Beginner Gardening: Pot Fountain Design, 1 by mwhit

mwhit wrote:
My fountain is a smaller version of what you have described. It has the urn you see here which looks like glazed clay but is fiberglass. It is about 24 inches tall. It has been formed with an inset just below the rim which has a small hole in the center. A long piece of tubing projects slightly through there and provides the bubbling effect. The other end of the tubing is connected to a small 120 gph pump. The pump has a screw adjustment to control water flow but I run it fairly full open.
The urn sits on top of a square vinyl tub (approx 15gallons)that is sunk in the ground. It has a lid with a small cut-out in the middle for the tubing to pass through and a slightly larger (3-4inch square) hole in one corner to re-fill when the water level drops. The pump is put in the tub, the lids is put on, the tubing is threaded through the small cut-out and up through the urn. I wrapped the tubing with waterproof tape for a snug fit as it passed through the hole in the urn. After the reservoir tub is filled, the urn is positioned and the pump is running ( be sure to plug into a GFCI outlet) I stack rocks around the urn to disguise the tub.

It can get kind of green and mossy in the heat of summer so I don't grow any plants right near it. I just scrub it down with a long handled brush and add a cup of bleach to the water once in a while. I haven't noticed any adverse effect on the birds etc. from this treatment- the robins love to bathe in it but they do splash the water out and I need to top it off.

With our zone 5 winters I dismantle it and move everything into the shed for winter- I cover the hole in the ground with a sheet of plywood and just have to re-shape it in spring so the tub fits into it.