Ok here go , i want a pond / water fall feature in the house.
small one of coarse. 3'x3' x 8 to 12 inches deep.
Fish might go in it but that depends on how the cat
reacts to the waterfalls. she might not even go near it
if its to loud. or she might just fall in and then I'll have
a catfish .. LOL .. couldnt resist ..
Want your sugestions on what to do and what not to do if
you were going to do this type of project.
#1: don't get it too close to the couch! :o)
Is there a floor below the one where you're setting this up or is it a concrete floor?
Those questions from Bogweedbuck, plus these:
How's the humidity/air circulation in the house, especially during the winter when you've got the heat going? A water feature will dramatically increase your humidity. Unless you have a way to get rid of some of it, you may get mildew.
What's the floor made of? I'd prefer tile around a water feature if it were me. You'd want a waterfall that trickles rather than splashing, in any case.
When we were remodeling our last house, we considered putting the washer/dryer upstairs and discussed putting the washing machine inside a sort of figerglass or metal pan so that any overflow would be trapped by the pan until we could get to it. This would protect the structure of the floor and the ceiling below. You might consider something like this, even if the water feature is on the ground floor. If you would be using a preformed liner, you'd have to build something up around it anyway, so you could build a basin out of 2x4's and line it with heavy plastic, then build a small deck to go over it and cut a hole for the water feature to sit down inside. That would serve the purpose of protecting the floor from oversplash, and also would give you a nice finish to the edges of the water feature. If you wanted tile, you could build the deck using heavy plywood with supports, then tile it. But you'd have to leave a way to access the underneath in case you needed to drain off water.
Seems doable it you take the right precautions.
its going on the floor, my house is a 1966 mobile home. Its built rock solid.
i got a queen waterbed in the back end allready thats been there10 to 12 years.
the placement of its right over the main metal beam that runs the length of the
trailer.
I got forced hot air heat , winter time humidity is 20 or below .. very dry in the
house.
I got a 12 gal humidifier that needs refilling every 3 days when its running
in the winter..
I was thinking of laying a sheet of plywood down.
then lay out my rocks for the basin and then
back filling them with cement, then lay in the pond liner or
preformed pond if it can find one that will work in this corner.
..
Actually, Sparky, I'd consider a little more water-proofing ... of course, I'm a bit gun-shy on this subject right now after this summer! lol
Also, the cement back-filling may be a bit onerous down the road! I'll toss some more ideas here shortly -- for whatever they're worth.
Yeah BogWeed , i hear ya and read your post. Im not to gun shy on
waterleaks, during the winter i run some hydroponics strawberries,
tomatoes, radishes in the spare room i have. this winter im going
to test out a new grow unit i designed with drip irrigation and run
28 strawberry plants.( i hope ) LOL
On the cement back fill i was even thinking of usein hypertufa so
cut down some of the weight.
yeah, post away on your ideas ... please doo ..
This message was edited Aug 25, 2005 12:31 PM
Conversational whiplash warning ...
Have you done much with flood type hydroponics? I ran into a lot of small irritations maintaining a drip system and ultimately settled on an ebb & flow set-up (homemade) using rockwool as the growing media. In the end, the running of system bordered on idiot proof! I could leave town for long weekends and not worry about the grow room.
Of the many things in life that I fail miserably at, drawing is chief amongst them. So ... with that in mind, good luck visualizing what I am about to unload.
Insofar as the basic shell is concerned, I would consider the following:
Contruct the basic shell out of wood. This "shell" would be somewhat similar to making a frame for miniature two-walled shower, except the back walls are triangular. A single piece of wood (preferably MDF instead of plywood) for the floor, framed by two triangular pieces (MDF or plywood) that form the back corner walls where you will later mount your rocks to surround the falls proper. I would connect the inner corner of these two tall walls with a 1x1 going up the seam. At every point where joining wood, make sure to use ample amounts of wood glue AND wood screws (making sure to pre-drill all screw holes)
The other, shorter sides are where the water will collect before being pumped back up. These should be either 4 or 6 inches in height, depending on your water volume needs. I'd suggest 6, just to be safe.
Be meticulous in the construction of this form, Sparky. Overdo it when it comes to measuring and be as anal retentive in your precision with every cut of wood. You want each piece to form a very smooth, tight fit with little (if any) visual seams.
