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#1
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Hi!
Hi!
I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. |
#2
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Hi!
"Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. I have been thinking about the same thing. I have long thought about making a water feature monstrosity, and making it attractive to the local frog bothers, so they might like to vacate the toilet....Negotiations have been underway for some years now, but they remain the tenants from hell.... I have the ability to move large rocks(Backhoe & Hi-ab truck crane), as well as cut them to approximate shape, but am interested in a water\light feature that works on solar power. The light is for attracting insects for the frog brothers, and so make it a bit of a must-visit place. If I can make a few little nooks & crannies for them to sleep away the day hours, I might just get them to move. Fingers crossed, anyway. What I envisage is a feature that operates during the day, but continues for a number of hours each evening. For this, I will require power storage, as well as a daylight sensor for the lights. The lights I have in mind are a few of the high intensity white LED lights that are used on heavy vehicles & trailers etc(white clearance lights are around $20-$25 each). They draw very low current(0.5Watt?), handle a range of voltage (8-36V DC)and a few of them should be well bright enough to attract passing moths, etc. My questions to you a Any better or worse solar pumps to circulate water on a largeish water feature? Are there different voltage models, or are all the solar ones 12Volt? I would estimate I will have between 400-600 litres in the whole setup. I expect the pile of rocks to be 2 metres high, with a pond at the bottom. Pools of water overflowing down eventually into the large pond at the bottom. Water will be topped up via a float valve. I envisage the panel to run this would be in the order of 5 amps of peak power(approx $560 for the panel), so there should be heaps of power for the pump during sunlight hours. Any obvious problems with this sort of idea? Is it wise to lay poly sheeting below the whole feature, to reduce ground soakage? Does this cause other issues in doing so?? I did wonder if I mightnt be better starting with half-burying one of those large round poly troughs, as they can be easily drained, and have a defined wall that might keep some undesirables out(I'm thinking of the possibility of cane toads in the future). Mind you, that would then require something to hide the poly side walls, but this mightnt be too large a hurdle to address. Would sand be a good bottom for such a feature? I would be filtering the input to the pump, but wondered if sand was the best media. What about pebbles? I have both sand and pebbles in quantity. I will need a regulator to handle charging the battery and the feed to the solar pump, but I am wondering if I am better off running the pump directly from the solar panel or through the battery. Running it direct from the panel would be more simple, but running it via the battery might give some options to run the pump for an hour or so after dark. This might keep a rocks a little cooler in the summer months. Are there daylight sensors that would turn one circuit off (solar pump), at the same time as turning another on (lights)? Should I also include a time switch on the lights, to ensure the battery doesnt get completely discharged every night? If so, has anyone seen one for 12-36 volt DC systems? I am not competent at building my own electronics, but can wire simple gear in myself. And finally; any good negotiation techniques for the frog brothers? At this stage they are holding both loos hostage, and we are getting desparate........Very, Very Desperate! Talks with Toiletto Frogoli (our rare bum-patting Green Tree frog) have failed a number of times, and my last effort to explain my grand plan was met with a cold eyed boggle, before he slid under the rim.....When I wandered past 10 minutes later, the whole loo started croaking, so I expect I was being told what I could do with my grand vision. Sigh......Dont you just love wildlife.... Ideas and suggestions welcomed. Cheers, Rod.....Out Back -- |
#3
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Hi!
"Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? I have made a couple myself, and a few with others. Really it is hard to sary without an idea of what you want. You can go totally natural looking, making the whole lot with bush rocks, or go the typical fibreglass ponds with small pockets for the waterfall. The best I ever made was a waterfall that ran down into a "creek bed" along side a footpath to a front door. I made it all with bushrock, the creek bed was plastic liner with rock on top of it, finally leading to a large tub buried in the ground that was hidden by mesh and bush rock. The tub held the pump which returned the water back to the waterfall. My only advice is to have lots of bushrock to choose from if you go with that. Fit them together as best as possible to minimise the mortar between them, and try avoid big bulging mortat joints, something that I have noticed some people do deliberately. Pick your pump according to the height and length the water has to be pumped (a place that sells pumps should help you) and if you do decide on a pond the easiest is pre-moulded, then there is very little chance of cracking and leaking. Good luck TIA Leanne. |
#4
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Hi!
