I love Millwheel fountains, but wow! are they expensive. So, we came up with a fairly simple DIY version. Ours (pictured below) is about 24″ in diameter. The water bubbling up from the center creates a gentle, relaxing sound that compliments the stronger rush of our waterfall.

Geckos love ‘em too!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Circular wood piece (we purchased ours at Home Depot)
PVC pipe
small to medium fountain kit
round preformed plastic pond liner
concrete & tub for mixing
concrete stain
flexible plastic landscape edging
staple gun/staples
low plant stand or bricks
river rock
decorative stones (optional)

I’ll be posting an instructional diagram soon.

While herons may be beautiful (and protected) birds, they’re not so attractive when snacking on our “aqua kids”. After unsuccessful attempts with a koi decoy, alligator and fake heron, we finally found a solution for stopping those heartwrenching heron attacks ~ the Scarecrow by Contech.

This motion activated sprinkler is attached to your garden hose and bursts forth a powerfully effective blast when predators come near. No hazardous poisons, no harm done to any unwanted visitors.

The Scarecrow uses a 9 volt battery which lasts for 3000+ activations. We purchased ours at Green Thumb Nursery. They are also available online at safepetproducts.com.