How to connect second pond to wetland filter?

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The pond I am building has a pump that sends water to a raised planter, that will serve as the wetland filter. The planter is about 6" higher than that pond, and then water will flow back by gravity to the pond. The pond is maybe 22,000 gallons and the wetland filter somewhere around 6-8,000 gallons.

I have some extra materials left over, enough to build a second, much smaller pond, about 3,000 gallons. I found a spot about 20 ft from the main pond, but fairly close to the wetland filter. Though I could leave this as separate, I think if it were plumbed to share water with the wetland filter and pond, it would be cleaner and less prone to rapid changes in water chemistry.

Is there some way to connect this second pond to the main pond or to the wetland filter, so there is the added benefit of sharing the clean water and more stable water perimeters, being part of a much larger system with 10s of thousands of gallons?
 
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Well the obvious way would be with a stream, but I’m assuming you mean other than the obvious.

You could plumb a line to the existing bog from the new pond with a second pump. Or I wonder if you could put a pump in the new pond and then send water back to the existing pond and have it return to the new pond via gravity - the new pond isn’t downhill by any chance is It? If not I suppose you could add another pump to send the water back to the new pond, to complete the circuit. But that’s a lot of pumps. A wye fitting on the current pump might work, depending on pump size, etc.

Based on the size of your bog it’s big enough to handle the additional 3000 gallons.
 
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Here is a quick mock-up showing the design, though it is not to scale:

pond1.JPG


The pond (right) is the main pond. The construction of this is almost complete, needs a day or two of work.

The rectangular box is the planter, which is higher than the main pond. I will probably build this into a greenhouse. The plan for plumbing is to put the pump in a storm drain and pump into it into a series of large PVC pipes, filled with holes, under the planter. The planter will be about 4" higher than the pond, so one or two return pipes or chutes will return the water back into the main pond, just by gravity.

drain1.jpg
draing2.jpg

(pump is dropped inside, hole drilled, that is what draws water from the bottom of the main pond)

There is a small slope in the Earth, so the small pond (left) would be maybe 2" lower than the main pond in height, but I'd rather not put much plumbing between the main pond and small pond, as that will prohibit access to the planter. Underground plumbing will be fine.

The tan walls are bricks. Everything is raised to keep out flood waters.

I don't understand how I can add a second pump to connect the second pond, as I have to have the return water flowing exactly the same amount as the water is pumped out.
 

Jhn

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Can the smaller pond in the pic, be moved Over in front of the wetland filter and next to the main pond and raise it up above the main pond so the Wetland filter returns to this pond then it returns to the main pond. This way it is one pump then gravity is doing it’s thing with the returns.

You Are right a second pump will flood one pond or the other, as you will never get them to match the outputs perfectly. Even if you do initially match outputs the pumps can Lose power over time as well as get clogged etc., causing them to be out of sync on the outputs. Also, ideally you wouldn’t want the smaller pond being the lowest point as all water would drain to it when pumps are shut off, which would cause you to lose possibly more water, so when pumps kick back on the main ponds water level could be significantly lower.
 
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imo, you're going to have to have a physical connection between the two ponds, i.e. a pipe of decent diameter that will keep pond 1 and pond 2 in balance. If more water enters either, the pipe will backflow to the 'lower' pond and provide the balance (a siphon is needed for this, which if broken, can cause issues). Also, you''ll need to have BOTH ponds be level with each other or this pipe balance trick will permanently have one pond or the other less in height and probably below your edging, or one will overflow. If you rock the sides, it would alleviate any disparity between pond heights. Depends on if you want to see this aspect.

You could have this balancing pipe be below ground but each end of the pipe would have to be lower than the buried pipe level, preferably near the bottom of each pond to prevent a break in the siphon. And you will need to establish a siphon either way you establish this 'balancing pipe'. It's possible you could route this balancing pipe at the back of your bog and thus hide it. You'll also need some sort of return that reaches both ponds, from your bog. Again, the balancing pipe would take any overflow from your bog-to-pond and balance between the two ponds.

Too, you'd only need the one pump in the larger as water will be pulled from the lesser. Though, I'd probably use 2 pumps for redundancy's sake.

A stream would do it also, as mentioned above, with the added benefit of more running water, more variety, more landscaping possibility. This river would be your 'balancer and you'd not need to establish/keep a siphon but will entail more liner and probable seaming. Wouldn't matter if there's a grade or not because as one pond lowers, the water will backflow from the other pond, like the balancing pipe would do. Ponds should be level with each other, imo.

And lastly, the idea I'd be inclined to do, is just create a larger pond. Unless you want a river or different inhabitants kept separate,I can't see any advantage to two ponds so close together Typically, we all end up making our first pond into a larger second one anyway.
 
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I think you should get ONE idea up and running put a second Future pipe in for when ever you get the first one built and running see if you can keep the fish alive . Last i saw you really didn't have a solid plan on the 20,000 gallon set up That's a lot of pressure on your walls have you finished the excavation the walls and lined?
 
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I think you should get ONE idea up and running put a second Future pipe in for when ever you get the first one built and running see if you can keep the fish alive . Last i saw you really didn't have a solid plan on the 20,000 gallon set up That's a lot of pressure on your walls have you finished the excavation the walls and lined?

Agree 100%

Trying to connect two ponds that were 3 feet from each other was a massive headache that took months for me to get just right. I cant imagine doing what the op is doing with essentially 3. If I were him I would get the first pond up and running first. I guarantee other options/possibilities/ideas will pop up once that first one is done. There’s that saying....”crossing a bridge too far”.
 

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