I am looking for advice and help on creating a decorative waterfall and catch pond. My intent is to carve a bowl at the top of the rock pictured where I can pump the water to and have it fall into a catch pond below. My intent is to leave as much of the natural rock showing as possible. My issues are how to create the catch pond so it doesn't leak, and how I can leave the edges exposed.
As to the waterfall, I have read that in order to have a nice fall, I need to measure the width of the falls by 100 and use that as a GPH to add to the head pressure required to get the water up. I am not sure if this is accurate. the bowl at the top will be cut so the falls will tumble over into the pond.
The first issue I have is the catch pond. As you can see, it's highly irregular shaped. I also plan top leave the rocks in the pond exposed to give it some visual interest. My research has given me 3 options.
1. cement in the bottom and cover with an EPDM type membrane safe for fish. My concern here is the cement joint to to granite. I can use an additive to the cement for the adhesion. I also have seen products that you add to the cement to make it waterproof, specifically sikalite, but I am not sure if that is sold in the US as internet searches does not find any hits. Any product recommendations would be helpful as I am not a mason and don't have experience with this.
2. Use a pond liner. This would be most difficult to install dues to the very irregular pond shape and the need for rocks to cover the liner top around the edges. for the same reason a hard shell pond is out of the question.
3. Use a liquid pond liner and "paint" it in. With luck it might bond to the granite so it won't leak between. One product I found online is Rubberize It. Even with this product, I might still need to do some concrete work to encircle the catch pond. this seems like it would be the best fit but I have no experience. I plan to call the manufacture for product information as I get closer to finalizing the design.
Any thoughts on what would work and input to the design?
As to the waterfall, I have read that in order to have a nice fall, I need to measure the width of the falls by 100 and use that as a GPH to add to the head pressure required to get the water up. I am not sure if this is accurate. the bowl at the top will be cut so the falls will tumble over into the pond.
The first issue I have is the catch pond. As you can see, it's highly irregular shaped. I also plan top leave the rocks in the pond exposed to give it some visual interest. My research has given me 3 options.
1. cement in the bottom and cover with an EPDM type membrane safe for fish. My concern here is the cement joint to to granite. I can use an additive to the cement for the adhesion. I also have seen products that you add to the cement to make it waterproof, specifically sikalite, but I am not sure if that is sold in the US as internet searches does not find any hits. Any product recommendations would be helpful as I am not a mason and don't have experience with this.
2. Use a pond liner. This would be most difficult to install dues to the very irregular pond shape and the need for rocks to cover the liner top around the edges. for the same reason a hard shell pond is out of the question.
3. Use a liquid pond liner and "paint" it in. With luck it might bond to the granite so it won't leak between. One product I found online is Rubberize It. Even with this product, I might still need to do some concrete work to encircle the catch pond. this seems like it would be the best fit but I have no experience. I plan to call the manufacture for product information as I get closer to finalizing the design.
Any thoughts on what would work and input to the design?