Thanks andrew, sounds wonderful! We have lots of bush rocks, I live in Alice Springs I was going for a more natural look because the area i want it is sort of tropical with ferns and stuff, and a spa about 8 meters away. I'd rather make the waterfall myself, but the catchment or pond area I'd like to buy pre-made. I've read that its good to leave a 'pocket' from where the last rock goes into the pond because it makes a better sound... is this true? Thanks Leanne I have made a couple myself, and a few with others. Really it is hard to sary without an idea of what you want. You can go totally natural looking, making the whole lot with bush rocks, or go the typical fibreglass ponds with small pockets for the waterfall. The best I ever made was a waterfall that ran down into a "creek bed" along side a footpath to a front door. I made it all with bushrock, the creek bed was plastic liner with rock on top of it, finally leading to a large tub buried in the ground that was hidden by mesh and bush rock. The tub held the pump which returned the water back to the waterfall. My only advice is to have lots of bushrock to choose from if you go with that. Fit them together as best as possible to minimise the mortar between them, and try avoid big bulging mortat joints, something that I have noticed some people do deliberately. Pick your pump according to the height and length the water has to be pumped (a place that sells pumps should help you) and if you do decide on a pond the easiest is pre-moulded, then there is very little chance of cracking and leaking. Good luck TIA Leanne. |
#5
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Hi!
I have made a couple myself, and a few with others. Really it is hard to sary without an idea of what you want. You can go totally natural looking, making the whole lot with bush rocks, or go the typical fibreglass ponds with small pockets for the waterfall. If you are going to build something up, then pack your earth to the shape, retaining walls, etc. Plastic liner under the rocks is a good trick because that is what stops your water leaking away. apart from a large water bill, leaking water also saturates the soil and causes eveything to sump. Your bottom pool/sump pool has to be big enough to hold all the water when the power goes off and it all runs down. If you go fibreglass/pebble coated stuff, buy individual pools, lips, water falls, rather than a fixed thing. I made the mistake of buying a fixed three tier thing and it was a pain to get levels correct. For this, I had concrete block base (undisturbed soil at ground level) and risers of 100mm sewerage pipe filled with concrete capped/packed with concrete slabs, fibro or slate (all unseen) and, that was surrounded by soil backfill into genuine railway sleeper retaining walls on 3 sides. The back fill settles each year and I just top it up all the time. As said before, you need lots of rocks to play around with and get the right feel. Ideally they should all be the same. Although, mine now has conglomerate around the top pool, sandstone around the 2nd and third, then large rounded river rock around the sump/(old bathtub) and it goes together okay. As said before; mortar, you want as little as possible because it doesn't hold long term (different thremal expansion rates). As best, you are making a holding cradle to stop round rocks moving. I still have to solve the problem of colour filtering as we have a number of large gums dropping lots of leaves into the water. I am considering a large plastic barrell with straw packing for this. |
#6
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Hi!
"Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. I have three in my yard atm. I got a DE filter from an old decommissioned swimming pool and filtered the water with that pumping from the bottom to the top pond, If you go for this solution (two ponds separated by a creek), make the bottom pond a little deeper and quite a bit wider to accommodate the water being pumped into the filter and pipes. Obviously any water level control devices should be on the bottom. Mine is two cement ponds lined with rocks. To make the rocks more natural looking, once the mortar is in place I gently pressed soil onto the exposed mortar, to camouflage the joins, this can be brushed off or left for rain to deal with. The flow of water down the creek/waterfall has to be examined carefully, any splashes that extend past the sides of the creek will reduce the water level quicker than you think. As for the plants I used miniature papyrus as well as lily pads and a grass like plant that I can't remember the name of .When you select the plants watch out for a whispy green underwater plant clinging to the roots. I have found that this is very hard to be rid of once introduced and increases the maintenance time substantially. Frogs came without any lights along with green tree snakes. The biggest problem has been the large birds that take the fish, once they learn where there is a local fast food takeaway, they make short work of the goldfish. I have even replaced the fish with black comets in the hope that their colour will camouflage them and make them harder for the birds to see, So far only one has survived out of dozens. The black also makes it hard for me to see them which kinda defeats the purpose. The other pond is in a more formal paved area and matches the pool. To aerate the water I placed a plinth in the middle of the pond upon which rests a tall (1 meter) pottery vase. I pumped water into the vase and had it run down the sides to create a shimmering effect, This is the last in a long line of vases which either exploded or cracked. The violence of the event was directly proportional to how many elderly women are sitting on the edge. If there was several, it was like an aquatic Vesuvious, showering them with pond water and bits of pot. If no one is in sight a small crack will appear. This problem was solved by boring a hole into the base and painting the hole and the base inside and out to just above the waterline with a black waterproofing compound.I then introduced the plastic pipe from the pump through the hole and out the top of the vase. Then I filled the vase with styrofoam chuncks from various packing boxes. At the top I poured cement to just below the rim taking care to ensure the pipe is exactly vertical and extending past the rim. Once the cement had dried I painted the inside of the rim with water proofing compound and trimmed off the pipe flush with the top of the cement. this has lasted now for 2 years and appears to be safe for elderly ladies to be near. Mekon |
#7
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Hi!
