When I first started looking into getting a fountain for my pond, I was shocked at how expensive they were. When I looked closely at the fountains that were available, they had three basic components:

• A submersible pump
• A floating platform
• A fountain head

I was worried that I might be missing something important that would justify pushing the cost into the thousands of dollars range, so I got a $50 pump on Amazon and some scrap lumber to use as a float. A few zip ties and a 1 1/4 inch PVC coupling finished out the experiment.

The main part to purchase if you want to try this prototype is below. It’s a good pump, but I learned that there are better options for pond pumps that don’t have oil that could accidentally leak into your pond.

Here are a few pictures and a video of the working prototype

In the video below I mention that the fountain was pulling to one side. You may also notice the additional support wood in the picture above. In this case the circular rotation of the pump motor combined with the pressure of the water exiting the fountain head (a cheap PVC cap with holes drilled in it) caused the pump to rotate and drift.

Considering this first prototype cost about $55, I was very pleased with the outcome.