Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall in Santa Cruz #2

Here we are installing the 'fixed skimmer' that will connect to the waterfall tank. The skimmer allows us to create the 'vanishing waterfall' effect that makes the Filtrific system unique. 

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.

Backyard Landscaping

This is a residential backyard landscape we have been working on this month.


The picture on the left is during construction of the Vanishing Waterfall.
Notice the clock on the fence. We found it buried in the dirt during excavation. 


This project was designed by Jan Nelson.
Jan referred us to her client for this project. 

This project features a well selected list of plants, a Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall, an artificial turf lawn and some basic landscape lighting.

Filtrific Waterfall Construction

Almaden Waterfall

Award Winning Water Feature

We just found out that a project we worked on with Baxter Landscaping won a 2nd place award from the California Landscape Contractors Association.

 Our part of the project was to construct a large, natural looking Pondless Waterfall as a part of a larger project that included many contemporary and unique landscape features. With a Bocci Ball court, a Redwood Pergola, and extensive Paver pathways and patios, this project was exciting to be a part of.

I would like to thank Baxter Landscaping for letting us be a part of this awesome project.




We look forward to working on more projects with Baxter and other Landscape contractors in Santa Cruz County. 

Custom Potting Bench

We have had a busy May, mostly doing wood work.
We are just finishing up a project in San Jose that had a potting bench in the design.

We went back and forth with our client considering what style of bench we would install.

At first we discussed the option of buying one online and assembling it on site.


But after looking around and reading reviews, we decided a custom bench would work better and last longer.

So we decided to create a simple bench that was purely functional. There were a few requirements we were working with: 
We wanted a drawer for hand tools, a cabinet for fertilizers, a drop down cabinet for soils and a waterproof bench to keep the soils dry.

So we came up with a simple drawing and gave it to our client. After looking it over and seeing the rest of the yard come together so beautifully, (see the post on 'Relaxing Koi Pond') we decided to make the potting bench both functional and beautiful.


We redesigned it and started building in our shop.


We used hand picked select heart Redwood for the framework and the bench. The bench was constructed in a 'cutting board' style.

We used a nice bright Pine for the face of the cabinets and drawer.


This gave a wonderful contrast to the Redwood.


As I mentioned above, we installed a drawer for small hand tools, a cabinet for fertilizers and other plant food, a drop down cabinet for potting soils and two shelves for pots.


The bench was then sealed with Poly-urethane, delivered to the job site and assembled.