com/98134.html?...ogleproducts&gclid=CMrWwOH598cCFYQAaQodOZcPKw

Incredibly sturdy as well... mine has 3 basalt fountains on it along with a huge flag stone piece that is filled with a mix of large and small rocks in the center, which I will share a picture of this after I get back... hurrying to post really quick before I gotta leave to take care of business...

 

[crsublette]

http://www.thepondguy.com/product/atlantic-eco-blox-basin-matrix

These also work for a water reservoir for pondless water features... I used old plastic milk crates that I got from the grocery store for mine, but don't think these would hold alot of weight except they are quite sturdy... there is a fake rock water fall in my front yard that sets on top of these crates...

...will post it when I get back... I gotta go now! ugh...

 

[Lisak1]

Those are pretty simple to install

Yup - we went to a demo install at a pond store near us. Very simple (although they are heavy) and lots of possible configurations for a few or many bowls. We also saw one installed so it looked like it was floating on a pond with water being pumped up from the bottom and spilling over the sides - very cool!

 

[morewater]

RE: Spillway Install. When installing the spillways, I've found that digging out the area in which it's placed, backfilling with limestone screenings, compacting and then levelling a patio stone for the base, provides a stable, frost-resistant pad that stays level. Never do something twice that you could have done once (this does not include ordering Gin & Tonic, just to be clear). The patio stone can then be disguised with river rock, flagstone, whatever.

Re: Decorative hand pump. This past season I installed an antique hand pump for an elderly customer. The hand pump came from her Grandparents farm. Her husband asked if I could sand-blast it, repaint it and then install it in their backyard garden. Nope. It's an antique, no sand-blasting and no repainting. I bolted it to the top of an Aquabasin, ran the tubing up through the bottom of the hand pump, filled the base with waterfall foam and incorporated a small, water feature pump (can't remember the gph, but it was dinky). The hand pump was then bolted to the AquaBasin and tested. The top of the AquaBasin was then cut out with a jigsaw where the water flow from the hand pump landed (to reduce the "splash"). It was installed in the garden, surrounded by boulders and river rock. If I ever find the picture of it, I'll post.

Re; milk crates. The milk crate concept works as well. As to weight capacity, they'll hold quite a load provided that you place them open-side down. A series of milk crates can be connected using plastic zip-ties. For added capacity (and weight distribution), cutting a sheet of concrete backer-board or a large slab of flagstone to the dimensions of the combined milk crates provides a stable, robust base on which to place the decorative feature of choice.

Digging the hole, padding, lining with EPDM, placement of the milk crates, then backfilling with river rock provides more or less that same effect as the AquaBasin set-up. Just be sure to cut an access "door" out of one of the milk crates to provide access to the pump.

This is an infinitely cheaper means of achieving what the AquaBasin does. It just requires a little more work. Digging a hole for an AquaBasin isn't as easy as it looks, as the hole has to be "finessed" to just accept the AquaBasin. AquaBasins aren't cheap, they run in the neighborhood of Can.$500. They are robust, however and come with dual access hatches and the top is inward-tapered for water return.

Re: "borrowing" on a permanent basis. I am in no way advocating, nor condoning the late-night pilfering of milk crates from behind your local grocery or convenience store (never done it). You're all old enough here to remember when milk crates were made the same size as LP's. The milk producers caught on to that one rather quickly.

 

[morewater]

Remember, an escalator can never break, it merely becomes stairs.

 

[crsublette]

Pictures from my cell phone I just now took.

http://www.123ponds.com/98134.html?utm_source=98134&utm_medium=shopping+engine&utm_campaign=googleproducts&gclid=CMrWwOH598cCFYQAaQodOZcPKw

Incredibly sturdy as well... mine has 3 basalt fountains on it along with a huge flag stone piece that is filled with a mix of large and small rocks in the center, which I will share a picture of this after I get back... hurrying to post really quick before I gotta leave to take care of business...

All sitting on an AquaBasin... the basin acts as the legs for the big flagstone and everything else sits on top of that... fish can swim under and all around it... still in the process of improving this... been slow going, working on it off/on for 6 months... it was completely dry for 3/4 that time, not too long ago filled it with water... composted the fish about 7 months ago (shh!!!) due to me simply not wanting to deal with them at the moment...

The basalt rock and AquaBasin is from the Aquascape company.

http://www.thepondguy.com/product/atlantic-eco-blox-basin-matrix

These also work for a water reservoir for pondless water features... I used old plastic milk crates that I got from the grocery store for mine, but don't think these would hold alot of weight except they are quite sturdy... there is a fake rock water fall in my front yard that sets on top of these crates...

...will post it when I get back... I gotta go now! ugh...

Got the waterfall from a greenhouse here, can't remember who manufactured it.. only 4 milk crates used... really didn't need that many... I could've gotten away with just 2...

 

[DoDad]

I have this filter urn on my small pond.

 

[Troutredds]

I favor a natural look to our pond/stream area but like the idea of getting some of these wee water fairies to perch inconspicuously on a boulder or two:

 

[crsublette]

@Troutredds that's fun... I like your idea too... make a game out of it for the kids.... just as long as they don't end up in the pond.

 

[Troutredds]

@Troutredds that's fun... I like your idea too... make a game out of it for the kids.... just as long as they don't end up in the pond.

I figure I can silicone their little butts to the rock - they won't be able to fly away, but at least they won't drown.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

@bettasngoldfish Absolutely love the fisherman!!




Thanks.




Have you thought about doing a lattice plant wall?

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=lattice+wall+planter+design

Grrr... I can't find the picture that I really liked... I posted it somewhere on this forum and now can't find it, but will share it once I do find it.


Another idea might be to give your filter an interesting rock facade.

My next project is to put a neat rock facade on some vases... The below hyperlink gave me the idea...

http://fabyoubliss.com/2013/03/14/a...ock-vase-made-from-something-very-unexpected/

Never really thought about a lattice wall. Heck that might even be something I could do myself (which the hubby would appreciate) lol Something to think about over the winter months.

The rock facade is really cool, thanks for sharing the link.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I have this filter urn on my small pond.
View attachment 88362

I kept looking at this as an add on to my pond but never bought one. I love the look of it. Do you like yours?