indoor waterfall

im in so cal and need to find THE place to get a really cool tropical waterfall for the entrance to my tiki room. online is also ok. i will spend a couple bills for the right one. thanks.

If your down in the orange county area check out the Waterfall Company at the orange county fairgrounds swapmeet. They have all sizes. I still have the number if you want it.

twowheelin',
Yes, there's a waterfall vendor at the OC Marketplace every weekend. Every once in a while he even sells fiberglass tikis (5-6 footers). However, if you're crafty, you might want to try making one yourself. I helped my father-in-law build a waterfall in his garden. Pick up a water pump at any Home Depot and use chicken wire as a frame and plaster to simulate the rock formation. This way you can shape it to hold foliage/plants, etc, and contour it to the space you are putting it in. There's lots of books on topic that can help you out. Just go to Amazon.com and type in "Waterfalls."

I don't know if it is still there, but California Art Products in North Hollywood, on 11111 N.Chandler Blvd. used to have over ten different waterfall designs, PLUS they have the molds of a couple of the old fiberglass Tikis, one being the weird red feather idol/Kamehameha head that OA has (and can be seen in Elvis' "Clambake").
They weren't cheap. Phone 818/762-42 76

Twowheeln,
I dont know if your still looking for fountains but I found some on ebay you might take a look at...3' tall bamboo rattan water fountain..item# 2082700642. The seller has some other ones too.

On 2002-12-16 14:20, bigbrotiki wrote:
I don't know if it is still there, but California Art Products in North Hollywood, on 11111 N.Chandler Blvd. used to have over ten different waterfall designs, PLUS they have the molds of a couple of the old fiberglass Tikis, one being the weird red feather idol/Kamehameha head that OA has (and can be seen in Elvis' "Clambake").
They weren't cheap. Phone 818/762-42 76

They are still there and in business... They were on my Valley Tour! They also did a fiberglass chair for the last season of the original Star Trek series in the 1960s!

Yes they have some interesting waterfalls - but expensive... I ended up buying a fiberglass saucer from their 'cast-off' junk pile and turning it into a fountain. I just added those black rocks to cover the pump and it sits in the middle of our interior atrium.

I remember that fountain. It was made at home but sure doesn't look home-made! Very nice.

I remember that fountain. It was made at home but sure doesn't look home-made! Very nice.

I built a bamboo fountain a while ago and had a problem with algae. I had to take it apart because it stunk but I haven't given up the dream yet. There was dead bamboo that made up the fountain and it was constantly in the water. I figure that was what was causing the problems. If anyone has any ideas about how to solve this problem, feel free to let me in on it.

Lucky,
Since my father-in-laws fountain doesn't contain fish, he uses the same chemicals he uses in the swimming pool to prevent algae from growing. Is your fountain next to a window or exposed to the sun? Sunlight will actually accelerate algae growth.

Thanks Pop. It is by a window but that is because I also had bamboo growing in it. If I take it from the window the algae won't grow as fast but the bamboo will die. I thought about putting the pool chemicals in there too but that would also kill the bamboo. I think the pool chemicals are a great idea if I can put the bamboo in their own container within the fountain seperate from the other water. I guess I'll figure it out. I'm also looking for a new container to put the fountain in. Once again, if anyone has any ideas of where to find something like that please let me know, thanks.

you should go here http://www.holidaypoolsandspas.com/rockspas.html
instead og getting a waterfall get a waterfall rock spa that way you double your pleasure I think an indoor rockspa in your tiki bar wold be the shit! you cold sip mai-tais all night and relax in you waterfall spa also it wold be a good decoration for your bar I think they also sell waterfalls to but hell dont skimp with the tiny little waterfall "go for broke" (go all out )

Lucky, I think it might be a challenge keeping out the algae if you are growing the bamboo in it. I'm not an expert, I just think common sense would dictate that. How long have you had the bamboo growing in the fountain? I'd think that after the algae has established itself the bugs and gnats will follow.

You might want to talk to someone at a nursery like Armstrong Garden center. I'm sure they've had customers who've had this problem before. Good luck.

I think the algae is caused by the dead bamboo that makes up the structure of the fountain. Even though I coated it with a sealent, it was just rotting in the water. I'll beat this yet.

Maybe you can try a couple of algae eater fish sold at most tropical fish stores... they're pretty cheap, and I used to have a few in aquariums to keep them reasonably algae free.

:tiki:

The fish may be a good idea but I've found that those algae eaters need warm water (heater) or they will die. My koi eat a lot of the algae in my outside tank but it may just be the bamboo rotting. I had a bamboo vase I got in Kona and it rotted fast. Good Luck!

Bumping this thread because we're trying to build an indoor waterfall and could use some help or advice. Has anyone done this before? As in an indoor waterfall?

We thought about just buying one, but haven't had luck finding one that was both safe for indoor use and also the right size -- most were either tabletop fountains or only a few feet high at most. Some of them are illuminated, though, and we liked the looks of them (example), but they tend to be too wide and not tall enough -- the only one we found that was 4' tall was only for outdoor use. So we are starting to wonder if should just make our own, because then we can include all the lava rock and giant clam shells we want.

We read this thread on building an outdoor rock waterfall and more recently Bamboo Ben's lava rock waterfall for the Breezeway, but has anyone done an indoor fountain? We're not even sure where to start with this one...

This was a project I also considered a while back, the problems out weighed the the good,so I dropped it.

You have to consider issues like (Do you have kids, pets?, there will be alot of moisture
so mold & mildew is a serious issue, will you need to add chemicals to the water?, what if it leaks ? etc.)

