“You know what would look cool here?  A waterfall made of light!” — if you’ve ever looked at your yard (or anywhere, really) and thought this, then you need to check out the Colorfalls made by Atlantic Water Gardens.

Basically they created a system that makes it easy to add a sheer waterfall to a retaining wall, spa, pool, etc.  Then they added LED lights in a way that makes it look like the light is flowing down the water. The effect is very cool:

At Loch Ness we sell a lot of these. I think it’s because the people that want a water feature want something that looks and sounds great and feels a little magical. The Colorfalls kits do a great job of all of these.

The installation was easy. We just watched one of the Youtube videos. The only negative I have regarding the fountain is that you can not change the color.
~ Thomas Wetherald of Illinois

If you want to see the video Thomas is talking about, scroll down towards the end of the post. Here’s a picture of his installation:

As you can see from the picture above, they look neat in the daylight, too.

Here’s another installation from Amanda and Scott:

Here are a couple pictures of how our Colorfalls turned out. We did it a bit unconventionally as it sits much higher than what your website shows but we really wanted the sound of the falling water. The installation was easy as there’s a video that shows exactly how it get’s put together…it took a little bit of figuring out on our part but all in all it was pretty easy. One thing we noticed about installing the colorfalls as high as we did was the splash radius is quite large but our plants love it. : ) I was surprised at how the light was still able to shine almost all the way down the water but fortunately it does and we’ve received a lot of compliments on the appearance. The water doesn’t evaporate as much from the basin as we thought it would so it’s nice not having to constantly run out there with the hose to top it up. Ideally the Colorfalls is meant for lower waterfalls but to our delight it works quite nicely at higher heights as well. It’s definitely a nice touch to our yard! We recommend getting the colorfalls to anyone that compliments us on it telling them how easy it was to put together and the visual appeal it provides.
~ Scott and Amanda Novakowsky from Alberta

 

Cool effect, huh?

Here are the colors that are available:

Another customer, Bill had this to say:

The installation of the Colorfalls kit was pretty straightforward, and we were generally satisfied with the results.
There were a couple of concerns with the installation.  There were conflicting instructions regarding the weight bearing of the weir.  At one point the instructions indicated that blocks/stone could be placed directly on the weir, but there was also a contradictory statement that blocks/stone shouldn’t be placed on the weir.  I found a metal shelf long enough to bridge the weir and rigid enough not to bend with the weight of the stone.  I used construction adhesive to attach rock to the front of the shelf to blend into the wall.
I also needed to raise the pump to properly align the connection through the basin to the flexible PVC pipe.  I bought a couple of extra PVC pieces to make for an easier connection to the weir in case I need to remove it from the wall.
We found that the slightest bit of garden debris–leaves, flower petals, acorns–on the splash mat causes a splash outside of the basin area that creates a loss of water in the basin.  So you have to pay attention to the water level.  (We placed our falls close to some overhanging trees, so this is probably less of a problem depending on one’s placement of the falls).
Some people liked the quietness of the splash mat whiles others were disappointed that it didn’t make more of a “water” sound.  I am thinking of a possible change in the spring to increase the “water” sound (since my wife is one of the disappointed ones).
I was hoping for the color from the light to diffuse through the falls a more than it does.  However, when the stone path in front of the falls is wet at night, there is a very nice blue reflection on wet stones.
Frankly, I am not sure that the suggested kit price is quite worth what one gets.  It is helpful to have (almost) everything you need, but it does seem a bit overpriced.  On the other hand, everyone has really liked it, and I was asked by two other people to do the same thing in their yards (that is not happening).
~ Bill from NY

Here’s another angle that show’s off Bill’s great landscaping:

Bill brought up some good concerns with the installation, so I spoke with James over at Atlantic Water Gardens and he answered the weight question:

The colorfalls can support up to 40lbs per every linear foot. This is based on our recommendation to have one layer of pavers across the colorfalls spillway when installed. Typically, you are looking at approximately 40lbs for a single paver.

He also agreed that under a tree isn’t the ideal place for the Colorfalls because if the tree drops a lot of debris, it can deflect the flow of water.  If this is a concern, there is an auto-fill valve available that will regulate the water level.

Another point that James clarified is that the kits come with two styles of elbow joints so the pump can be aligned just right.

Have you installed AWG’s Colorfalls? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments. If you have pictures, please email me and I’ll add them to this post (scot@lochnesswatergardens.com).

Thank you very much for your great pictures and valuable insight James, Thomas, Bill, Amanda and Scott!

Think a lighted waterfall would look great in your own yard? Our ColorFalls Kits all ship free and the price is already discounted 15%.

[Update!] We now have the color changing Collorfalls available!

As promised, here’s the video Thomas and Amanda talked about showing the installation:

And here are some more pictures:

Amanda and Scott’s Installation

Thomas’s Installation

Thomas’s Installation 2

Bill’s Installation