Hi Daniella,
Well I'm gonna give you my 2 cents worth. I have a very similar pond to the one you just got. I have it above ground about 6-8 inches.This prevents rain run off from getting in. I use an extension cord rated for outside use, It gets wet all the time with no problem. I have the outlet strip with a circuit breaker built in to it, inside a plastic water tight box, (plastic shoe box from the dollar store) That way when it rains or I water, the plugs don't get wet.
Second-I use a Beckett(brand name) pump I got from from Home Depot that is for medium ponds,it pumps 340 gph. I would not get a pump smaller than the pond gallons, if anything, I would get at least double. For instance for a 150 gal pond get at least 300 gph or more. I also have a "skippy" type filter that my son made about 15 years ago, from a rubbermaid tub. I would strongly suggest you get or make an outside the pond filter, either a trickle down filter or a skippy type. The small filters in the pond have to be cleaned too often to be efficient. I have had this pond set up for 13 years, before that I had a liner pond at a previous address. I have about 15 goldfish, some gambusia & a lot of plants in & around the pond.
I would NOT clean it with bleach!! Use white vinegar-straight-just pour it in & Use a long handled brush to scrub it. Rinse well after.
As for putting it in the ground all the way, I guess that is a personal thing. You will just have to decide if you can live with it sticking up. It doesn't bother me, but I have plants & large rocks all around so it doesn't look too bad.
It looks like your pond is plastic, like mine, so I think it is strong enough to withstand sticking up at least 6-8 inches.
Well, thats about it, hope it helps.
Dianne

That is my tub pond exactly!

Mine is partially raised, just to the lip. I did that just by accident didn't plan it.

I drain mine every year and start from scratch in the spring. The little guys come in to keep me company over winter.

I use a skippy like filter I made which is actually the top of my waterfall.

I lightly feed, nothing like I used to. I never see these guys eat anyway when I put the food in so I figure they are eating other "stuff". This is the first year for no algae bloome in the spring. Guess I've learned a thing or two.

Kel

OK, I have made up my mind I will have it partially above ground..good idea about the plastic box Dianne..I'm gonna try that. Also I will go with the vinegar idea. I did see a Beckett filter/pump combo online at Home Depot, and was comtemplating that..seems easier a 2 in 1. Another factor making me consider that one is that you can also hook up a spitter to it. I'm not sure if I want a waterfall or a cute lil guy pouring water in.
Here's another question..what exactly is a skippy filter, I have read many posts today which talk about that, but what is it and how can I make one?
Kel, I also plan to bring the fish in, but I am wondering how you kept the algae away? Mine will be in full sun, and I am hoping to get alot of shade from the plants in and around the pond, but I figure algae is a given. And I thought that having a little algae was good for the pond?
Daniella

Daniella, don't worry about algae until you get them. Then we'll help you deal - we do that all the time... Now, a skippy. A skippy is an upflow filter that can sit either in the pond or next to/above it, so that the filtered water runs back into the pond. If the skippy is on the edge of the pond it can be a little waterfall.
We had a small 60 gallon preform set up inside last the winter, the year before that we had a kiddie pool inside. We made a skippy out of a flowerpot for the kiddie pool and it worked fine in the preform too. Darling husband drilled two holes in the bottom (I don't know why, it only needs one). The little pump sits on the bottom of the preform, and pumps water through its tube into the bottom of the flowerpot. The flowerpot stands right in the middle of the water, and is filled with quilt batting. The water goes through that and then flows over the rim of the pot back into the little pond. Once a week or so, I thought, I was supposed to replace the quilt batting, but then I read not to, and I NEVER changed it this whole winter - and the water stayed crystal clear. I guess I had good bacteria living in the skippy or something. Anyway, the water was supposed to flow over the edge with a little bit of falling water sound, but it mostly just ran down along the side of the pot. Something to improve this year. I put my tropical pond plants in it and hang shoplights (with grow lights and natural/sunshine lights) over it, and we enjoy it all winter long. We also scoop a few goldfish out of our outside pond in the fall and put a few into the aquarium and a few into the preform. Then I do regular water changes in both and feed the water to the plants. This goes well for a while, but it seems that the nitrate level gets a bit high halfway through the winter. I think it needs more water changes and I need to write down when I do it so I can keep track! Time flies and I forget. Heehee.