"Leanne" wrote in message ... Thanks andrew, sounds wonderful! We have lots of bush rocks, I live in Alice Springs I was going for a more natural look because the area i want it is sort of tropical with ferns and stuff, and a spa about 8 meters away. I'd rather make the waterfall myself, but the catchment or pond area I'd like to buy pre-made. I've read that its good to leave a 'pocket' from where the last rock goes into the pond because it makes a better sound... is this true? It really is all a matter of testing, and the rocks you have. One I helped make at work use poly pipe with holes drilled in it and hidden. This gave the appearence of water flowing under a path. At first we had a few comments from golfers suggesting a burst pipe. We cut the pressure a little to a gentle flow, now getting great comments. This I might add, was damn water getting re-circulated. Try testing the hole thing before you set it. A good variety of rocks, including flatter ones for "platforms" work well. IMO a good flow without major splashing if it's going into a pond is good to circulate the water, or should I say aerate it. A pre made pond is a good idea, and can be blended in well. If it's possible try get to a creek bed where there is a slight drop in levels and have a look at the different types of rock there. I really like the idea of the fern tropical area. What I am going to create in the new year Good luck Thanks Leanne |
#8
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Hi!
aaah, at last somethinng in gardening i have a bit of knowledge in
in regards to he electrics, your not gonna be able to get sufficient power from a solar system. plus, it'd be cheaper to use a mains operated sustem. Itd take 10+ years for a suitable solar system to pay for itself, and then not even really coz youd have to replace thebatteries every 2 years.go mains power. as for lights, those'd do quite nicely if your interested i can give you more details about what i said above in regards to a solar system, and help you come up with a simple alternative (waterproof of course) to truck led lights On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:29:38 GMT, "Rod Out back" wrote: "Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. I have been thinking about the same thing. I have long thought about making a water feature monstrosity, and making it attractive to the local frog bothers, so they might like to vacate the toilet....Negotiations have been underway for some years now, but they remain the tenants from hell.... I have the ability to move large rocks(Backhoe & Hi-ab truck crane), as well as cut them to approximate shape, but am interested in a water\light feature that works on solar power. The light is for attracting insects for the frog brothers, and so make it a bit of a must-visit place. If I can make a few little nooks & crannies for them to sleep away the day hours, I might just get them to move. Fingers crossed, anyway. What I envisage is a feature that operates during the day, but continues for a number of hours each evening. For this, I will require power storage, as well as a daylight sensor for the lights. The lights I have in mind are a few of the high intensity white LED lights that are used on heavy vehicles & trailers etc(white clearance lights are around $20-$25 each). They draw very low current(0.5Watt?), handle a range of voltage (8-36V DC)and a few of them should be well bright enough to attract passing moths, etc. My questions to you a Any better or worse solar pumps to circulate water on a largeish water feature? Are there different voltage models, or are all the solar ones 12Volt? I would estimate I will have between 400-600 litres in the whole setup. I expect the pile of rocks to be 2 metres high, with a pond at the bottom. Pools of water overflowing down eventually into the large pond at the bottom. Water will be topped up via a float valve. I envisage the panel to run this would be in the order of 5 amps of peak power(approx $560 for the panel), so there should be heaps of power for the pump during sunlight hours. Any obvious problems with this sort of idea? Is it wise to lay poly sheeting below the whole feature, to reduce ground soakage? Does this cause other issues in doing so?? I did wonder if I mightnt be better starting with half-burying one of those large round poly troughs, as they can be easily drained, and have a defined wall that might keep some undesirables out(I'm thinking of the possibility of cane toads in the future). Mind you, that would then require something to hide the poly side walls, but this mightnt be too large a hurdle to address. Would sand be a good bottom for such a feature? I would be filtering the input to the pump, but wondered if sand was the best media. What about pebbles? I have both sand and pebbles in quantity. I will need a regulator to handle charging the battery and the feed to the solar pump, but I am wondering if I am better off running the pump directly from the solar panel or through the battery. Running it direct from the panel would be more simple, but running it via the battery might give some options to run the pump for an hour or so after dark. This might keep a rocks a little cooler in the summer months. Are there daylight sensors that would turn one circuit off (solar pump), at the same time as turning another on (lights)? Should I also include a time switch on the lights, to ensure the battery doesnt get completely discharged every night? If so, has anyone seen one for 12-36 volt DC systems? I am not competent at building my own electronics, but can wire simple gear in myself. And finally; any good negotiation techniques for the frog brothers? At this stage they are holding both loos hostage, and we are getting desparate........Very, Very Desperate! Talks with Toiletto Frogoli (our rare bum-patting Green Tree frog) have failed a number of times, and my last effort to explain my grand plan was met with a cold eyed boggle, before he slid under the rim.....When I wandered past 10 minutes later, the whole loo started croaking, so I expect I was being told what I could do with my grand vision. Sigh......Dont you just love wildlife.... Ideas and suggestions welcomed. Cheers, Rod.....Out Back |
#9
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Hi!
