Oh dear! Well I am most sympathetic, I just love it when DH sticks his nose in to help then leaves the grunt work to me. I have control freak tendencies so that just rubs me. I am a seat of the pants flier as well so I will say that it can work. You may spend the next while cursing but it will be fine, and you can add/fix later if need be when you have the time to plan but I would bet you will surprise yourself. Without pixs it is hard to picture what you want to do but I am guessing that you have the lip over the smaller pond. I would get the length of liner you need and try siliconing strips together to get the width. Alternative that is inexpensive is to get heavy poly to use, although most bigger nurseries will sell liner by the foot. Create a step between the two with bricks. If you just want a single fall from one to the other finding a piece of slate and siliconing it into place on the lip with the bricks underneath to help support the overhang. Collected rocks along the side to hide liner, you may want to use a waterfall foam to seal between the rocks. For the pump you did not mention gph so I can not say much there. Once you turn it on you will be able to tell if it has the strength to move the water that far, lay it out and test it. I would guess that you will get at least a small amount of flow. If you have no fish that might be fine until you can afford a bigger pump. That would be my cheap easy seat of the pants way to do it. Sounds like you could make him happy by getting it going and then spending the rest of the year planning and encouraging him to be prepared to do it your way, or you may just sit back and say that is amazing I am great. Either way deep breathesand count to 10. Good luck

Wow. You sound like one of my sisters and her Hubby. He is notorious for going on inspiration and she, the planner. Meanwhile I am an artist married to an accountant. You don't want to play Bridge with any of us.
How big is the Skippy and why is it so far from the ponds? I remember seeing photos of interconnected small ponds that worked well, both visually and mechanically. Linear isn't too hard if you have some dirt for fill and vertical seems to be a given. If you like the planning stages, cut out shapes in proportion to the sizes and move them around on a board until you have a design that pleases you and allows for the ponds to feed each other or serve as catch basins for the one previous. There could be more than one outlet from the Skippy to feed a stream and waterfall at the same time. You just need to make everything end up in the same pool so it can be pumped back to the Skippy for filtering. I think this is an intriguing and potentially impressive problem to be worked out. Sandy

Many thanks squirelette & Sandy! Took a deep breath, counted to 10 & arrived home to find hubs about to fill a pond that was 'almost' level. Just about that time I caught a glimpse of my daylillies out of the corner of my eye...buried in mud/sludge :0 Took another deep breath...sent hubs to see about dinner & spent an hr or so doing damage control *sigh*.

I've calmed down after a hot shower & your encouraging words, lol, almost thinkin I can do this! I am an artist *of sorts* too but my artistic half is often at odds w/my perfectionist tendencies (um, did someone say 'control freak'?)

I'll try to give you a visual (dd has my camera). Pond A (90gal) is the lower pond on the left, then pond B (125gal)
then then pond C (25 gal w/lip). They are arranged roughly end-to-end (imagine the letter 'N' if you s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out, lol. Pond B is 10" higher than pond A w/approx 2' between the two. This is where the falls will be. Hubs plans to cut a lip into pond B (I hid the saw for the time being, lol).

Squirelette, the only pump I have now is basically just a fountain/circulating pump that will go in pond B. I've been offered the 'gift' of a pump for pond A (which will pump to the upper pond via the skippy) but I have no idea what size pump would be adequate for my setup.

Sandy, I mis-spoke. I should have said the skippy will be ~10' from the pump (not the pond). My apologies...I blame it on frustration getting the better of me, lol. Hmm...more than one outlet from the skippy. Space is limited so no room for a stream but I might manage to sqeeze in a 2nd waterfall.. *panic mode subsiding; creative mode gaining momentum here* I'm beginning to get a vision of this new setup in its maturity.

Aside: and would you believe?! Got a surprise overnight delivery today from a friend several states away. Inside the package was half a dozen different plants, all of which are perfect for filling in around the new pond! She had no idea...but it's as if she picked them out just for my lil pond. =]

Thanks again both of you for the tips & encouragement. Feelin calmer & braver now & going to try my hand at the waterfall. Ha! [an intriguing and potentially impressive problem to be worked out]. You said the magic words *chuckle* This is just another puzzle I need to solve (a fave pastime). I can do this!!! *singing here: 'I believe I can fly..." lol.

Now, about that pump...I can do the math, but the opinions still vary. Somewhere along the way, I've come to trust y'all WAY more than any formula... *grin*

BIG hugs to you both,
digger

Lol! Just keep the saw hidden for a while. Cutting a lip is tricky. I know we talked about it somewhere. Sandy

Great. Thanks. I'm off to search for that convo..