There are ways to cover up the edge of your preform if it sticks up above ground. It is definitely very good for the plant shelf to be supported all the way around! People use wood, such as 4x4's, or build a bit of a frame and attach bits of barnboard, or stack those concrete wall building stones or stack rocks they have lying around in their yard (this would be us if our preform was outside, we have so much rock in the ground here). Then the plants are just extra decoration.

Have lots of fun, don't stress, and let us know how it's going! O yes, and make pics!

:) Mary

thank you very much. I was just reading on the Skippy website..and I so want to build a Mini-Me. Lol, that sounds so funny. Anyway, I can't make up my mind now if I want it totally in the ground or not.
By the way Mary, I absolutely love your indoor idea! I wish I had the room to do that! I've decided I am going to have my Skippy right at the edge of the pond with a waterfall effect.
Do you think that it being the end of August I should wait till spring to start this project? Every time I go outside and see that preform sitting there I want to start digging!!! Is it too late to do it now? I'm so excited!!!
Thank you all so much!! I will def be updating you all, oh, and I am obsessed with taking pics of all my flowers so I am sure I will be taking plenty of pics as this project progresses.

Hi again Daniella,
Glad to hear you decided to go with a skippy filter, you won't regret it, they really keep your water clear. If I were you I would get started now, it would be up & running by spring. I'm not sure how cold it gets where you are but here in zone 7a I never bring my fish in for the winter. I have goldfish & they are cold water fish. I don't feed them during the winter, they just kinda hibernate, That's probably not the correct word, but they just kinda hang out.When it gets cold enough for the pond surface to freeze I just make sure to break the ice surface so they get oxygen.I agree with Mary, have fun, don't stress & if you come up with more questions along the way, just post & someone here will probably have an answer. Good Luck
Dianne
PS If you do a search on this forum for pond filters, you will get a lot of great ideas & pictures.

Daniella,
I just built the mini-me last week. It's sitting right now spiked with some bacteria but will be turned on tomorrow. Cheap and easy. Still, it made sense to me to not blast water through it if I want the bacteria to have a chance to work so I split off part of the pump volume to a fountain. I'm running about 700 gallons with a 950 gph pump so I have a diverter valve sending more than half to the fountain. In the test run, my waterfall from the filter was quite pretty and made a nice sound but it's no rushing mountain stream (fine with me). The fountain looked good, too. I don't know any more than you do but what I gather from this forum is that everybody's situation is different - what they have and what they want. Still, you might want to get some sort of splitter valve and a little extra tubing to give yourself the option of sending some of that water elsewhere, especially if you decide on a pump that that circulates your pond in less than 1 hour - like I did, and that was the smaller of the two pumps I was considering! If I could have figured out how to work in a babbling brook in an above ground pond, I'd have gotten the bigger one.
Vanessa

That's funny you say that Vanessa, because I was sitting on my back porch before thinking maybe I should have a spitter or something along with the waterfall..I don't want my waterfall to be too strong, lol..I can just imagine it, with my luck it would be like a fire hydrant. I was wondering how I could split it to go to 2 places tho..how did you do the diverter valve? where did you put it? what other equip will i need to do that?
I tried explaining the skippy filter to my hubby before since he's the money man, and I have none right now :( Poor guy didnt understand what I was saying lol.
How much did it cost you to build the skippy? Where did you get your bacteria? What media did you use? I was thinking maybe I'd check out Costco or HD and see if they have the commercial wood floor scrubby thingies. Honestly I don't know where I am going to get a 20 gallon barrel liner. I havent gone to HD or Lowes yet but they didnt have any on their websites. I was trying to figure out what else I could use just in case I cant find that. Did you go with the barrel liner? I'd love to see a pic of your set-up if you can get one up!
But alas, Dear Vanessa..you DO know more than I do cuz you already built it! lol. So maybe you can help me with this...on the Skippy site they say "1 1/2 to 1 1/4 threaded nipple reducer (For the Mini-Me, use an appropriate fitting to attach the hose coming from the pump)." What size did you have to use? Does it depend on the pump tubing size?

Daniella

First off, I don't have any electrical lines installed outside. I plan on having the pond close to my back door with an extension cord going along the house

I've used an extension cord for the past 4 years. In fact two of them hooked together with electrical tape. The union of the two cords is off the ground in an airy, but covered spot to keep rain out, AND, I used electric tape. The cord is somewhere under my grass. So far no shorts but it probably would have been better to put the cord inside of PVC pipe. I do not profess this to be safe or smart but I've had no problems to date (knock on wood).
I run a 245 watt pump, one 9 watt UV (not right now though) and one Walmart air pump I don't know the wattage at the moment.

