[indianavette]

Thinking of having a waterfall added to our landscape. It there any downside such as extra maintenance or anything?

[Uptown Girl]

I am assuming you mean a free standing garden waterfall- not flowing into a swimming pool.
We have a rock waterfall in our back yard- with a shallow pond and a babbling brook. We LOVE it.
Village Palms designed and did the install three years ago. Impeccable job.

The maintenance is minimal…. one chlorine puck every two-three weeks and change of filter sleeves on the pump maybe twice a year. (Takes only a few moments- I do it myself) Every now and again, select rocks begin to develop spots of algae. I spot- treat that as needed…. no big thing.
In very hot, prolonged dry weather, I must add water from the hose, maybe once a week. I don't need to add much- but the pump needs to be kept submerged.

You need to consider size, depth and orientation of the waterfall- that will affect care and maintenance. Ours is bordered by plants that do not shed. It is within courtyard walls and I can maneuver around it to care for and prune the surrounding plants.
We chose to have no water plants or fish- for easier maintenance. However, frogs frequent and birds take baths and drink from it.
This is the fourth water feature I have had ( previous homes up North) and by far the easiest I've cared for.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[indianavette]

Thanks

[rjm1cc]

You can also have the "pond" filled with stone and thus no standing water. The stones filter the water. Only maintenance is to add water due to evaporation, but the rain minimizes this need.

[Uptown Girl]

Our pond/brook bed is of stone pebbles. Our waterfall runs continually- we don't turn it off and on. I would not recommend turning it off and letting water stand.

Should we leave town, a neighbor checks the pond periodically if it is hot and there has been no rain. She adds water from our garden hose (takes about 5 minutes) if needed.
Most of the year, I don't need to add water at all.

And P.S. We hear the water- we don't hear the pump running. Submersible pumps have variable speed adjustments as well, gentle flow to forceful flow, as you prefer.

[Ruthtomnorma3]

You have encouraged me to put this in my bucket list! Low matience... Learning to respect that word more and more . We moved from 2 acres pine trees and very little mait.
That's below LOW....we let it go natural the last year ..what beautiful "weeds" we had been cutting.....

[kittygilchrist]

critters always hang out where there is water.

[Uptown Girl]

Another thing we have is low voltage garden lights on stakes throughout the yard - and we have left open spaces in our planting areas. Nothing is overgrown. The lights are on a timer, dusk to dawn and are very inexpensive to run. Having these discourages any nocturnal critters from taking up residence.

The garden lights are in our enclosed courtyard, close to the ground- so do not bother the neighbors- we checked to make sure.

[George Bieniaszek]

We have a free standing waterfall that we purchased at Home Depot. Very simple. It came in two pieces plus the pump. We have it inside our CYV lanai and enjoy the soothing sounds of the water. We have it on a timer. The pump goes on around 8AM and off around 9PM. We also have a hot tub and when the rocks and water start developing some green spots or algae, we add a small amount of pool chemicals (bromine) into the water. We have no pets so drinking water would not be an issue. Also, the waterfall is inside the lanai so no harm to birdies, geckos or froggies. Very minimal maintenance. As mentioned by earlier posters, just monitor the water levels so you don't burn out the pump.

[Lauren Sweeny]

Large birds have been known to visit if you have fish , frogs etc. in your pond. Be sure to give the pond an overhang for the fish to hide under, if that does not work use invisible netting over it.

[BobnBev]

Just a little shot of Clorox once in awhile.

[Lauren Sweeny]

Be careful when using Clorox as it has been known to destroy rubber gaskets( same with toilets and their inner works) . Perhaps rubber is not used anymore in favor of PCV , double check. I have noticed it messes up spray bottles.