Aquascape Pond and Waterfall Kit AquaGarden Container Water Garden, Steel Gray

OK. I never do reviews….EVER! You buy a light fixture, it’s a light fixture. You buy some tools, they’re tools. You buy a computer component it is a computer component. All are better or worse for what they do and you learn if they are crap (or not) then you move on in your own elated or disgusted silence. But this item. Well, this item is different. It’s an item that adds to the charm of your own private place. A back porch. A front porch. A deck….heck, even a living room or sun room...or any room if you’d like. It's an incredible purchase! Background: I drive a truck. I’m not home most of the week. I don’t have time to build a back porch pond. (though I could). I don’t have time to create a special outdoor place. (though I could). But I do what I can when I am able. I cut the grass. I fix light switches. I change oil. I do guy stuff on the weekends. So one day, to give my wife a nice area to work at home, I made a quickie outdoor fountain from a large planter to put on our back porch and it was “o k”...(my wife thought so), but it didn’t have the charm I was looking for. It was too deep and I had to make a custom hanger for the water plants. I installed a low pressure fountain but when the fountain was adjusted to attaine the soothing water sound we were looking for, it shot water all over the place. I thought….well, maybe I could make some kind of waterfall thingy. I toyed with ideas to build a wooden box with a liner. I toyed with an elaborate fountain….I toyed with all kinds of ideas….yeah, well….how long will that take to build? How about hiring a…...STOP!…..I’m not going to hire some designer to do what I could do….especially these days. But I was in a quandary. I don’t have the time and I needed something simple. I needed something quick. I needed something I don’t have to build…...I needed something with quality and my wife’s birthday is coming up and I want to give her a place she can chill…. So I shopped and shopped and ( from my phone….on a freight run….somewhere in Indiana)….BEHOLD! Enter this piece of kit! I recently took off work for half a week for other obligations and while I was off work, I ordered this. I selected next day shipping from Amazon and it was delivered post haste. I had it up and running in about 3 hours (before my wife came home from a seminar.) I surprised her with this….(with me grinning like a prom-dance kid)….aw...shucks! She loves it! I am content. Silly simple to install. Just follow the printed directions. I would imagine that if you have a level surface….(a concrete porch or slab or a level deck surface, you will be alright). But I wanted to elevate this a bit. In my case, I had a couple of oak tree trunk cross sections cut into 2-4 inch thickness and I used one as a base for the pond. I placed several 2×4 weather rated scraps under the oak cross section and used a ¼ plywood section on top of the oak slab to make a uniform base and shimmed where needed. The results are impeccable! I rinsed off the included stones then added them to the pond, then filled it a few inches and swirled the water around to stir up any sediment and debris, then used a scoop to throw out any water that looked cloudy. Refilled a few inches and repeat. Note: This is particularly important if you are adding water plants to the upper shelf! After placing the clay/growing media into the upper shelf, rinse the root balls of your plants until most, if not all, of the potting soil/growing media is gone. Then place them into the clay media that is provided and add the stones on top and run the pump. Scoop out any floating debris or dirty water that spills into the main basin, watch for more debris, scoop out, then fill to the level you feel best. I did buy the overhead LED lamp that is advertised in addition to this item. Frankly, my wife and I prefer it to the under waterfall LED that comes with the kit. To us, it adds an ambiance and effect that the provided led (under the fall) cannot provide...your experience may differ. Experiment! You can create a variety of environments with this wonderful piece of decor. I’ve seen everything from far-east mystic to quaint garden gnome hoopla to some pretty avaunt-garde stuff.….It’s yours to explore. But don’t go piling a bunch of rocks and crap on the waterfall shelf….it is plastic after all and will probably distort with too much weight. Experiment with it. A few creative and tasteful accents can bring this item to life. My wife and I dug out a couple decorations lying around in the basement and created our own simple scene. Frogs and turtles: Quaint. Country. Gods gift. BTW….Note how clean the water!… I ran this system for 24 hours before I took this picture The water level is actually just to the lower edge of the turtles shell...all of the legs are under water. Clean and clear! Buy this if you don’t have the the time to build the most awesome porch pond to impress your wife…..she'll love you , she'll give you kisses. She'll say you're wonderful and you'll then have more time to fix the light switch that broke 2 days ago.....