ATP, we hadn't yet considered the mold and mildew issue. There's nothing grosser than walking into a Chinese restaurant and seeing a poorly maintained pond in the front all murky and dark.

Any kind of pond is definitely out. If anything we might still consider a smaller, premade indoor floor fountain, provided this moisture thing isn't going to be an issue. Oh, and the position for it is only a few feet away from a huge electric fireplace. I.e., splashing water is not an option!

On 2012-10-07 13:24, mike and marie wrote:
Bumping this thread because we're trying to build an indoor waterfall and could use some help or advice. Has anyone done this before? As in an indoor waterfall?

We thought about just buying one, but haven't had luck finding one that was both safe for indoor use and also the right size -- most were either tabletop fountains or only a few feet high at most. Some of them are illuminated, though, and we liked the looks of them (example), but they tend to be too wide and not tall enough -- the only one we found that was 4' tall was only for outdoor use. So we are starting to wonder if should just make our own, because then we can include all the lava rock and giant clam shells we want.

We read this thread on building an outdoor rock waterfall and more recently Bamboo Ben's lava rock waterfall for the Breezeway, but has anyone done an indoor fountain? We're not even sure where to start with this one...

I'm not sure if you guys live in the Los Angeles area, but Marukai in Gardena has bamboo pole fountains that you can put together. I think they were in the $30 and under range. Their home decor is on the second floor of the market.
The algae problem will happen with any fountain and it requires consistent cleaning.

As someone who spent several years working in the aquarium industry let me explain what causes algae and what you can do to prevent it.

Algae is something that cannot be avoided in an aquarium or pond and does no harm other than look unsightly. Algae is a plant, albeit a very simple primitive one, that needs the same things to grow as other plants, and that is food and light. When keeping an aquarium or pond, YOU are the one who is in control of both those factors. Generally both of those things will be present but it's not until you have an excess of one, or both, that the algae becomes a problem.

Food is any decomposing matter, whether it comes from organic materials rotting in the water i.e, dead plants, driftwood, or from fish waste and excess fish food (if keeping them).

Light i don't think i need to explain, however it is always best to avoid natural sunlight hitting the tank/pond as that is something you cannot control.

Algae is one of those things where prevention is better than cure, as once it has established itself it is very hard to get rid of. If you are having a problem you need to look at which one of the two things i mentioned, food and light, are in excess and address that issue. Sometimes it is both.

A saying i always used in the pet store was that 'You are a water keeper, not a fish keeper. If the water chemistry is good the fish look after themselves'.

Same goes with algae. An aquarium/pond is a mini eco-system that you are in control of.

On 2012-10-07 18:59, tikilongbeach wrote:
I'm not sure if you guys live in the Los Angeles area, but Marukai in Gardena has bamboo pole fountains that you can put together. I think they were in the $30 and under range. Their home decor is on the second floor of the market.

Alas, we're not -- if we were we would probably have Bamboo Ben work his magic.

The wall's about 6.5' high and we figured that the waterfall would be no higher than 4'; the plan was to build fake rock shelving on the rest of the wall area to hold artificial plants and all of our little shell dioramas. We could cheat and get one of those premade rock waterfall things they have at the hardware stores but as they're only like 2' tall we're not sure if it's going to spoil the effect. The tall 4' one we did see was unfortunately outdoor only.

On 2012-10-07 19:59, swizzle wrote:
When keeping an aquarium or pond, YOU are the one who is in control of both those factors. Generally both of those things will be present but it's not until you have an excess of one, or both, that the algae becomes a problem.

Swizzle, thanks for the algae lesson. We can say that light will probably not be an issue because the area where the waterfall will be is nearly pitch black most of the time. No sunlight at all, and the only light that hits it is when we're down there. There's also no fish or anything else, so no organic matter either ... so can we consider ourselves safe from algae?

We actually plan to use tonic water instead of plain water, allowing it to go flat first, because it glows in black light.

Tonic water glows under blacklight? That's a new one to me, must be the quinine. Swizz is right about the algae, I keep it down in my outdoor pond by blocking out the light with floating plants (water lilies and water hyacinth). If it's kept in the dark, has no organic matter, and is recirculated and aerated frequently it should stay clean.

On 2012-10-09 20:13, MadDogMike wrote:
Tonic water glows under blacklight?

Yes! It does! I think it is the quinine that does it. Mix yourself a Gin and Tonic and flick on the black light sometime. It's a total trip.

I'm moving this thread into the Home Tiki Bar forum.

I have a decent size custom indoor I'm building soon with Giant Clam Shells. Will post pics. The Pagan Room....

...(nix the giant clam shells)

Bamboo Ben
Custom Tropical Decor
I build Fun for you!
http://www.facebook.com/bambooben

[ Edited by: revbambooben 2013-02-09 09:18 ]

On 2012-10-10 08:01, RevBambooBen wrote:
I have a decent size custom indoor I'm building soon with Giant Clam Shells. Will post pics.

Mahalo, we appreciate!

Excellent! I'm about to start construction of mine as well.

Thanks for the tip on the tonic water! I may just end up doing that. I've got clam shells, rum barrels, and a tiki or two for the fountain!

Hale Tiki, good luck with it! We'd love to see pictures when it's done, and also hear about the construction! Are you building a fountain with a pump, or using a prefabricated one as a base?

It's all going to be from scratch. I have a background in special effects, so I'll be carving the waterfall out of pink foam, then coating it with what amounts to a sprayed urethane plastic. Then painting it to add details. And the pump is actually an industrial water pump, that I'm hooking up to a speed control. In its former life, it was used to pump water for mixing photography chemicals.