Ideally you should get an electrician to install an outdoor electric hook up area installed to code with at leat 6 outlets and be rain proof.

Hi Daniella. I'm messing around at work right now but when I get home, I'll post a picture of the skippy under construction and tote up the cost. The tub is a 20 Gal utility tub that was on sale at one of the hardware stores for $6. I couldn't find commercial scrubber pads and when I started looking at alternatives, it seemed just as cost effective to buy a bag from Skippy's Stuff. Bought bacteria somewhere else and didn't get the one I wanted but I'm not sure if it's going to matter much. The diverter I bought, as well as the fountain were made for my pondmaster pump and at $13 & $26 were cheap enough (diverter attaches to the pump, fountain to the upright arm, tubing to skippy on the other arm) but I also considered a "Tee" connecter from my pump outlet, 2 ball or gate valves and then a tube to the skippy and a tube to a home-made fountain. Might do that next year. It'll cost more but I could make a nice fountain.

The connection to your mini-me does depend in the tubing from the pump. I used 3/4 ID tubing and 1" pvc so the connecter ended up being a 3/4" barb on one end and a 1" slip joint kind of thing on the other that just pushed into my pvc elbow. (oh, use a blow dryer to warm the end of the tubing or you'll never get it on the barbed fittings - someone on the forum said that and they were right). Total cost might be around $60 but $25 was filter media and $13 was the shower drain that I could have gotten cheaper if I was willing to drive 100 miles - nope.

My electrical is like Comettose's right now - a 25' outdoor extension cord from a gfci outlet that has 3 recepticals on the end (I have a little home-made fountain on a separate pump) that's sheltered. I'm not overly concerned but I will eventually install a proper outdoor hook-up near the pond.

Better go back to work!
Vanessa

Thanks Vanessa, can't wait to see the pics! I'm not too worried about my ext cord as I am putting the pond set-up within 3 feet of a basement window, which I decided to just remove, make a lil niche in the bottom corner, pop the window back in, and hopefully the pump cord will be long enuf to go thru that into the basement where it will plug into the ext cord. Hey, maybe even reach to the outlet! Eventually we'll have elec set up outside.
But now I have SUCH a dilema! Today is the first day since Saturday that it's not raining..the sun finally came out bout 15 mins ago and hopefully will stay out. ANyway, I went and was cleaning out the pond, just scrubbed it with the rainwater which collected in the bottom, and noticed, that under the algae scum was hiding a few gouges. They are relatively small, and up on the shelf. I'm so ticked off now..I've been so excited about this..was up till 2am this morn brainstorming..fantastic beautiful ideas if all goes well. I'm already planning on how I can go bigger and add to it, lol. Now this. Major bummer. Can I just use some silicone to fill the slits I found? I was thinking maybe I could fill the slits with silicone, top it inside the pond with the little vinyl squares/circles one would use to repair punctures in pool tubes and such..then when that dries, maybe another layer of silicone. Do you think it would work?
How much scrubby stuff did you wind up putting in the mini-me? If I find some at a store, I wanna make sure I buy enuf.
How much shipping did the Skippy site charge?
Have a good day ay work and thanks so much for all your help so far!
DAniella

Congrats on your used pond. You'll have alot of fun with it.
I've had a number of preforms in the past. You can put it all the way in the ground or partially in ground or completely above ground. Whatever you do, just make sure you get it as level as possible. If you have the plant shelves above ground, just make sure they are supported well. You may need to add some support under them if they don't quite touch the ground.
You can cover the part above ground with stacked bricks or landscape blocks. That also gives you a little bit of shelf space for garden ornaments, spitters, potted land palnts, etc.
I use the heavy duty outdoor extension cords with no problems. Its not the best way but it works.
Good luck with your new pond.:)
Here's a pic of a small one I had a number of years ago on my patio.
{{gwi:227069}}

Oh lefd05, what a sweet way to use a preform! I have that same cattail and I can't wait for it to bloom.

Daniella, I sure don't know a thing about repairing the pond though your plan sounds good if it's just gouges. Cracks that go all the way through seem like they might need more drastic measures. Do another search here. I think I saw some info on that very topic.