Arpit,
Cost of the solar setup isnt really something I am too concerned about(within reason). I am more interested in not using mains power than comparing the cost of the setup to a mains based setup. You dont think 5 amps is enough power for the pump? What about 10 amps? The reason I query this is the solar pump we are installing tomorrow has about 8 of these solar panels, and pumps 6000 gallons of water to a 90 foot head over some kilomentres! It just seemed to me that a single panel would have sufficient grunt to lift enough water to keep overflowing a series of rock pools 2 metres high. Mind you; I havent done this sort of project before, so you may well be right... I am interested in the alternative to truck LED's, if you have some details. These ones are water-resistant, and are simply attractive because they have such a wide range of voltage tolerance, and very low power drain(and I already have some that I ordered the white ones by mistake). Alternatives gratefully welcomed. No advice on the frog part, hey????? Cheers, Rod. rodney downs at bigpond dot com; with no spaces in it "Arpit" wrote in message ... aaah, at last somethinng in gardening i have a bit of knowledge in in regards to he electrics, your not gonna be able to get sufficient power from a solar system. plus, it'd be cheaper to use a mains operated sustem. Itd take 10+ years for a suitable solar system to pay for itself, and then not even really coz youd have to replace thebatteries every 2 years.go mains power. as for lights, those'd do quite nicely if your interested i can give you more details about what i said above in regards to a solar system, and help you come up with a simple alternative (waterproof of course) to truck led lights On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:29:38 GMT, "Rod Out back" wrote: "Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. I have been thinking about the same thing. I have long thought about making a water feature monstrosity, and making it attractive to the local frog bothers, so they might like to vacate the toilet....Negotiations have been underway for some years now, but they remain the tenants from hell.... I have the ability to move large rocks(Backhoe & Hi-ab truck crane), as well as cut them to approximate shape, but am interested in a water\light feature that works on solar power. The light is for attracting insects for the frog brothers, and so make it a bit of a must-visit place. If I can make a few little nooks & crannies for them to sleep away the day hours, I might just get them to move. Fingers crossed, anyway. What I envisage is a feature that operates during the day, but continues for a number of hours each evening. For this, I will require power storage, as well as a daylight sensor for the lights. The lights I have in mind are a few of the high intensity white LED lights that are used on heavy vehicles & trailers etc(white clearance lights are around $20-$25 each). They draw very low current(0.5Watt?), handle a range of voltage (8-36V DC)and a few of them should be well bright enough to attract passing moths, etc. My questions to you a Any better or worse solar pumps to circulate water on a largeish water feature? Are there different voltage models, or are all the solar ones 12Volt? I would estimate I will have between 400-600 litres in the whole setup. I expect the pile of rocks to be 2 metres high, with a pond at the bottom. Pools of water overflowing down eventually into the large pond at the bottom. Water will be topped up via a float valve. I envisage the panel to run this would be in the order of 5 amps of peak power(approx $560 for the panel), so there should be heaps of power for the pump during sunlight hours. Any obvious problems with this sort of idea? Is it wise to lay poly sheeting below the whole feature, to reduce ground soakage? Does this cause other issues in doing so?? I did wonder if I mightnt be better starting with half-burying one of those large round poly troughs, as they can be easily drained, and have a defined wall that might keep some undesirables out(I'm thinking of the possibility of cane toads in the future). Mind you, that would then require something to hide the poly side walls, but this mightnt be too large a hurdle to address. Would sand be a good bottom for such a feature? I would be filtering the input to the pump, but wondered if sand was the best media. What about pebbles? I have both sand and pebbles in quantity. I will need a regulator to handle charging the battery and the feed to the solar pump, but I am wondering if I am better off running the pump directly from the solar panel or through the battery. Running it direct from the panel would be more simple, but running it via the battery might give some options to run the pump for an hour or so after dark. This might keep a rocks a little cooler in the summer months. Are there daylight sensors that would turn one circuit