How to build a Water Feature for Indoors or Patio

How to Build a Water Feature for your Home or Patio

Fairy water feature kit

fairy water feature with aquarium stones

Water features carry us away into relaxing memories of streams, lake and ocean vacations. Building your own water feature re-creates favorite memories in miniature. Your imagination and creativity makes it as simple or complex as you desire.

Decide on your budget. A good quality pump with adjustable flow costs $20.00 and up. Less expensive ones are noiser and more suitable for a tabletop water fountain. Shop around at garden stores or on-line. Basin materials range from inexpensive plastic tubs, buckets, stoneware and selected pond parts at home and garden stores, or for more money you can purchase a packaged kit with statuary and pump included.

Choose a spot for your water feature. Is it going to be in your sun room, on a patio or in your garden? Freestanding kits work beautifully in many applications while modular parts need an angled framework or hill to hide the pump.

Consider access to electricity for the pump, accessibility for maintenance and a water safe surface.

Traditional Japanese water feature

basins for watter features

Rocks from an aquarium store

pumps and tubing

basket and pot for a bubbler water feature

Choose a style. Water features can be formal, ethnic (Japanese bamboo), playful or naturalistic. Consider that a stream of water shooting out of a fish or frog will be nosier and splash more than water gently flowing over an angled or stepped surface. Think quieter if the fountain is placed indoors or near a conversation area.

Choose a basin. It can be as simple as a 10 gallon bucket and as beautiful as a nonporous stone pot or purchased stone fountain. Shown here are mid-range purchased basins from a garden store. The basin needs to be wide enough to accommodate splashing from the water fall.

Water flows down. Create a simple outdoor fountain with a 10 gallon bucket hidden behind rocks and bird bath tops angled above in a stepping stone fashion. Indoors, create the same effect with stoneware bowls or saucers with a water proof basin under the works. Support the steps with rocks, jars or pots. For a more naturalistic water feature, use rocks. Check out an aquarium store for interesting rocks.

Add your pump and plastic tubing. Place the pump in the basin where it will be least noticed but accessible for cleaning the filter. The best pumps have a flow adjuster and easy to clean filters.

For a simple bubbler, puncture a hole in the bottom of a pond planting basket and thread the flow end of the pump tube up to the surface. Place the pump in the bottom of a waterproof pot and support the basket with rocks, jars or small pots. Fill the basket with small rocks. Find these parts in the pond section of a home or garden store. Average cost in 2009 is $20.00 for the pump, $10.00 for the pot and $3.00 for the planting basket.

Once you have set up your fountain, fill it 1/2 full with water. Turn on the pump and adjust the flow and tubing placement as needed. Have some towels nearby ready for cleanup or accidents. Fill up to the top when you are satisfied with the flow of the water. Enjoy your beautiful new water feature!

Tips:

Decorate the space around your fountain with plants or statuary to hide the working parts.

Place ferns or other humidity loving plants on stands or on rock ledges for naturalistic water features.

Experiment with rocks and flow. It is a work in progress and easy to change accessories when you build it yourself.

Put a timer or switch on your pump to save energy and avoid pet induced waterline problems while you are not at home.

Change the water often to avoid green scum. Rinse with diluted bleach to keep it clean.

Children must always be supervised around water features. They are very curious and want to investigate.

Pets or wildlife may drink out of your water feature.. Frequent cleaning is preferable to anti-scum pond chemicals.

A white deposit from minerals in hard water can discolor statuary or accessories in the splash zone. Choose your decorations and placement with this in mind.

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