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It's a small water feature. Having the garden hose run all the time would be wasteful :)

If by tropical you mean zone 8+ you are going to absolutely despise the maintenance time investment for algae control particularly if you don't want to chlorinate. You are basically making a swamp and then trying to keep it clean. If you have any dead circulation spots you are also going to have fun with mosquitoes.

There is a reason everyone in Florida builds their water features into pools :)

Ponds are slightly more practical but even then you really need to think about a gunnite shell to prevent floating if you live somewhere with a high water table (if you live in FL this is likely you). It's not impossible to do with a liner but you will need it to be deep with lots of rock to keep it weighted.

I'm in a zone 13 according to hardiness index.

I'm aware of the mosquito problem re: dead spots.

Is there no option for algae control besides chlorine and salt?

Will a water filter that is used for ponds that has UV lights work if made part of the pump system?

UV will promote algae blooms; so if it’s outside you’re going to get blooms. Likewise, artificial UV lights may also exacerbate the issue, even though it may kill bacteria.

With water features, you want some good bacteria. A naturally stable water system will have bacteria to break down detritus. Using UV may kill this beneficial bacterium

Good point about the good bacteria, but why then are uv sterilizers often promoted for algae control?

genuinely asking, i know nothing.

will a biological filter be more important then for in control algae?

I’d use a mechanical sponge/mesh filter medium as it scrubs the water of existing solids and allows healthy bacteria to survive. A sump system is often used to do this for big water systems.

To clean, take a bucket of existing pond/river/tank water and rinse the algae out of the sponge by squeezing it. Using water from the feature will prevent death of healthy bacteria, as “clean” water can very quickly kill everything in the filter medium (municipal water sources are sterilized with things like chlorine in amounts that don’t affect us but destroy bacteria and viruses)

Research the nitrogen cycle, as it’s very important for keeping water healthy without keeping it sterilized. A properly cycled water system can also support life, if you ever wanted to add small fish.

Using UV in high doses can completely sterilize water, but also leaves it vulnerable to bacterial/chemical imbalance and algae blooms.

Thanks! This is great!

Just to double confirm will this work in a climate like mine?

Super sunny (when it doesn't rain) with average temps of around 30c year round.

I don't have answers but sure sounds awesome

I can’t confirm anything, as I’m not an expert nor do I live in a tropical climate.

However, I am basing my reasonings on Tropical Fish keeping where the water is maintained about 25-30 Celsius, and for that I’d say it could likely work.

I’d suggest reaching out to people in your area who might be better equipped to answer specific questions for your climate. You can also make a lot of great connections with people who have similar interests as well. Do some research and ask around and you’ll have all the answers you’ll need.

Thanks again! Will reach out to some local forums :)

No worries at all!

There’s so so so much you can do with a properly cycled water system, from keeping fish and animals to growing plants. My aunt and uncle have a koi pond outdoors with plants all around. It’s a beautiful water feature.

sounds amazing. I'm hoping for it to be a slice of nature too, so i can go camping in my yard since i dont have much time for that now.

Not sure about the specifics of everything you're looking for but I've previously help install a man made pond for a friend. First you'll need to calculate the volume of water your stream will hold, that will tell you how much power you need to run the stream. Side note iI'd recommend putting it away from most trees as the leaves will create more maintenance for you. You'll need a thick rubber pond liner with a nice lip around it, you should anchor the lip and maybe add rocks along it so any overflow won't affect the liner. We put some plants around the pond that help filter the water in the lip that we created, things like bullrush and a couple of other plants. I'd look up similar type plants that are more native to your area and would hold up better.

You'll want install an intake like this at the bottom of your stream and maybe a small pond at the end so the filtration of the pump has more time to work. For extra filtration you could put a mesh box around the intake to reduce strain on the pump/filter. You can also install a waterfall system that includes a filter as well so you'll pick up majority of any algae producing debris.

For any overflow during a monsoon or anything I'd recommend just having a sump pump on hand to pump excess water out and away from your setup.

You'll want to have an electrician out to run some conduit and an outlet for the electronics you'll be using, keep that in mind when planning your run.

Don't add cement on top of a pondliner, cement is way too complicated to work with for something like this as it would need to be reinforced to deal with the weight of the water.

Pond liner can be joined together using seam tape specific to the application.

This is amazing advise! Thank you!

So wait how do i weigh down the pond liner if i shouldn't cement it? I hear that floating if water gets under the liner which will happen eventually when it rains a lot.

Will water+rocks be enough?

Anytime!

For weighing down the pond liner having an edge or lip about 1/2 meter over the stream with rocks and soil piled on top would suffice.

You could also do an Anchor Trench, you do this by extending the liner out about 2 meters out beyond the lip and dig a trench and put the excess pond liner in taut and fill the trench with heavy rocks and fill over that with soil. This way is extremely secure and you could even put rocks along lip of the stream as well to have it even more secure and prevent kids from trying to get into the stream.

When it comes time for monsoon and rain season, I'd empty a good bit out beforehand and then have a sump pump handy and attach a hose to it to run it out far away from the stream so you prevent the liner from lifting.