Hi Stacy,

As far as your pump goes, it depends on what you want in your pond. If you want a good-sized waterfall, 800 gallons an hour isn't bad, in my opinion. I have ponds and a stream that currently total about 500 gallons, and I have a waterfall pump that is capable of recirculating the water at a rate of about 3,000 gph. I got a bigger one because I felt that I would like to expand my pond someday (which I just started doing about 3 days ago). Anyway, it has worked just fine with my smaller pond system -- I just plumbed the line so that it had a valve on it, and I can use the valve to control the amount of water that is recirculated (I have choked down to about half of its capacity -- the manufacturers said that using a valave to limit the pumping volume of the pump -- within reason -- will not harm it).

Like I said in another post, make your pond as big as you your imagination will allow for, without breaking your budget -- most folks find that as soon as they are finished building their pond, they immediately wish they had made it bigger.

We are just starting our first dug-in pond too - went to the library and read a ton of books. Wish you lots of luck with yours! We're working on the issue of GFI electrical outlet to power those pumps for filter/fountain and haven't started digging yet. -ps- Call Before You Dig!

I did the same thing 2 years ago.
I wanted a pond & went out & dug a small hole & used a blow up top ring pool for the liner.

I cut the bottom off & used it. It had either a white bottom with blue dots or vice versa. It worked fine.

I now have a much bigger pond & the pool liner is long gone.

I did the same thing last year, and it survived all summer winter and this spring, then we got a regular liner and made a bigger pond, the only thing I would recommend it using another old liner underneath as underlayment, and leave your good liner in the sun for a day or two before placing in your pond I have heard some discussion that some of those liners are coated in some kind of Algeacide, but I had fish, plants an frogs in mine with no ill-effects, I am including some pics, these are before it was 100 complete, before we had all the rocks in,,but gives you a good idea,,{{gwi:210644}}

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I'm not sure that swimmingpool plastic will stand up for very long when exposed to the sun. I would hate for you to get a really nice pond going, and then have your liner start to crack and leak. I say go for the good stuff. I know you want to recycle, and that's usually a great idea.......but I just don't know how it will hold up to the stress of the elements.
Another thing that's really nice about a pond liner is its black and you won't be able to see it, as opposed to something white.

Don't know that I would ever risk using a pool liner, but having said that, they are intended to be outside in the sun, so to say they wont work because of that doesn't sound right. I would be more afraid of punctures....and the color.

Like I said I used another old liner underneath as my underlayment, and it held up great for a year, survived a rough ohio winter an all,,,let us know what you decide

One thing I would like to add. When you dig the hole like you want, use some of the dirt to bank up an edge around the hole, so you won't have runoff from your yard into your pond. That was the mistake I made with my first one and it stayed yucky and murky all the time. When we re-built last year I made it about 2 1/2 ft above ground, so I wouldn't have that problem and also to give us a place to sit to enjoy the fish. Glenda

Some pool liners have algecides imbedded in them so ive heard