I Sherry,
I have several 300 gallon tanks. Waterlilies love resting on the bottom of those. You get more blossoms when its that deep also.
If I want to raise a plant up, I use those black milk crates. They work great. Plus, fish and frogs and swim through them.
I use those for my tropical lilies, since they like to be closer to the surface. I also use them for some of my marginals.
And you can push the crates with the plants on them more towards the center, if you're worried about coons getting them.
I really like my stocktank ponds. I have 2 inground. One is for water lilies and marginals, and one is a lotus bog. Then I have 2 for above ground for other marginals, tropical lilies and lotus.
Good luck to you. I think you'll like the stocktank pond.

Catherinet, it was your posts about your stock tank ponds that got me interested. I love your ponds. I'm glad the lilies can sit on the bottom. Do you grow pickerel?
My main concern right now is whether or not the Savio compact skimmerfiilter will work with it. I'm so dissappointed - I bought one today at my favorite pond/garden store and it is missing 2 pieces, the door and the faceplate. So I guess I'll ask them to reorder another one. This was the last one they had in stock. It didn't look like it had been opened.
The instructions are for using it with a pond liner, but I think it should work with the stock tank especially if I use a piece of liner as a gasket between the tank and the faceplate.

Hi backyardmama,
Yes, I have pickerel. I put it on one of those black milk crates and it does great. I have it in something like a 3 gallon pot, and I have to thin it every year. Its pretty aggressive.

I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable about the various skimmers and filters. I've always just used a little box filter around my pumps. That's too bad that your's was missing those pieces.
One filter box I bought once was missing a part too. Somebody in quality control is asleep on the job!
Just be sure if you try to fix it yourself, that you don't obstruct any water flow, where the correct missing piece was supposed to go.
I forget......why do you need to change your pond to a stocktank? I've actually never had anything other than preforms and stocktanks. I'd be so afraid of punctures!
One thing I did to the stocktank, once I got it home, was to tighten up that drain plug as tight as possible, and then caulk around it too. Then let the caulk sit about day, to dry, and then it goes in the ground. oops....can't remember if your putting your's inground or above ground.
If it above ground, you can just keep your eye on the drain plug, and watch for leaking. I've found that they leak a little to start with, then stop.
Good luck, and you'll have to post some pics when it gets going!

Catherine,, do you use teflon tape on that plug? I find it eliminates leaks at the plug entirely.
I had to stop using the crates. My fishies learned to chase in and out of the holes when they were little and then kept doing it when they grew too large. Stupid fish! There were a lot of scraped off scales. Sandy

Hi Sandy,
Yes, I use the tape plus the caulk......only because its going underground. For my above-ground ones, the tape does work well.

Catherine,
I have very sandy soil and the sides of my lined pond have been caving in so badly that I think I need the strength of the stock tank. Plus, I think I have a leak. It will hold water (or leak very slowly) when it is full, but then it gets to a certain point that the water level will drop 3 or 4 inches in just days.
Another problem I have had is that I knew so little about ponds, water lilies, and everything else, that we dug the deep end right under the water fall. The lilies did okay, but I suspect they will do much better when I can move them away from the falls.
Anyway, the stock tank will be here in a few days, so I'm committed.
Thanks for the advice on the drain. I had thought about possibly running a drain line away from the pond, perhaps to the garden in case I ever have to empty it, but I better rethink that.
Sherry