Back to the skippy thing, here's a photo under construction last week. I was having trouble getting the plastic grid so I had fitted in some hardware cloth that I had. Got the grid so that's been replaced.
{{gwi:227070}}Here it is at lunch today stuffed with the filter media. Took a whole bag from Skippy's Stuff (Beautiful Ponds and Water Gardens, actually). This was a LOT of scrubbers. Filled a good size box - I just measured it - 13" x 13" x 18". I had a few extra things in there (3 lbs of zeolite, the fountain...mmm, something else small) but mostly it was cubes and rectangles of scrubbers.
{{gwi:227071}}I'm not sure what I was charged for shipping - maybe $12. I just said "This is what I want. Tell me how much the check needs to be." It was fair, though, and I AM one to complain if I'm overcharged on shipping!

Beyond it, you can see a blue/green glass dish that is the home-made fountain but to the left of that, not too clear, is the bubbler fountain. If we weren't having a nasty little electrical storm, I was going to hold up the whole fountain-pump-diverter assembly and have my husband take a picture. No matter, it went together like a charm and is slowing down the water through the filter.

The water is pretty dang green and I won't be disappointed if it doesn't clear up this year. Our season is likely to end pretty soon but I'll be ready for next year! And with LOTS more plants! I might have the big pink lily blooming tomorrow. If so, I'll post a prettier picture of the whole thing. The help I've gotten here has really made it so easy for me and saved me a bundle besides. If I can help any more, I'd be delighted to.
Vanessa

Lefd05, Thank you ,I am so excited. Yours looks lovely. Mine will be partially raised, the shelf bottom resting on the ground. I thought about a block wall around it, but I'm not sure..we'll see in the spring how I feel. I think I drove my mother nuts today in HD, poor soul went with me..claimed she was kidnapped after 2 hrs in HD lol. I kept dragging her here and there, telling her, "And I want this and this and this by my pond. This will go here, that will go there." Poor lady. Anyway, I am rambling and I apologize..it's 12:30 and I am so OT. Thanks again, BTW, I love all the frogs! I'm a frog lover. CAn never have enuf of em around.

Vanessa,
Thanks so much for posting the pics..looks good! Def helped me see what I have to do more than Skippy's pix did. And yes, NO please dont go holding anything wet up over the pond during an electrical storm..if you want your pond lit up they have lights for underwater, lol. Did your lily bloom?? I'd love to see it! Remember, patience patience patience with the lovely green water, lol. I wish I had water to be green! I went today and bought some supplies..I bought almost the same tub as you..noone had the barrel liners of course, ya know, since I want one. Just need to get the pump and the scrubbers. Not bad so far, I spent about $30 on the rest of the filter stuff. Dang eggcrate stuff was the most expensive thing so far. I can't seem to find the right scrubbies..love how they sent yours all patriotic! Are they the soft stuff or the scruffy rough pads? I had so many in my hands today and was so lost as to which to get..none seemed right. Gonna try Costco on Monday.
I sealed up the gouges with silicone, 2 went str8 thru. Hope I sealed em good enuf. Now, to just get $80 outta hubby for the pump i want. I already have a 3 page list of plants I want, and plans all drawn up for making it all bigger next spring/summer. HeHe, and the 1st pond isn't even in the ground yet. I'm not gonna bother with plants till spring..oh..I can't wait for spring!!!!!! Have a gr8 weekend!
Daniella

Hi Daniella,
For the filter media, I couldn't find floor scrubber pads, so I went to the dollar store & bought a combination of assorted jumbo size pkgs of shower scrubbies, sponge dish scrubbers & the round flat mesh dish scrubbers. Spent about $15 for all I got. My filter/waterfall is about the same size as your bucket. You can use anything that will filter the water & collect the good bacteria. Over the top of the filter media I put another layer of the plastic grate & plants on top.
Good Luck
Dianne

Dianne, thats what I plan on doing..second grate with plants on top. I was tempted to go to the dollar store and do the same thing, but I am wondering if those sponges have anything in them that might be harmful to the water. Ya know how sometimes you buy a sponge, and the first time you get it wet, its all foamy even though you havent put any soap on it yet? Did yours foam up at all?
thanks,
Daniella

Hi Daniella,
Yep, It sounds like you got PONDITIS! Already planning to expand, before the first one is finished. Next you will want a waterfall & stream.
No soap in the ones I got. That was a worry for me too. I opened one bag to test before opening all the rest. Before I got it going I made sure to soak everything well with the hose & rinsed well. Most of the material I used was the nylon shower scrubbies & round, flat dish scrubbers, some green & white scrubber material. Mine works great, especially for the price, I'm cheap!LOL
Dianne

I'd have done what Dianne did for filter media if I had the option. Not many stores around here period. The stuff I got from skippy is like extra stiff nylon scrubbers. Been running just a few days and the patriotic scrubbers are all quite green now. I forgot about the cost of the egg crate - $12 here and a friend got it for me when she was in Albuquerque or I'd have to more than double that in gas $$.