Adventure is the spice of life. If you can keep from killing the DH they always provide adventure, I would prefer the adventure in the form of a surprise trip to an exotic locale but I take what I get. Enjoy the creative process.

Sooo...finally got a vision of the finished project. Spent 3 hrs on 3 different days (a total of 9 hrs!!) attempting to construct a simple gravity flow fall/stream from pond B to pond A with only 2-1/2 or so ft of linear space & a 10" fall to work with. It all looks fake. I've come to the conclusion it can't be done.

Trying to decide whether to strangle hubby or give up ponding forever. Hmm...which will it be? Meanwhile, all my plants need to get in the ground or in the pond yesterday. *sigh* I found an old prefab waterfall in the shed which is the exact length needed. I had ripped it out of the original 90 gal pond set up because I could never figure out how to disguise the UGLY cheap plastic look.

My question: The preform waterfall seems DOable give the circumstances. Can anyone tell me how to incorporate it without it looking fake? Pics would be great here.

I'm taking off work tomorrow to work on the stream/fall. Either I'm successful OR I'm kickin the ponding habit for good. I'm a gnat's wing away from taking the backhoe to the whole bit...pond, plants & all. As small as my lil ponds are, a couple a scoops it'll be all she wrote.

Help please. I'm beyond frustrated here..

Aww, darlin', that frustration is just telling you the ideas need to percolate a little longer. Have you ever tried hypertulfa? It seems to me that ugly plastic thing might be the basis for a remarkable backdrop for a waterfall. There is a whole forum for hypertulfa ideas and many of them go hand in hand with waterfalls. Take a bit of time tonight to look at some of them.
If you don't care for that, ponder a little more and browse some gallery photos. I think I can locate a list of sites that should give you some ideas. Sandy

I did it! =] I was near tears when I came inside at dark-thirty last night. I asked myself how could something I enjoy so much make me so miserable and it hit me like a ton of rocks, lol. I was trying to create hubby's vision - not mine. And really, just the thought of tryin to get in his head is beyond scary, lol.

Sooo...I was at the pond at 6:30 am, coffee in hand. I ripped out the mess, peeled back the liner & started on MY vision. Two hours later I was contentedly sipping my second cuppa joe admiring my work when hubs appears. Wow, he says, that's awesome! Did you do that??? Didn't know whether do laugh or cry. *chuckle*

I spent the rest of the day adding fill dirt & top soil & planting the stuff I potted up to make room for the addition. Got the trench dug for my water line from the lower pond to the skippy which hopefully will go in tomorrow.

Now if I can just put the brakes on hub's [armchair quarterback] enthusiasm. He's impatient to get the 3 ponds flowing together. Buttttt...my lower pond is crystal clear & the 2 additions are in full bloom...algae bloom, that is. I had to threaten him with a shovel to stop him from draining them to get rid of the algae, arghhh!

Ah well...this too shall pass. I have a brand new waterfall/stream that doesn't look half bad. Nothing can stop me now, lol. I am a ponder! *grin* Couldn't have done it without y'all & your collective expertise...many thanks. I'll post pics of my humble lil watering hole as soon as it's up & running.

Now I can get back to planning The Big One. Maybe next year..

blessings all around,
digger

Good for you! Tell the DH that no you did not do it Manuel did and ask if he has any more ideas as you will be glad to get Manuel back to work for you, it should make him think. Getting the ponds linked would likely help getting the bloom cleared sooner, the bio in the established one will flow through the system, but it may cause another bloom in it. Either way enjoy. And obviously you were always a ponder else you would not have persevered and succeeded. Good luck with the hubby

Sounds like a couple of pictures are due to the consultants to admire- Amen?

Yeah, I debated about just moving some filter media from the pump to the skippy & leaving them separate for a bit. In the end I connected all three temporarily w/tubing so skippy can get to work =] I did 'splain to hubs what would happen next. If he complains I'll just tell him Manual did it *wicked grin*

The pipe didn't get buried yesterday due to rain. Hopefully the ground will be dry enough today to double check for leaks on my stream & get the pvc buried so I can replace rocks & plants on the back side. Once that's done I'll post pics so you can admire my pretty green water, lol, while I collect more rocks for the addition.

Manual is very useful *wink* he stops a lot of "discussions" around here, you may want to wait a few days before you zip everything up. It sometimes takes a day or 2 for the leaks to start if they are small, or pressure /vibration to loosen joints. Enjoy