Post #809895 by BlackWater on Fri, Jul 14, 2023 9:55 AM

The volcano fountain isn't leaking! Took at least 15 rounds of filling cracks to find them all but it's been a week and no new leaks yet.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Don't make a fountain, they're really hard
• If you do, the key is a deep, waterproof basin. A big plastic bin or pool for example. Even if the rest of the fountain leaks, it will trickle down and end up in the basin and get pumped back up. You can cover it with something to make it less ugly, but a waterproof base is key. I may still go back and do this.
• The bottom basin/reservoir needs to be deep. Water splashes out, evaporates, snakes drink it, who knows but it goes away and you don't want to fill it every day. Also, a deeper pool means the water pump is submerged and quiet. You want to hear the water splashing not the whir of the pump.
• The water path is a bit shallow, and water spills over instead of going where it's supposed to go. This was a tricky balance because I also wanted the path to be visible with the lights, but if I did it over I would carve those troughs a bit deeper.
• I found something called pond seal online that was helpful, a rubberized epoxy to seal the cracks. Hard epoxy hasn't been cracking or leaking, except where the pump tube meets the epoxy. I would mix it up, suck it into a disposable plastic syringe, and squirt it into the cracks.
• I also used a matte concrete sealant, usually used to make a garage floor waterproof. A few coats of this was helpful, but I still needed to fill cracks with the pond seal stuff. (See above, water not going where it's supposed to and going over the concrete instead.)

Looks and sounds great though.