Newbie to preformed

[marier4him]

Hi,

I just moved to Texas to go to grad school. I owned my house before and had a small inground pond with a flexible liner. Since we are now leasing a house for the next 3 years I found a 200 gall preformed pond on Craigslist for $60. I filled it up and put in my goldfish that moved with me. I had a waterfall on my inground pond and I love the sound so I balanced the hose on the lip of the pond until I could figure out something better. I came out a couple of hours later and my pond was on its side and sticking in the air! I saved my gold fish who were in the last bit of water along with the pump. After my mind cleared I realized that there was one pond sitting inside another and the hose had leaked water between the two. Crazy huh? I didn't notice it when I bought them and the guy didn't tell me.

So, my logical question is (not according to my husband, lol) is how can I connect these 2-200 gallon preformed ponds? They will need to sit side by side on level ground and above ground. I have read posts from other websites that talk about bulkhead fittings, but I have also read about something called uniseals. Which is better? Do I use pvc glue with these fittings? My thought was to have the pump in the bottom of one pond with the output in the other pond. I would love to have a waterfall, but I can't think of how since they are above ground. Also, I need simple filter ideas. I have seen some that are so complicated they give me a headache reading about them. lol. I don't mind doing water changes in exchange for having a simpler filtration system.

Thanks,

Marie :razz:

 

[sissy]

Welcome and a bonus in a way but good gosh think it would scare a person to see that .Easy to combine them Addy on here combined 2 of them and i think there are a couple of others on here that did that and one person is a new pond owner also also

 

[sissy]

A tote would be a easy filter build for you to use and simple and cheap to build .

 

[marier4him]

Thanks, Sissy. Yes, it was a bonus to get 2 ponds for $60, but yes it was scary and nuts to see. The site is higher than the backdoor of the house and I had surrounded the pond with potted azaleas so it looked like the pond was floating in the air and on its side because it was floating in the other pond that I didn't know existed. I think my fish are still talking about it, lol.

 

[marier4him]

Sissy, do you have directions for how to make one? Or a good website? I had my pump sitting inside a filter box with bioballs and 2 sizes of filter pads at my other house. Now, I have a bigger pump and it won't fit inside the filter box. I've never made an outside filter box before.

 

[addy1]

You could make one slightly higher than the other and have a waterfall connecting the two. pump the water from the lower to the higher

 

[marier4him]

Addy1 I have to leave these ponds above ground. I've seen old posts on other sites about using bulkheads, but I don't know whether they really work and if I need pvc glue with them.

 

[addy1]

put some blocks under the one to raise it. I have put an outflow into a preform with 1 inch pvc, drill a hole with a hole saw, goop it up good with pl roofing construction goop, mine never leaked.

 

[marier4him]

Addy1, in advance please excuse my newbie questions, but I have never had a preformed pond or connected 2 together. If I understand correctly

1. Raise one pond on blocks
2. put pump in the lower pond
3. saw 2 holes one in each pond
4. have the outflow from the lower pond running into the higher pond
5. have the hose coming out of the higher one into the lower pond

I'm just guessing at some of that.

1. Anyway to make a waterfall
2. where/how filter

thanks!

 

[ididntdoit99]

I dont think those will hold up long above ground, they need to have something holding the sides and bottom from buckling.

 

[marier4him]

I was going to surround them with retaining wall blocks. Would that help?

 

[addy1]

didn't think of that they prob won't do well above ground,

just a little backwards, outflow from top pond into lower pump in lower putting water back in uppe. Make sure outflow handles more voume than inflow

 

[sissy]

you can put retaining wall block around them and leave a gap between them and fill the gap with mulch and it would insulate them and bulk heads you can get a nice sized one at pet mountain or sometimes you can find the in plumbing supply stores .We just had a storm go through and power was out for awhile .Just got a sprinkle of rain more crash and wind than anything .The tank adapters you can just get silicon and the adapters are around 8 dollars and tote you will want to go heavy duty or double it up .

 

[marier4him]

Thanks, Sissy.

I think what I'm going to try is putting the one with the the U shaped cut out of the edge on cinder blocks to raise it up. Then I'll put the pump in the lower pond with the output going into the upper pond. I'll connect the two with a preformed waterfall. I'll use retaining wall blocks around them leaving a gap for soil and plants. I just don't know how to do filtration yet.

 

[sissy]

filtration is the easiest part as all you have to do is either run a hose to the tank and then put a hose back out to the pond or use the tank as a water fall .I'm not really sure you will be able to connect the 2 ponds with a preformed waterfall but it may be a possibility ,just not sure what kind of waterfalls would not leak as they just overlap the preformed and I think they are only made to go down as just a waterfall and not a connector between 2 ponds .But I could be wrong and they may make a connector piece ,i have not looked at them in awhile and they are always making new stuff .You can check on here for filters or you tube has some great video's of how to build them .