there's nothing like the sound of a running waterfall to help you relax and wind down after a stressful day imagine the sight of a stream and waterfall that simply disappears into a bed of decorative gravel and fits nicely into a small corner of the landscape child safety concerns are no longer an issue when you have a water feature without standing water and since you can put it just about anywhere this water feature is the perfect landscape addition aquascapes micro pondless system allows for the creation of a waterfall and stream without the pond water flows from a micro Falls filter and disappears into a bed of decorative gravel the micro snorkel vault and centipede module are buried beneath the gravel bed and return the water to the top via a submerged pump housed within the snorkel vault since the water level remains below the rock and gravel it gives the appearance of a pondless waterfall the first step of the installation process is to mark out the pondless waterfall basin we place the micro snorkel and centipede on the ground for reference and Mark out the basin in an irregular shape once a location for the start of the waterfall is determined the micro Falls should be placed on the ground for reference and marked out the unit can be set on ground level or dug into the ground when working with a grade change just be sure to set the waterfall unit to scale with the surroundings once the unit height is set be sure to level the container side to side and give it a slight pitch forward about a quarter bubble on a level now that the micro Falls is set it's time to hook up the plumbing a standard bulkhead fitting is used to form a watertight seal around the pipe Inlet install the fitting with a pair of channellocks a couple turns past hand tight should do the trick apply a small bead of silicone or use teflon tape around the threads of the barbed hose adapter and thread it into the bulkhead fitting once the fitting is secured slide the kink free pipe over the barbed adapter and secure it with the hose clamp provided now that the plumbing is installed back fill the area with dirt to lock the unit in place it's time for excavation the entire Basin area should be taken down to a depth of 18 inches during the first phase of digging next mark out and dig a trough down the center of the excavated Basin for the snorkel and centipede now that the trough is excavated place the units into the trough to check for proper fit now that the excavation is complete and the snorkel and centipede have been fitted we can temporarily remove them from the basin and install the underlayment and liner once the basin is lined we can place the pondless units back into the trough on top of the liner with the filter system in place we start by completely covering the centipede with two layers of cobblestones the stones should be placed on and around the centipede first and they should continue outward completely covering the bottom of the basin next pour a layer of larger gravel and spread it evenly throughout the basin after spreading the larger gravel we pour a layer of smaller gravel on top this layer should completely fill the basin just over the area you've designated as a maximum water level rinse down the rock and gravel as you fill the pond this Basin use a clean-out pump or the pump included in your kit to drain the dirty water once drained refill the basin before you build the main waterfall you'll need to hook up the snout of the microphones pull the liner up to the micro Falls making sure you leave some slack in front of the container line up the micro Falls snout by fastening the top two corner screws once set back the screws out and pull the liner and snout away from the unit be sure the liner in face of the filter are relatively clean and apply a thick bead of fish-safe silicone along the screw inserts holding the liner in snout realign the set screws and tighten them down the middle screw at the bottom should be installed next and the rest in any order you choose finally cut the liner away from the snout area and allow at least one hour for the silicone to cure before use by far the most creative part of installing this type of water feature is building the waterfall the use of an up flow filter provides us with a perfect template to build a natural-looking Falls take your time while building and be sure to direct the aesthetics towards the main viewing area the proper use of waterfall foam will also improve the aesthetics of the water feature by filling in the gaps between the rocks where water would naturally be lost the pump will be housed at the bottom of the snorkel vault a plumbing assembly is provided in the kit and will need to be assembled connect to this plumbing assembly to the pump discharge and lower it into the snorkel bowl the plumbing from the micro Falls can be trimmed to the proper length and inserted through the hose outlet adjoin the pump and plumbing assembly to the main water line with the threaded union provided the pipe from the micro Falls is simply laid over the edge of the basin liner and is buried out of sight under the top layer of gravel we're ready for the finishing touches set your accent stones around the perimeter of the water basin to cover the liner that's above the normal operating water level once the accent stones are set we can trim the excess Basin liner be sure to leave roughly six inches of liner along the perimeter for easy edge work finish off the berm by building any necessary retaining walls and dressing it with fresh topsoil and mulch now take a step back and turn it on year after year your new water feature will mature and transform the landscape and you'll soon forget what it was like before the water came you