off (solar pump), at the same time as turning another on (lights)? Should I also include a time switch on the lights, to ensure the battery doesnt get completely discharged every night? If so, has anyone seen one for 12-36 volt DC systems? I am not competent at building my own electronics, but can wire simple gear in myself. And finally; any good negotiation techniques for the frog brothers? At this stage they are holding both loos hostage, and we are getting desparate........Very, Very Desperate! Talks with Toiletto Frogoli (our rare bum-patting Green Tree frog) have failed a number of times, and my last effort to explain my grand plan was met with a cold eyed boggle, before he slid under the rim.....When I wandered past 10 minutes later, the whole loo started croaking, so I expect I was being told what I could do with my grand vision. Sigh......Dont you just love wildlife.... Ideas and suggestions welcomed. Cheers, Rod.....Out Back |
#10
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Hi!
Aah ok, i thought cost would be the major factor here. If you can get
big solar panels like that, you'll be fine. What voltage are they? YOu said it was going to be a monstrosity. I take it something like http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.st...uct/View/P8907 would't pump enough at only 3 litres a minute? say you get a pump which draws 5 amps. It'll draw this 5 amps all night and all day. Thus, to recharge your storage system in the day time, you need an extra 5 amps, say 6 amps to make up for innefficiencies in the regulator. But the solar panels rated at 72 watts ( 6 amps x 12 volts)- and we are talking EXPENSIVE here, won't be able to provide that much power except for a few hours in the day time in mid afternoon. SO you'd really want to get 140 watts of 12 voltt solar panels. Even more if you dont want strange things to happen when its cloudy. As for the batteries, i'd say marine deep cycle lead acid batteries would be the best solution. Standard car batteries or sealed batteries arent designed to be discharged deeply. Say ( for winter) you want to power the pump through the storage for 14 hours. You'd need to get a 70 amp hour battery, or maybe 10 7 amp hour batteries inparallel. But thats a bare minimum. These batteries will get damaged if you let them get discharged fully. I'd reccomend about 100 amp hours so it will still operate on cloudy days. I suggested alternatives to the truck lights because i thought you might think about using mains power or that money was a big issue, but i think if money isnt an issue, truck lights would probably look the best. SO heres our parts list: 140 watts of 12 volt solar panels 100 amp hours of 12 vvolt deep cycle/marine batteries pump truck lights circuit to cut the batteries out if they drop below a certain voltage level - battery protector, often used in 4wds which have fridges etc. and a switch so you can turn it off in the rain. If you dont want to use mains power because you want to do this as a diy project, i ssstrongly urge you to consider digging a trench ( narrow, about10 cmwide, 1 meter deep or so, from the house to the waterfall, and letting an electrician wire it up for you, should only take him/her an hour or 2. you'll have to pay for the wire and conduit, and you'll have to use a 240 volt pump- electrician will wire that for you- but youu'll be able to use a much bigger pump. YOu'll need an outdoor garden lighting transformer as well for the lights, and thats it ! no batteries, no solar panels, no messing with regulators and circuits On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:37:52 GMT, "Rod Out back" wrote: Arpit, Cost of the solar setup isnt really something I am too concerned about(within reason). I am more interested in not using mains power than comparing the cost of the setup to a mains based setup. You dont think 5 amps is enough power for the pump? What about 10 amps? The reason I query this is the solar pump we are installing tomorrow has about 8 of these solar panels, and pumps 6000 gallons of water to a 90 foot head over some kilomentres! It just seemed to me that a single panel would have sufficient grunt to lift enough water to keep overflowing a series of rock pools 2 metres high. Mind you; I havent done this sort of project before, so you may well be right... I am interested in the alternative to truck LED's, if you have some details. These ones are water-resistant, and are simply attractive because they have such a wide range of voltage tolerance, and very low power drain(and I already have some that I ordered the white ones by mistake). Alternatives gratefully welcomed. No advice on the frog part, hey????? Cheers, Rod. rodney downs at bigpond dot com; with no spaces in it "Arpit" wrote in message .. . aaah, at last somethinng in gardening i have a bit of knowledge in in regards to he electrics, your not gonna be able to get sufficient power from a solar