Greetings. And welcome to another Just Do It DIY project. In this video I’m going to show you how I created this really cool vanishing fountain. Water features are always a great addition to your landscaping; and a vanishing fountain like this is stylish, compact and ultimately really pleasing to listen to.
In the video I'll cover the following steps:
1. Assess & Design
2. Materials & Tools
3. Digging the Reservoir
4. Building the Reservoir Form
5. Lining the Reservoir
6. Installing the Aquablox
7. Installing the Pump
9. Finishing Touches
Assess & Design
For this project we wanted a water feature close to the front porch where we could enjoy the sound of water falling without having to build a huge pond, or fountain or waterfall. We chose a large concrete planter from a landscape supply store to use as our fountain, and to use an Aquablox so we could hide the water source underground.
Aquablox is a really cool product. They are strong enough to support the weight of the fountain, are easy to assemble, and maximize your water storage capacity.
Materials & Tools
The materials we used in this project were as follows;
• 24" Concrete Planter from a landscape supply store
• Large Aquablox (26" x 16” x 18”)
• ½" Plywood (roughly 3’ x 5’)
• General Purpose Sand & Gravel
• PVC Pond Liner 10’ x 10'
• Pond Liner Underlay
• Submersible Water Pump
• Vinyl Tubing (roughly 10’)
• PVC Pipe & Fittings (roughly 3’)
• 6’ Sheet Wire Mesh
The tools we used on this project were:
• Electric Hammer with Spade Bit
• Hand Shovel
• Drill, Bits and Drivers
• Circular Saw
• Spray Glue
• 8” Steel Hand Tamp
Digging the Reservoir
First thing I had to do was dig out a large enough area to create the reservoir. Using an electric hammer from Harbor Freight made this significantly easier than digging it all out by hand. The pit had to be 30” x 20” x 21” deep. It took about a day to dig out the pit and I saved the dirt in a pile to use as backfill later.
Once the pit was dug out, I leveled the bottom with sand and compacted it until it was flat, using a spirit level to make sure it was even on all sides.
Build Reservoir Form
With the pit dug, I had to construct a simple wooden box to form the reservoir sides, making sure the interior space was big enough to hold the Aquablox and the pond liner. I cut 4 sides of plywood and quickly nailed them together to form the box that would support the pond-liner. Once constructed, I placed this into the pit, making sure all 4 sides were level.
With the reservoir box in place, I began backfilling with the gravel and dirt I dug out earlier. When the backfill was level with the top of the box I sprinkled some water to pack the dirt in tight before finally topping up as necessary.
Lining the Reservoir
To produce a water-tight reservoir I used PVC pond liner, available in various sizes from Home Depot. Before I could install it though, I had to lay down some underlayment. This is a thick felt-like material that protects the pond liner from any sharp edges or abrasive material. We definitely want to avoid any leaks in the liner so its a good precaution. You can get this from Home Depot too.
I measured out the bottom and sides in white pencil on the felt - leaving plenty of overlaps for the corners and over the top edges - and then cut it to size with scissors. I applied spray glue to cover the insides of the box. Then I carefully applied the felt underlay to the box, folding any overlaps into the corners. I cut some extra material to cover the top edges of the corners so all the wood of the box was fully covered with felt.
I dropped the liner into the reservoir trying to keep the corners neat and tidy and making sure the liner is not snagged on anything. The liner is then folded over the top and pinned into place using landscape staples. Excess liner was trimmed away to leave about 2 feet around the top of the reservoir.
Installing the Aquablox
The Aquablox are really easy to assemble. The sides and interior bracing simply snap together, then the top and bottom snap onto them. I wanted to leave an access door to the pump, so I cut the top panel into ¼ and ¾ sections. The fountain is placed off-center over the ¾ section, so this left me enough room at the side to get to the pump.
Installing the Pump
Before I could install the pump I had to fill the reservoir with water - 32 gallons of it. This took a little while.
You can buy pump filter housings but instead I used a plastic yoghurt container placed over the pump with a small vent hole to allow water in but keep stones and large debris out.
Next I measured and cut the required length of vinyl tubing, and fed that through the Aquablox, attaching it to the pump at one end. The other end of the tubing is fed up through the drain hole in the fountain.
To test the pump, I held the tubing up at the required height and set the flow rate on the pump. From my research I knew I needed a pump with a head lift of at least 3’. I found this 264 GPM pump at Harbor Freight with a head lift of 5’ so I was pretty sure it would work. Once everything checked out, I set the fountain in place and closed the ¼ section access panel.
Final Details
A good short cut to help fill the fountain, and to reduce weight, is to fill it with blocks of polystyrene. This displaces what amounts to a huge volume of water which makes filling the fountain much quicker too. To hold the polystyrene in place I weighed it down with black river rock pebbles.
The pump came with several fountain heads, but we opted to leave the tubing open and below the surface. This creates a gentle ripple in the top of the fountain, with the sound and motion of the water running down the sides the effect we were after.
To make sure the surface ripple is centered in the top of the fountain, I devised a rig made out of 1” PVC pipe. The PVC upright is cut to 18” and attached to a 4-way cross fitting. The PVC pipe is inserted over the vinyl tubing until it stands up comfortably. Two 4” stabilizer arms are attached to the cross, which force the upright to remain centered in the fountain. The vinyl tubing is trimmed flush with the top of the PVC. To help hide the PVC pipe I sprayed it black before installing into the fountain.
Finally, I used a sheet of fine wire mesh over the top of the Aquablox to keep gravel and leaves out of the water. The mesh is then covered with decorative stone, like black river rock pebbles, to complete the landscaping design.
Okay that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this landscaping DIY project. Feel free to leave comments with any questions or feedback below. Have fun building water features in your garden. A vanishing fountain using Aquablox is a really rewarding project that you will enjoy for many years.
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