In my experience the number one issue with DIY falls are not making a large enough basin. Not as much of an issue with fountain style, but you must remember that when the power goes off that water is going to drain to the basin without proper construction. Overflowing the basin can be an issue, especially if it is turned back on and the amount of fall or stream eats up all the basin water and your pump burns out. So a feature that has 50 gallons in the 'body' of the fall better have the capacity to handle that 50 gallons plus what is already in the basin. Or be able to keep most of that 50 in the 'body' when the pump is off. Other wise the water will run out before it returns to the basin.

Hey, Stan. I would not be surprised if the rocks in the basin were not absolutely clean when they were put in or that there are leaves, insects or other items in there. In any case, some dirt would come from the air or any rain you might have had. If there was any splashing outside of the basin there would be mud. Any debris at all can cause the growth of anerobic bacteria which is the cause of the sulphur smell. That kind of bacteria thrives when there is a lack of oxygen in the water and that is what happens when the pump is turned off. It takes only a few minutes for the good bacteria to begin to die off. Since we don't know how the waterfall and basin were constructed it is hard to give any detailed advice. I am going from what I learned when I designed one almost seven years ago. The best I can do is to say the water needs to be changed out, the basin cleaned and kept clean with a filter that you can access easily for regular maintenance and the pump needs to run 24/7. Maybe there is someone else on the forum who can give you better advice. Sandy

I think it's a clever idea. And I think it will work. Bog gardens are deceptively simple. Just find a permanently or semi-permanently damp mushy patch of earth, and plant something in it that likes wet soil. From my experience, a lot of plants really LOVE damp soil. The plant roots suck up the moisture and grow like crazy. And it doesn't require you to water it. Just find some plants that are suited to that area, and make sure that soil stays damp, plant them, and that will probably be all you need to do.

Here are some pictures of my pond. I love it, my garden wouldn't be the same without it, but it is a lot of work. This year we have had a leak somewhere, and it's been a devil trying to figure out where the water is going. I've had it for about 8 years now. My son actually dug it with pickaxe and shovel on his first year home from college. He knew I'd been wanting one for a while. It's lined with EPDM flexible liner, has a recirculating pump and a skimmer. There's a semicircular bed in front of it that is a bog bed, it used to be overloaded with ditch lilies and Siberian irises and weeds, but this spring my niece who has been helping me out in the garden because of back and shoulder problems, dug them all out. I am thinking of replacing them with hardy dinner-plate hibiscus. It attracts all kinds of wildlife, frogs, snakes, cats from the neighborhood who drink from it, etc. It has two lilies in it, one flowers pale pink and the other hot pink. It's three feet deep at its deepest point, so I keep goldfish in it year-round. They hibernate in the winter. I bought the goldfish at the local Petco, they started out as little feeder fish for about 15 or 25 cents apiece. We figured it was a cheap investment to see whether we could keep fish alive. Now the biggest is probably about four or five inches long. I don't have to feed them, they eat bug larvae, and algae from the liner. But they do like regular fish food as a treat. I'm not interested in koi, I've heard they are very disruptive. Anyway, here are some pictures. Today's waterlily bloom. A recent visitor. One of the hot pink lilies. I don't have a good picture of my fishies, or I'd post one. The only thing I would change about it is that I would change the orientation of it, if I could. We didn't realize when we built it that we wouldn't be able to see the waterfall from the house. I am planning maybe next year on putting in a pondless waterfall, and I am going to make sure that we can see that from the window.