Hi Mike. Was hoping you'd chime in. I think I understand your suggestion. My concern is that the two pumps aren't drawing the same amount of water. The old Sequence 750 pump with the bent shaft is running at about 2800GPH. The new Sequel 740 pumps 4350GPH. Would there be a possibilty of cavitation on the old pump if I was pulling water into both at the same time?? With the two waterfall lines the biofalls line has less head--about 5 ft and the other one which I only put two mats in as it only holds 35 gals water is about 8ft. What I am thinking of doing as means less plumbing changes on the waterfall lines is this: Skimmer-2"Gate/Knife Valve-Fernco-Priming Pot-Sequence 750 (old pump)-Pump union out-Fernco-Increaser (out is 1.5)-Check Valve-Fernco-WYE (other side comes from other pump) Settling Chamber-2" Gate/Knife Valve-Fernco-Priming Pot/Pump-Union-Pipe/Fernco-Increaser-Check Valve-Fernco-WYE From this wye there would be another fernco so that if my old pump dies I can hook the Sequel up to the waterfall lines. After that wye is the old system which has a fitting that wyes into the two lines and also has a drain line on it for winter. I use fernco's on my plumbing as pump, check valve line is removed for the winter. All lines are drained and capped including the skimmer out line which is in the bottom of the skimmer has a screw in teflon wrapped cap. I currently have ball valves on both the skimmer and settling chamber discharge lines. The sc ball valves leaks which is why I was thinking of gate/knife valve there and probably on the skimmer as well as may have to to change out existing out lines. Not sure if I need check valve after the old Sequence pump but before the WYE from the other pump. Thought I'd need it there when the SC/Sequel pump is shut down???? Also I don't have another priming pot for the old pump but was thinking of getting one as a safety measure in case something gets through and wound around the shaft again! Does all this sound like a plausible plan??? Thanks again. Patti

That's pretty good list above. If you're sure you don't want koi (the planned pond is really too small anyway) I'd argue that 4' is too deep. At 30 to 36" in your area I'm sure you'll overwinter hardy plants and fish, whereas at 4' deep it will be harder to grow and take care of plants such as lilies. Consider carefully the size of your lower pond; very few ponders look back and wish they had made a smaller pond. Many, however, wish they had gone bigger. A pond the size you're considering can be beautiful, but one (they're gorgeous) tropical lily or a decent size hardy lily could cover the whole thing. Of course, you'll need some of the equally attractive marginal plants to bring it all together. But diminuitive versions of many very nice plants are available for down-scale water gardens. You might leave your options open for a larger future pond for your planned pond to flow into, or you might just bump things up a bit now. I sure did when I did mine, up from 1500 gallons to 15,000 and I've added more ponds since then. If the falls is large, your upper pond is significant, and your flow rates are substantial you may find that your lower pond will overflow in the event of power or pump failure. Then, when the pump kicks back in your lower pond will be too low. The falls, depending on how wide it ends up, may take a rather large flow for pleasing effect which compounds the problem. On the same kind of thought, consider how your pond will overflow during rainy periods. I'd recommend a biofilter even without heavy fish load, it won't hurt the pond and is a much better choice than a load of rocks in the bottom. If your thing is lilies you may wish a nearly flat bottom (no rocks, of course). It will allow you to use items such as milk crates to raise pots up as necessary for growth and effect. I'd strongly consider a bottom drain even if you don't routinely draw water from it. Muck will accumulate at a surprising rate even in a garden pond (rocks on the bottom will serve better to hide the muck than solve the problem, and you will curse them if you try to clean it yourself). A BD will immensely simplify fall cleaning and therefore benefit your pond and fish. If you draw water continuously from the BD the lower strata of water will remain fresher and the bottom will likely be cleaner. Many put bottom drains (just shower drains) even in their streams to simplify their cleaning. Not to worry, rocks tend to get hidden as things grow on them, liner does too. Bare liner underwater looks pretty good after time, submerged rocks OTOH tend to look worse with time. Don't use silicone to seal, find some polyurethane. The silicone isn't permanant and I have personally seen it fail. If you use a skimmer (probably should, keeps the surface of the water clean and reflective) it would be best if sited at the downwind side of the pond (probably northeast) if you can. Falls, therefore, would be best southwest. I didn't (used TPRs to direct debris) and on windy days the floating debris just has to wait or sink. There are things to consider in colder climates, such as freezing pipes, keeping a hole open for the fish, sinking pots to the bottom if you're using a planting ledge, running or not running falls or pump in winter. Read lots of forums, not just this one. Opinions will vary greatly, find some posters you trust. There are lots of ways to get the job done, some are alarmingly complex and others are perhaps too simple. It can be discouraging sorting through the myriad options and opinions, particularly if one has no personal experience. But there's a beauty to liner ponds: You can change them.

Hahah that photo from 2009 is too funny. I just installed my 1200 gph gusher into my 700 gal pond. The rushing water sound has all the subtlety and charm of a toilet refilling endlessly. Obviously I have to tone it down but how. I do want the rapid turn over of water for the health of the fish and pond. Instead of a waterfall, I want it to have more of a spring like effect - gurgling water coming out of the rocks and trickling in multiple places. If I run a tube up behind the rocks and from there split it into say 4 or 5 smaller streams will this have the desired effect of quieting and slowing the flow? Its a submersible pump - is there a way I can leave the tubing in place behind the rocks when I need to remove the pump from the pond? Some kind of hardware or connector I can use to be able to easily detach the tubing from the pump? Im really excited about finishing this - its been about 5 years since I started the planning and digging. It will have a large shallow area for watercress and its gonna be really cool!

Cost....there were many extra bells and whistles that I wanted specifically added. I told myself that I wanted everything ready now. The original project was for a 20k pond with floating rocks, upper pond, 2 bottom drains, pump, uv filter , and the large filter. The price of the project was escalated by the fact that most pond companies run when you mention a bottom drain. Most pond installation companies only know how to install an aquascape system. I already have a 2000 gallon pond with that system. I wanted a koi pond, not a garden pond. Please understand I love my garden pond. So to find a company to do what I wanted, i had to pay hotel fees since they were out of town. I didn't like it either, but the closest company that did what I wanted was 2 hours away in Allentown Pennsylvania. I heard about them through my koi club. So to give you an estimated cost, I said in a past thread I could of bought a brand new truck with the money spent on this. The end project, I increase the pond to 45 k gallons. Why? Because I'm single with no kids and I can. I added another filter, another drain to the top pond, unforeseen drainage plumbing under the pond, electric and water ran directly to the pond for another 10k including labor. I giggle when I think about having this pond in my back yard. I became the most popular person in my neighborhood over night. I wonder how much they would of noticed if I bought a brand new truck.