I know nothing about water or solar power. But, I was thinking about putting in a small waterfalls in my yard(self powered). The area would be about 40 X 60, in the middle would be a pavilion, the water would flow around both sides. I was thinking about on the high end there would be a tank 3 X 30 and then the water would come out of that and go through a paddle wheel, which in turn would drive a generator to supply the power to run the pump, to pump the water back to the tank. Any ideas, is this possible?

This thread probably fits in the green room a little better.  But yes your plan sounds feasible.  Unless you want the top tank for a pool effect or something it probably wouldn’t be necessary.  My little brother is a pro pond builder and when he built mine it just pumps up into the rock the hole is covered with another rock so that it looks like a natural spring.  I’ll take some pics of it later, I’m at work now.

Yes, Thankyou, I didn’t realize I was posting it in the Pellet area until it was too late.

You will need additional power for the pump.  Having the water go over a paddlewheel that generates enough electricity to pump that same volume of water back up the hill is basically a perpetual motion machine.  I could see you powering an acessory with the paddlewheel maybe, like some area lighting or maybe a small fountain pump you run in the larger pond area, but you simply cannot get enough energy out of a falling volume of water to then move that water abck to where it fell from.

Yeah, if this works, you will indeed have invented the first perpetual motion machine!  First, you will have to make a 100% efficient turbine (that means ZERO friction losses, heat losses, sound losses, etc).  Sounds like a neat idea, but instead of attempting the impossible…

Maybe you could mount solar panels on the pavillion roof, and run a DC motor directly off of it (I’ve actually seen this set-up in solar demos.  You just won’t have running water when the sun ain’t shining.

Well if anyone can figure out how to do that I’d be interested in some water play by our pond.

There are some solar powered pumps out there that could probably get your water to the top of the falls…

Yep, sounds like you are looking for perpetual motion.  I don’t think you are going to find it without breaking a few laws of physics.

I’ve seen wind driven aerators used in aquaculture, but they are just some splashing water in a pond…

Chris