Disaster recovery ideas - drained pond

[elpalito]

I built my pond a little over a year ago and it was operating wonderfully. First frog moved in this summer, dragonflies love it, fish are healthy, and my first water lily exploded in blooms. All great.
One day, I found the hose circulating water had been pulled out. I have a low gph pump to just send water to my bog filter, so a few hours water loss wasn't much. I knew it was a raccoon.
I went away for a vacation and forgot to turn off the pump. I came to an empty pond, fish gone, plants torn up - somehow my pump had not burnt out which is a saving grace. The raccoon came back last night and removed the line again - i assume it's an easy way for him to drink - and drained what little water I had added back (just enough to keep water lily wet).
Pictures below show the set up. PVC pipe goes from top to bottom for water to flow up - water spills out into pond.
I'm debating just adding more pvc to protect the water line and prevent raccoon from pulling it out. Perhaps PVC all the way down to the ground, then burying the rest of the line with pebbles.
I'd prefer to not have to take apart the whole filter to try and have the line enter through the bottom - I am not confident that those seals hold and I don't want to remove plants right now. But if that's what has to happen, I'll consider it.
Any thoughts?

 

[j.w]

Oh how horrid to come home to that terrible tragedy! Yep you gotta fix that tube in that pipe so it's not accessible to Mr/Mrs raccoon! Too bad it couldn't have gone under the ground beforehand or around that cement pad and under another way. Someone will come up w/some great ideas for you, just not me, sorry.

 

[Tula]

Very sorry for the loss of your fish. Could you zip tie the hose securely through the opening? I agree with @j.w , a different route would be preferable, but wondering if a zip tie might work, even if temporarily ?

 

[addy1]

I would add pictures piping when you can.

Until then I would zip tied it well to the pvc. Make it ugly for a bit cinder block etc over the water line, so they cannot pull it out.

 

[EricV]

In addition to what others have said...

First thing, elevate the pump off the bottom of the pond. If you do that it can never drain completely no matter what happens with the pump. Moving water is the biggest source of leaks (always has been in my pond except once) but if the water drops far enough, it stops moving.

Second, why not plumb your water-carrying line directly into the PVC so they are physically attached/glued together?