system. plus, it'd be cheaper to use a mains operated sustem. Itd take 10+ years for a suitable solar system to pay for itself, and then not even really coz youd have to replace thebatteries every 2 years.go mains power. as for lights, those'd do quite nicely if your interested i can give you more details about what i said above in regards to a solar system, and help you come up with a simple alternative (waterproof of course) to truck led lights On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:29:38 GMT, "Rod Out back" wrote: "Leanne" wrote in message ... Hi! I've always been interested in gardening, especially when water features are involved. I've finally got the time to make something in the garden i really want. I was wondering whether any of you had a guide to building garden waterfalls, or if you have done them yourself, how did you do it? TIA Leanne. I have been thinking about the same thing. I have long thought about making a water feature monstrosity, and making it attractive to the local frog bothers, so they might like to vacate the toilet....Negotiations have been underway for some years now, but they remain the tenants from hell.... I have the ability to move large rocks(Backhoe & Hi-ab truck crane), as well as cut them to approximate shape, but am interested in a water\light feature that works on solar power. The light is for attracting insects for the frog brothers, and so make it a bit of a must-visit place. If I can make a few little nooks & crannies for them to sleep away the day hours, I might just get them to move. Fingers crossed, anyway. What I envisage is a feature that operates during the day, but continues for a number of hours each evening. For this, I will require power storage, as well as a daylight sensor for the lights. The lights I have in mind are a few of the high intensity white LED lights that are used on heavy vehicles & trailers etc(white clearance lights are around $20-$25 each). They draw very low current(0.5Watt?), handle a range of voltage (8-36V DC)and a few of them should be well bright enough to attract passing moths, etc. My questions to you a Any better or worse solar pumps to circulate water on a largeish water feature? Are there different voltage models, or are all the solar ones 12Volt? I would estimate I will have between 400-600 litres in the whole setup. I expect the pile of rocks to be 2 metres high, with a pond at the bottom. Pools of water overflowing down eventually into the large pond at the bottom. Water will be topped up via a float valve. I envisage the panel to run this would be in the order of 5 amps of peak power(approx $560 for the panel), so there should be heaps of power for the pump during sunlight hours. Any obvious problems with this sort of idea? Is it wise to lay poly sheeting below the whole feature, to reduce ground soakage? Does this cause other issues in doing so?? I did wonder if I mightnt be better starting with half-burying one of those large round poly troughs, as they can be easily drained, and have a defined wall that might keep some undesirables out(I'm thinking of the possibility of cane toads in the future). Mind you, that would then require something to hide the poly side walls, but this mightnt be too large a hurdle to address. Would sand be a good bottom for such a feature? I would be filtering the input to the pump, but wondered if sand was the best media. What about pebbles? I have both sand and pebbles in quantity. I will need a regulator to handle charging the battery and the feed to the solar pump, but I am wondering if I am better off running the pump directly from the solar panel or through the battery. Running it direct from the panel would be more simple, but running it via the battery might give some options to run the pump for an hour or so after dark. This might keep a rocks a little cooler in the summer months. Are there daylight sensors that would turn one circuit off (solar pump), at the same time as turning another on (lights)? Should I also include a time switch on the lights, to ensure the battery doesnt get completely discharged every night? If so, has anyone seen one for 12-36 volt DC systems? I am not competent at building my own electronics, but can wire simple gear in myself. And finally; any good negotiation techniques for the frog brothers? At this stage they are holding both loos hostage, and we are getting desparate........Very, Very Desperate! Talks with Toiletto Frogoli (our rare bum-patting Green Tree frog) have failed a number of times, and my last effort to explain my grand plan was met with a cold eyed boggle, before he slid under the rim.....When I wandered past 10 minutes later, the whole loo started croaking, so I expect I was being told what I could do with my grand vision. Sigh......Dont you just love wildlife.... Ideas and suggestions welcomed. Cheers, Rod.....Out Back |
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