I didn't think about putting another layer on top. I just tucked a few plants among the scrubbers but the grasshoppers got in and ate everything anyway.

I guess you found out how this pond thing takes over. My husband confirmed with photos - 2 months between planning the first 19 gal container garden to filling the 8 foot stock tank. Oh my, what's next? I've got the long list-o-plants too. Maybe someone here can tell us how to decide what NOT to get. I figure 3 medium sized lilies is all that should go in my tank. Three! Well, I'll have 4, of course. Maybe 5. I hear you can prune.

Oh, and the pink one hasn't bloomed yet. Why do they always bloom on tuesday?

Vanessa

lmao Dianne, I already havea water fall planned for the first one! And a stream is in the design for the expansion.
I plan on having the filter bin in a half whiskey barrel, coming down waterfall style into a second whiskey barrel with a liner I have in it already that is about maybe 6 inches deep, then another waterfall into the pond. Plants on each barrel..and of course in and all around the pond.

Vanessa, I am sorry to hear about the grasshoppers..lil boogers. I had alot of grasshoppers in my gardens this year..never had so many before.
lol bout the lilies, so addictive! I'll be waiting for the pic if it ever decides to bloom. I think I am gonna try and get some native cattails to add into mine to start out with. Anyone ever done that? Ya think it would be ok..I am wondering if maybe it could have some kinda bad bacteria or something that could screw everything up. or infest my pond with snails..But I suppose the same thing could happen when you buy them..you never really know how people treat their plants at a nursery or wherever.
thanks guys,
Daniella

Daniella, Just posted a picture of the pond and a close-up of the pink lily. It'll be bigger and pinker tomorrow. My water is losing some of it's green and getting clearer already so I'm very encouraged about this skippy.
Because of what you and Diane said, I added a second grate on top- since I had so much left over - and weighed it dowm, worked in a couple small WH and a bunch of baby W lettuce. Not having the scrubbers floating is making it harder for the grasshoppers to find a place to munch my plants. Of course, it'll only take one big hungry one to eat everything I put in there.
About the cattails, you know they're big and it seems like they might overwhealm your pond. I'm not saying don't try it just, if you do, plant them in a sturdy pot and be ready to beat them back. The dwarf ones (like Lefd05's) seem like they'd be a better scale, though. Not so tall.

Vanessa

Hi Daniella,
That is kinda what I'm building right now. My skippy filter is a big bucket with a waterfall lip. I'm making a small pond for it to pour into, which flows down into a smaller pond, & then down a few rocks into my current pre-formed pond. I'm almost done with it, but its been so hot here that I can only work outside in the morning & then again in the evening. I will post picts when I'm done. I got some cattail fluff in a trade & I'm going to try to grow some cattails. Not sure how its done but I'll look it up. I have WH in the top of my filter. It's growing out of control, really loves all that muck that comes out of the pond.
Take Care
Dianne

Hey Dianne, I love trying to grow from seed, even though I fail more than I succeed. I'd love to know how the cattail works out. I checked the USDA PLANTS database (my friend!) and there's some good info under the southern cattail that probably applies to all the wild ones. I'm going to try sticking a link here to the plant guide.
I'm sure we'd all love to see pictures of your expanded pond and I wouldn't mind a picture of sprouting cattails either.

Vanessa

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern cattail

Hi Vanessa,
Thanks for the link, it does have alot of good info. I am going to plant some of the cattail seed & see what happens.
I will post picts if they grow.
Take care
Dianne

I've read the Skippy site info and magdalsonie's info but I am still confused. I am not mechanically inclined. I am assuming the black tubing is where the water goes in but where does it come back into the pond? I would like to make one of these but just can't quite seem to understand it.

Good morning proudGM, the return to the pond is what the shower drain is for. You cut a round hole at the top of the plastic tub and screw the drain in (with some silicone). The water rises up from the bottom and spills out the drain back into the pond. In mine, a piece of liner is fit around the drain which drapes over a plywood "table" and down into the tank. Rocks are stacked on top of the liner to hide the tub and drain. You could also extend the drain with a piece of pipe sticking out and eliminate the liner and rocks. I guess there are a lot of ways to do it.
Vanessa

Thanks so much. I understand now.