Allow glue to dry overnight. (btw: I highly recommend Gorilla Glue, but make sure to actually follow the directions for use. You *need* to lightly mositen one side of the two pieces of wood being joined together)
Once the glue has dried, I suggest you take the time (and the extra money) to then line EVERY internal seam of this structure with a wood filler/putty that is suitable for outdoor use (which is most, but check the label to be sure). Also, allow an extra hour or more for drying time above and beyond what is recommended on the label.
NOW ... line the ENTIRE inner surface of this form/frame with numerous coats swimming pool or marine paint. This stuff is thick and imminently water proof! When I say "numerous coats," I mean no less than 3, and basically as much as you can afford to do; the more the merrier. Done properly, you should not have to resort to any sort of rubber liner. (I built 3-tier breeding tanks for African cichlids years ago out of lumber and never once suffered a leak. These breeding pens were 96"' x 18" x 18" and worked wonderfully. Think about it, that's actually a healthy amount of water weight)
You should now have a white (or baby blue) raw form that is the shape of the ultimate water feature you want to create ... and one that is totally waterproof!
OR .... you can try something like this! :o)
(as seen a Canyon Drive in Sante Fe, New Mexico)
This message was edited Aug 26, 2005 8:03 AM
BogWeed ,
I havent done a flood and drain system yet , my 5'x5' table liner went into the
outside pond i have.
I just used rockwool (1x1x1) for starting the seeds then move the cubes to netpot containers
of growrocks and either drop into my NFT gutters ( house gutters ) or my home brew aeroflow
systems (made from pvc vinyl fence post covers). Tomatoes I just just do in sterlite storage
containers (18 gal) bubbler type system. ( just a air pump and air stone )
I use General hydroponics Flora series nutreients and a product called HydroGuard.
I used to dump the resivoirs every few week but stoped that once i got used to using the
nutreients and got in the flow of things. Now i just add back tap water a few times , then
just add back a full mix of nutes. Only time i change a rez now is if i get rootrot or some bug
in the water.
the way i worked it was like this , fill up the rez with water/nutreients , plants drink it down
to the 1/2 way point , top off with water , plants drink down to 1/2 way point fill with tap water.
plants drink down to 1/4 left in the resivoire , mix up new batch of nutrients and water , fill resivoire
the gallon or 2 left over gets used on other stuff in the grow room. dilute it down some to feed any
seedlings laying around ..
Tomatoes were a bare to keep up with, some times they would go through 3 gals of water/nutes
with in a few days .,.
Yeah you got me baffled on the triangle thingies.
the only part that needs to be build like a tank is the basin which
will hold like 100 gals of water, 3'x3'x8" mabe even 4'x4'x8"
and i was also thinking of using rebar in the cement thats was backfilling the
rocks i could make like 2 rings spaced 3 inches apart that sit just inside the
basin and behind the rocks. then pack in the cement.
the waterfalls part isnt going to be a full falls like niagra , i dont think i could take the
noise from it all the time.. LOL .. more like a light splashing. im prolly only going to be
using a 300GPH pump and thats going to be pushing up to 3 feet head, so more like
50gph to 100gph at the falls , was also going to add in a valve to control the flow.
If i can get the right rocks and maybe custom make some i could have the falls cascade
between say a dozen different rocks left to right, right to left , ( zig zag ) on the way down to the basin.
anything special (glues,paints, ect) if there not available at lowes or HD im outta luck and would
have to get it off the internet. there is nothing here .. just a small "do it best" hardware store.
I call the place rogers and rip offs .. high price lumber that has more bends and twists in it then you
know what to do with.
i went on a road trip a few weeks ago
for pond stuff and drip irrigation stuff ... nothing .. i went 4 towns away from my town .. nothing.
most places you just got a blank stare .. huh ? .. LOL .. ( 2 landscaping places )
Have you seen the falls at 100 GPH rate? You might want to check it out, we are currently using a 500 GPH pump going up about 2 feet and it is a little more than a trickle, not much of a falls at all. You might try this... take a gallon milk jug or something similar and pour it out, but pour it out at a rate where it takes about 45 seconds to empty the jug. That would closely simulate your 100 GPH falls. After we add the stream and lower pond to our pond system, we plan to go to at least a 3,500 GPH pump. Food for thot... good luck... Tom
Tom , yep on the flow rate at 100gph give or take , I got a 310 GPH pump in the outside
pond now lifting about 3 to 4 feet feeding the bio-filter that discharges to the falls.
...
Nice pond, Sparky. I like your indoor waterfall/pond, too. I hope you get it worked out.
