Waterfall Sound Volume

[D&RW]

Hi all,

4 months work. new 8'X17'X3' liner-based pond in. easypro small skimmer, 4700 gal/hour mag drive pump and medium aquafalls filter. waterfall is about 4 ft above the pond surface. 10 ft. stream bed contains three ledges and multiple rocks to break up flow. sound is very nice, musical and varied. However, it's not as loud as I'd hoped.

How can one increase the loudness of a waterfall. Raise the aquafalls unit? I could do that but building up side walls high enough to contain the falling water would be a challenge.

Has anyone tried amplification? couple mikes and speakers in the bedroom for open window sleeping. Or maybe even a couple three yard speakers to increase the volume.

we have a freeway 2 miles away, occasional talkative neighbors and cars out on the street. it'd be nice to mask a lot of that noise, if possible.

thanks everyone. I look forward to doing a lot of reading here. I'd post pics of our set up so far, but don't yet know how.

Rick
Salem, OR

 

[DrCase]

rick send us some pics ....how high is the fall......?

 

[DrDave]

During the summer, with out MBR window open, I can hear my waterfall as well. It doesn't get much better than that.
I added a veggie arrangement under my window with a 32 and 12 plus 5 gallon bucket for the pump to addd to the seranade. I have about 1000 fry in that arrangement to add to our pleasure.

 

[D&RW]

rick send us some pics ....how high is the fall......?

1) please direct me to info on how to send pics.

2) main falls drop is 15 inches into pool, over a ledge with a 5-6 inch drop then down slanted stream bed with rocks with a final 8-10 in drop.

3) maybe it's just my hearing. when I cup my hands behind my ears and face the waterfall from my deck about 25 ft away, THAT is the volume I want.

4) would a bigger pump, say one step up to the 6700 Easy Pro mag drive, yield more volume?

 

[D&RW]

During the summer, with out MBR window open, I can hear my waterfall as well. It doesn't get much better than that.

One learns so much each time you do a project. IF I were starting over, I'd construct the waterfall on the other side of the pond facing our window. Would have resulted in a smaller pond, but probably better sound.

the other thing I'd do is put the waterfall even higher up. I haven't measured exactly, but the top weir is probably about 4-5 ft. above water level in pond.

I sure would like to make it louder.

rw

 

[Chef Dave]

A larger pump would certainly increase volume. You might also want to consider getting a narrow piece of flagstone. Place it on the top tier so that it not only overhangs the edge of the top tier, but so that it also overhangs the edge of the bottom tier. If you size it properly, water will continue flowing down the sides ... but water will also fall from the top tier directly into the pond, making more noise.

Best wishes!

 

[D&RW]

Thanks for the ideas. My guess is that no one really knows the answer, i.e. how to increase a waterfalls overall sound volume. Bigger pump, higher falls, amplification. I sure wish someone had experience to shed light because while my waterfall sounds very nice, it is not covering the highway and neighbor noise as desired.

 

[DrCase]

rick dont give up on high volume ... when you post , scroll down , to manage attachments,,,,it will let you put a pic with your post....you just have to resize the pic...

 

[D&RW]

Thank you to Dr. Case for continued support. No, I have no intention of giving up, although this pond is starting to feel like the proverbial boat, i.e. a hole where the money goes.

Did some looking on the net today and found this: 3 things contribute to waterfall sound: volume of water, what the water flows into or onto, and how far it falls.

I can change the volume with a simple pump change. So I ordered a 30% higher capacity pump. We'll see if it makes a difference. IF not,

I'll tear down the current waterfall structure and elevate the aquafalls medium box another 3-4 ft. Drop the water about 60 inches into a pool (current fall is 15 inches) and then run it down the stream. I hope the pump adds enough volume because rebuilding the waterfall is going to be much work, but I'm ready if I have to.

I've tried with Picasa and Photoshop elements to reduce the size of my photos without success, arg. sorry

rw

 

[DrCase]

you gotta spend your cash somewere....have you tried to tweek your top rock? to make your water fall hit a diferent note....

 

[DrDave]

Don't forget that as you increase your height, the head pressure becomes greater, reducing your volume.

So, look at the output of your new pump at 60 inches plus add whatever the depth of the pump is. If your pump is 24 inches down and you want 60 inches of fall, your head is 84 inches. Make sure your pump will even do 7 feet of head. Some won't.

I have smaller pumps here that will only lift water 42 inches, after that it stalls. I suggest you look at the new pumps specs carefully before you tear down and re-build.

 

[Greg373]

I bought another pump yesterday-700gph. I had it running to my waterfall then added my 250gph=950gph. It was quite a bit louder with both of them then it was with just the 700gph. Plus my other 295gph on the U/V-1245GPH is a little much for my 400 gal. pond I think.

 

[DrDave]

D&RW
I use PhotShope Elements all the time. Here are the steps to resize any jpg photo:
First open your image, then from the menu bar on the top, select:
IMAGE
RESIZE
IMAGESIZE
SET YOUR WIDTH TO 500 OR LESS
OK
Just agree with any defaults after that and don't forget to do a "Save As". I like to add the size to mine so if the photo was called pond.jpg I rename it to pond 500.jpg.

There you go, it couldn't be easier...

 

[D&RW]

1) Can't really tweak the top rock, at least not anyway i can figure. Currently it's plastic and part of the falls unit and way too far back to add a rock to carry the water to the pond at that height. It'd look like a Roman aquaduct.

2) ordered an EasyPro 6700. Will see and report on it's volume increase re: increase in sound. Sounds like Greg had good luck with that.

3) Can't face rebuilding the waterfall. I've thought and thought and it'd be too hard for the return. The space is way limited so all I could really do is elevate the EasyPro Medium Aquafalls unit to have the water drop farther. Way too much work.

4) New idea as of this am. IF the bigger pump doesn't satisfy, then maybe I'll add a second waterfall on the other side near the skimmer. There's lots of filter/waterfall units out there for around $100 and a smaller pump with adequate head capacity wouldn't cost much. If I elevated it, say, 3 ft above the water and broke up the flow with a rock or two in the grate it out to do the trick. Plus, with some attention it could be made to look really neat.

5) thanks for the Photoshop tips. I'll do it today and send a few.

thanks again,

Rick

 

[Chumley]

I am going to hope that all is perfect when my pond is finished, but then again maybe tweaking it is half the fun. I will still have to landscape, add accent lighting, do the dry creek bed and add a bridge and general walkway/path. Much of that will be next season as money runs out fast. This year will be the pond and basic landscaping around it. I will wait until the fall when prices start getting slashed on bushes and perennial grasses. I may do the bridge this year if I see a good deal.