I love it so much I am trying to atract dragonflies this is a great easy to assemble water feature for my front garden. So calming and great quality. It is easy to clean and worth every penny. It works very well.

I bought this pond for my son who wanted to give the goldfish he won at the fair a nice life! This pond was easy to put together, I had it up and running very quickly! I used a goldfish water treatment from the pet store to make sure the water was safe for the fish and we planted one small underwater plant in the rocks. Our fish like to hide in the shaded part under the overhang for the plants but do come out and swim around when we feed them. One fish is very small and he did not get sucked up by the filter as some people stated. Our fish seem very happy and the pond has stayed crystal clear. I plan on covering it with an umbrella when it rains (we live in CA, so not much rain). I highly recommend this for small patios/backyards. You get the experience of a pond, can put small fish in it and live plants and you get the waterfall sound.

Pros: great size, super easy to setup, rocks provided, beautiful addition to any garden or indoor space, sustainable water source for wildlife Improvements needed: gray cap for waterfall spout pops off constantly and cracked, filter is just okay, needs to be cleaned frequently, should come with plant baskets because the canna balls are not held down well by the black stones Despite the minor issues, I love this little pond from the moment I set it up. The waterfall actually flows better without the cap so I just left it off. I added more stones from Lake Michigan because I felt it needed more than what it came with. I used an outdoor extension cord with a plug protector to run it into my garden. I’m disappointed that i haven’t seen any birds or squirrels drink from it. But I love the sound and look of it and am very happy I bought it. I don’t plan to put any fish in it due to its small size. *2025 update: still loving this pond and the birds and squirrels do too! Not appropriate for housing fish but great for wildlife and garden. It is rather deep and with the waterfall and pump unfortunately a sparrow fell in and drowned so I I added some very large stones and things to prevent birds from getting pulled under. Thankfully it hasn’t happened again after doing this.

Needed an indoor pond for my smaller fish that were outside for the summer. I saw this AquaGarden and decided to give it a try since the price was reasonable during Prime days and I decided not to set up a regular fish tank, trying instead to keep the pond feel. I must say, I love this versatile water feature. It is a good size at 24x24 wide and perfect for my needs in the house. It came in the manufacturers box, which was a little beat up during delivery but the pond and spillway were fine. My bowl did have a slight straight side (guessing they are stored on their side) but it is very slight and actually worked well for butting it up against a wall and you wouldn't know because that is where I put the spillway. My fish are loving their new winter home and get a constant flow of fresh water cascading down into the bowl creating lots of oxygen. Tips when setting up: -Rinse out the bowl and spillway before adding anything, mine had rock dust on it. -Set up the pump, light, and spillway and place the pond where you want it. Don't add any water until you set up the spillway completely the way you want it. (see below) -Wash all rocks that come with the pond thoroughly to prevent water clouding. Do the lava rock first. I had 3 colanders to wash each and keep separate until use. -IMPORTANT -When adding the lava rock in the spillway you may want to lay mesh over them - they are porous and float and find their way into the bowl below, even with the black rock over them!!! Believe you me, it's nearly impossible to put them back without dislodging others, so save your sanity. -Add any plants you want to the spillway before adding water and turning on the pump. I would say add plants when you do the lava rock and place the mesh down. You may have to cut slits in the mesh to insert them, then add the larger black rock to secure everything in place. Sounds like a pain but trust me its worth it. Wish the company would included some sort of mesh to cover the lava rock. I bought fine mesh bags at the dollar store and also used them to wrap around the water pump (secured with plastic twist tie) to make sure my fishy's didn't end up getting sucked into it like some people mentioned. If you have larger fish they should be fine. I have had zero issues and the mesh has stayed very clean and will be easy to clean or replace as needed. -The brown rock for the bowl is ok but makes everything dark in the already dark bowl, so I opted to use lighter colored rock, MOP chips and iridescent smooth glass to lighten everything up. -You can add rocks or the like to break up the flow of the spillway to create your own water sounds too. Lastly, I just happened to find an unused smaller pump and and grow light with a flexible head at the thrift store and figured I might as well buy them both, totaling $5 (score). The light sits on a counter next to the bowl and I can turn it on if needed. The pond is near a window, so during the day there is filtered light and it never hurts to stash away a spare pump. Overall, I am super pleased with this set-up. Even thought it's all plastic, it's very sturdy and should last indefinitely. No more broken glass or cracked pots. The plastic could be easily painted or decorated to suit your taste. Perhaps even sunk into a large decorative planter. Once you add all the plants and accessories you don't even notice the bowl. Fish are completely optional. I loved seeing all the reviews and the way everyone decorated their pond. Gave me great ideas. I added a separate fountain on the spillway for fun. The soothing water sound is so nice indoors. If you're on the fence, get off, and try this! -

