How to Build a Bamboo Fountain

An example of a very nice indoor bamboo fountain.

Bamboo fountains are small indoor fountains that can serve a number of purposes. For one thing they release negative ions into the air that you need to remain healthy. Since almost everything humans do releases positive ions, this is a good thing. Another purpose is decoration, as a small bamboo fountain, while simple, is very elegant looking. The running water in bamboo fountains is relaxing; as such they are also good for stress relief.

Things You'll Need

• Container that will hold water
• Fountain pump
• Hand saw or chop saw
• Four lengths of bamboo
• 1/2" pump tubing or whatever size you need for the pump size
• Drill
• Raffia
• 90 degree elbow adapter
• Hot glue gun
• Decorative stones
• Small pieces of marble in different sizes

Instructions

1. Using your saw, cut a piece of wide bamboo that is the same height as your container. This wll be your spout.

2. Using your saw, cut another piece of bamboo that is narrower and is two thirds the length of the first piece. Cut one end at an angle.

3. Cut one piece of your plastic tubing that is one inch longer than both pieces of bamboo that you just cut.

4. Cut or drill a hole in the spout closer to the top that is a bit wider than the narrow piece of bamboo you cut. This is so that you can fit the narrow piece in this hole later.

5. Cut two more pieces of narrow bamboo that are two inches longer than the length of your container.

6. Put the spout piece about five inches from the end between the two narrow bamboo pieces you just cut.

7. Tie the two narrow pieces of bamboo together at both ends using raffia.

8. Put the bamboo on top of your container. Trim the ends of the bamboo if you think you made them too long.

9. Take out the spout piece and put the plastic tubing up through the bottom. Once it reaches the top of the spout piece, attach the tubing to one end of the elbow adapter.

10. Take the other side of the elbow adapter and connect it the other end of the plastic tubing. Then carefully put the narrow tubing through the narrow piece that you will be fitting into the spout piece.

11. Being gentle, slide the narrow piece that you're going to put into the spout over the tubing, and then insert it into the hole you made in the larger spout piece. Using a hot glue gun, glue it in place and then trim any extra tubing coming out of the smaller spout piece.

12. Put the spout back in place and retie the raffia if you need to.

13. Put the spout unit back on top of your container.

14. If necessary, trim the tubing and then attach it to your pump and put the pump in your container.

15. Put a piece of styrofoam inside the container to fill up the rest of the space, and provide a flat surface for your stones to rest upon.

16. Stack decorative stones around the pump, making sure you don't plug the intake filters. Also check this with the styrofoam.

17. Add water to your container and then plug in your pump.

18. Play with the arrangement of marble pieces to create a cascading effect.

19. If you need to, increase the water pressure.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep in mind that only the top rocks will show in your bamboo fountain, if you only have a few and you want to see them in the fountain, consider putting common garden stones in the bottom and then your decorative stones on the top layer.

• If you add water plants to the fountain, make sure you check the water often for plant debris. Plant debris can clog the pump's intake filters. Don't place stones or anything heavy directly on top of the pump without some sort of support system in place such as plastic coupling.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Indoor Bamboo Fountain
• Bamboo Fountains