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Back garden stream design
Pash007
Posts: 1
Hi there. I'm a novice in regards to gardening, but I have a very plain back garden that I want to improve by adding a stream to it. The length of the stream would be approx 28 feet, 1.5 feet wide and very shallow - child friendly. The garden has a natural slope of about 1.5 feet from the highest point of the intended stream to the lowest point. I'd like to have a small, natural looking waterfall at the highest point and maybe a bubbling stone at the bottom.
I've looked online for information regarding the size of pump and reservoir that I would need, but the information is too much to take in and very complicated.
Please can somebody advise me what size of pump and reservoir(s) I would need, and also what other materials you would recommend?
Photos/ideas of other installations would be great too if possible.
Thank you in advance.
Paul (Lancashire, England)
I've looked online for information regarding the size of pump and reservoir that I would need, but the information is too much to take in and very complicated.
Please can somebody advise me what size of pump and reservoir(s) I would need, and also what other materials you would recommend?
Photos/ideas of other installations would be great too if possible.
Thank you in advance.
Paul (Lancashire, England)
0
Posts
There's no harm in overdoing the pump size, if you can run it at 60% capacity it will last longer than running it at 100%, I've been told. The reservoir should be as big as you can fit in - within reason. The bigger it is the less likely the system is to run dry.
If your stream is 10m x 0.5m x 0.02m that'll need at least 100-150L water.
The pump will also need to be covered in water in the reservoir - say another 50L, so you're going to need to bury a tank with a capacity of around 200-250L or more at the bottom of the stream.
If you want a waterfall at the top, you'll need a header pool too, so add and extra 50L capacity to the tank.
With the pump having to pump water a distance of over 10m and a height of around 1m+ (don't forget that the pump is sitting at the bottom of the reservoir) you'll need a pump I'd guess around 10,000-15,000 LPH. Pumping water 30ft may need a high-torque pump too - I don't know.
Now and then you'll need to clean the pump, so you'll need easy access to the reservoir too.
It's a lovely idea, but a lot of work.
Maybe others have got some better ideas
Good luck
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I dug out about 3ft of soil below the urn and lined it with pond liner and that's where the pump is.
I used small bore plastic plumbing pipes to cover the top, then laid cobbles on top of that, and the urn on top of the cobbles.
The water trickles out of the urn back into the reservoir.
It's a pain to clean the pump, but I only need to do that once or twice a year.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I lost enthusiasm when the realities kicked in. Was I just going to create a gully for leaves to collect in? The pump reservoir would be massive, how to keep it all from freezing in the winter?
I bought a couple of books, The Water Gardener by Anthony Archer-Wills contained the most detailed information on streams.
Unfortunately, it's not really possible to escape the details with something like this. Under capacity and it will be a lot of work for a disappointing result, go overboard and an awful lot of £££ could be spent unnecessarily.