Fabulous pond for indoor or outdoor use. It's larger than I thought, so be prepared! The smaller version, which is half the price, would have worked better for me, but I love it nonetheless! Aquascapes website and the instructions sheet both give suggestions for what plants work best in these wet conditions. I sourced the rocks from my own collection. A few tips: 1. Follow the instructions and wash the rocks and the brown plant material well so that the water will be clear. 2. Make sure that you have no dirt on the roots of your plants that you will be adding. 3. Fill the pond until the water reaches the underside of the upper shelf to decrease the amount of sound the waterfall and the hum of the pump make. 4. Add or remove rocks from under the waterfall itself in order to increase or decrease the sound the falling water makes. 5. Purchase black non-skid shelf liner and put it over the brown rock that goes in the top shelf for the plants. They float no matter how many black rocks you put on top of them and they will flow over the falls. Put the black rocks on top of the black shelf mat and water will flow through it securing the floating soil replacement nodules. Insert the plants around the edge of the mat or cut small holes in the mat and insert the roots through the mat. I added a grow light above and behind the tank that I purchased separately because my plants will not get enough light naturally and the indoor location. Enjoy!

This was the biggest waste of money I have ever purchased on Amazon! First off I’ll start by saying I had the worst experience when it came to ordering it. It was somehow misplaced during shipping and I didn’t receive a replacement for a month. Then somehow my original package showed up and I had to return it. After setting up my replacement, I discovered that this pond is not made for any fish at all! You would have to modify the filter, which I tried doing, but is way too small and way too strong of a filter for any fish. I ended up using it for plants only but ended up getting rid of it because the only way it would work quietly was without the sponge filter, so I ended up selling it for 20 bucks on marketplace. I ended up buying a 5 gallon long instead. Please do not use this for fish unless you are going to add a different filter, but even then, if you want to use the waterfall feature, it will kill your fish! I wish I had never wasted so much money on it, and returning my original package was a pain in the 🍑.

Absolutely perfect! My friends said this is awesome and soothing to listen to (the waterfall). Easy assembly and just add your favorite plants. They provide everything else, but of course you also buy your own fish. I also added a large piece of wood and large stones for them to hide. Stand sold separately, and easy to assemble.

We have had this patio pond for 3 seasons now. It is a wonderful addition to our Condo's deck. Everything works great and the light is awesome. The second season we purchased the stand....great addition. Visitors to our home love the pond.

I absolutely love this product. Well made and looks sooo good. Easy to assemble.

The mini pond is easy to set up. I didn’t use the black pebbles. I used sand for the base and used the multi coloured pebbles for the top. I also fitted a spare grow light into the top section. I had some problems with the pump and light because we use a different voltage, and even with a transformer it was problematic, but that’s not the fault of the manufacturer. It was easy to retrofit my own pump into the socket and replace the light so overall I’m pretty happy with it.

This pond was incredibly easy to set up and has been running seamlessly in my front garden. While I don’t use the light as it’s a bit too bright and might disturb the fish, everything else about it is perfect. We love relaxing on our front porch, watching the fish swim and enjoying the calming sounds of the waterfall. The water sound can be easily adjusted by changing the pond’s water level. I also added marsh plants that are thriving, along with some rocks for a personal touch. Brown pellets for plants float and are hard to bury under the black rocks. If you are putting fish in, make sure you rinse all the rocks and pond thoroughly and treat your tap water. I would definitely buy this pond again. Highly recommended!

Nice product, purchased the stand separately. You can purchase or find your larger rocks to fit your own needs