Pondless Waterfall Construction in Ben Lomond Ca

Pondless Waterfall Rebuild in San Jose, Ca.

Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall in Santa Cruz

Just starting a new Waterfall project in Bonny Doon, outside Santa Cruz.

We are installing a Filtrific vanishing waterfall for this project.


Using the Filtrific system not only makes the installation easier, it makes the future maintenance much easier.


The tank in the picture is a 400 gallon waterfall filter tank. We will use this tank to house the pump, automatic fill valve, filtration and overflow. The tank is designed to allow for future additions to the system, such as, biological filtration, UV filtration and additional pumps.


The best part about the Filtrific system is, it allows us to create a 'vanishing pool'
effect using a fixed skimmer. 


The skimmer draws debris from the waterfall into the filter tank, where it can be easily accessed.

Inside the tank there a two leaf catch basket filters. Any debris drawn in from the skimmer is caught here.


This system is a much needed improvement to the Pondless Waterfall industry.

In a traditional pondless waterfall, the pump is located in a 'pondless basin' at the bottom of the waterfall. The basin is constructed using 'Matrix Boxes' and various grades of gravel.


The waterfall looks the same, but functions differently. Any debris in the waterfall will be stuck at the top of the pondless basin. This makes maintenance difficult, and can result in pump failure and poor water quality.


We still install both types of features, but we feel that the Filtrific system is superior.

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Another Pondless Waterfall

Here is another Pondless Waterfall we built in Scotts Valley, Ca, which is a city just outside of Santa Cruz. Pondless waterfalls are a beautiful piece of landscaping. This was one of my favorite features to work on. Although the excavation was tough, it was a solid rock hillside, it still came out beautiful.

The first picture was taken just after excavation. As you can see we are about to put the liner in and start building.
For this job we used a Bobcat and a Mini-excavator during this construction. This allowed us to use some good sized boulders.
Our clients chose Sonoma Fieldstone and Cold Water Canyon stone to use in this landscaping feature. These stones work well together and make a very natural water feature. Once again, its our goal to create waterfalls you might see in any mountains whether Santa Cruz or some other beautiful coastal range.

I will be posting more on pondless waterfalls, pond filtration, pond maintenance and other landscaping features in the future. If you want more information please visit my website @ Living Waters Landscaping.com 

The rest of the pictures show the finished product. I plan to go back for some more pics next year when the plants have had a chance to mature.

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Maintaining Pond Balance

Maintaining balance in our ponds is important. The ponds we create are designed after what we see in the Santa Cruz Mountains streams and water features. In the same way that we design our ponds and waterfalls after nature, we want them to function like they do in nature. As always our landscaping is meant to recreate what we all enjoy in the mountains. 
 

The thought behind the filtration on our ponds is based on the natural ecosystem of a pond or waterfall. Water is filtered by flowing over and through rock and sand. Then the water is aerated when flowing over waterfalls. When the water reaches the pond, thats where the natural eco-system thrives. Plants in the pond cleanse the water while drawing nutrients in through their roots. Fish eat algae and mosquitoes. Then the beneficial bacteria in the bottom of the pond goes to work. Beneficial bacteria consume fish waste and other organic matter. They convert deadly ammonia into nitrites and then into harmless nitrates and nitrogen. Ponds are truly a wonder when considering landscaping! 

After all the biological filtration is done, the water is then mechanically filtered. The water is drawn into a skimmer box from the pond. In the skimmer there is a leaf catch for large debris, and a woven mesh screen for smaller particles. Water is also gravity fed through bottom drains into settling tanks that help separate waste and clean water. The clean water is then pumped through a pressurized bead filter. The bead filter is another great place to house beneficial bacteria. The clean water is then pumped back into the system, either to the top of a waterfall, or to underwater circulating jets. Some other features we install to help with water quality are, aerators, UV filters and natural bog filters.
Although this sounds complicated it is a relatively simple landscaping feature for all to enjoy; especially the Koi! 

I will be posting more on pond maintenance and pond filtration in the future. If you want more information you can always visit my website @ 
Living Waters Landscaping.com 

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Filtrific Water Feature Equipment