I understand if you don't want a pond with falls, I hope you can build a dissappearing false that you are happy with. I actually have the same issues as you. I have 3 boys and they have their friends over. I actually have my pond placed directly under one of the four large oak trees on the property. It's not that bad. My boys are well behaved and well mannered and understand that they better stay away from the pond. There were some mishaps in the first year when they put stuff in the water and that first winter when they dumped many of the decorative boulders into it because they thought it was dead and I didn't want it anymore. BUT, a couple of incidents that I know if I had talked about it with them before hand, they wouldn't have done it. Their friends also know they better stay away and if I catch them misbehaving they will be sent home immediately. The kids LOVE the pond! I let them help me plant around it and we add a bit more every year. Today they helped me plant "their" flower seeds and they got really excited when they saw the hostas poking up out of the soil that we'd planted last year. They take great pride in the pond now, and will scold their own friends for going near it. When I'm out their and they have my permission, they like to show it off to their friends. They each "own" one of the goldfishes, and we have a bullfrog living in there now that they get excited to see. My pond is more enjoyable to me because of the kids and it gives me something to share with them. The oak trees are another thing. On one hand, they make the water slightly acidic from the leaves that drop in and stew. But the fish really like this. I go out once a week and clean it out with a net. It's relatively small so it's not a big deal. Every Spring I scoop out the leaves and muck, just as I would if the pond were on the other side of the yard. I don't think the job is any more disgusting (or oddly satisfying) because of where it's placed. Anyway, you know what you want, not trying to talk you into something else. Just felt like sharing my experiences. Good luck with your project!

I think the water fall should go into the pond and not the bog garden due to all the turbulence it will generate. The Falls in the back with the bog on the right or left side would look nice. If you do not intend to keep fish, keep it shallow (12" max) and build into the design a nice looking fence to keep the little one out! Mike

Waterbug guy, First I will talk a little bit about concrete in water. You say it is a myth that concrete in water can kill fish and raise the PH. When concrete first sets up the surface PH is 12.0. Which is the same PH as a drain cleaner called "draino". As it is exposed to the CO2 in the air the PH goes down. But water is a very good leaching agent and so water will continue to try and get the chemicals out of the concrete. So will the PH in the water be raised? If the water has normal PH of 6.5 to 8.5 the answer is yes. The real question should be "how much will it raise it"? That question isn't easily answered as there are a lot of variables. Just to list some the age of the concrete, the condition of the concrete, is the water flowing over the concrete, the natural PH of the water, is the water being changed, and the volume of the water versus the contact area of the concrete. In some cases the rise might be so low as to make it very difficult to measure. But in other cases it can and does raise the PH to 9 to 9.5. At these levels it can and does kill fish. If I remember correctly you have stated that you are a pond contractor. If you are I hope you having started using roofing liner in the ponds that you build. Most of the time a person on this forum is never going to have a problem with roofing liner. Can there be a problem with roofing liner? This should be the question. The answer is yes. The chances that there could be a problem is very low. The largest pond product manufacturer in the US sent out a letter to all their customers a number of years ago. This letter said that all their liner in the future would be tested to be fish safe as they got a batch in that was not. In other words they were selling roofing liner as pond liner. This company had been selling a lot of liner for 10 years before this problem. If it had happen today with the wide use of the internet I would have think that some lawyer would have gotten this information and started a class action lawsuit against them and they would be out of business. The lawyer could easily have sued them not only for the cost of the liner that they had sold but for the cost to replace all those liners in the ponds built with them going back to the first time they sold this liner. The largest liner manufacturer in this country has told me that almost never would you ever have a problem with roofing liner but you might. I think that as a contractor you can't take that chance. If you were unlucky and did have a problem and were sued over that problem the lawyer handling the case would find out that they would sue for every customer that you have that has this liner. In other words you would be out of business. So is roofing liner toxic? No most of the time. But there is a small chance that there maybe a problem. I have only talked about 2 of the 8 things that you listed. I could easily talk about many of the other things listed but my point is this. You listed these things as black and white but they are not black and white. The only thing that is black and white about ponds is that all aquatic life will die. Mike

Hi Frank, The filter I have is the kind that the pump goes inside it. It comes with the filter media and some plastic things for the bacteria to live in. Just set the pump inside the filter box, place the plastic things on top, put in the media, and close the lid. Drop slowly into the pond. As I said earlier though, I cut a piece of pond underlayment to fit, and sandwiched it between the 2 filter pads it comes with. To me, the holes were just too big to filter out really fine silt. The pump will dictate the size of the hose. The hose on mine is 5/8'. It's black, and in the pond sections at the hardware stores. Comes in 20' sections. about $9.00. The link at the bottom is the Beckett page, and the filter I have is the 2nd one on the list, which comes with the 325 pump. I think I remember seeing the whole thing for about $119.00(HD). Lowe's has the same thing, under a different name though. Just make sure to match up the size of hoses while you're there, because the pump hose fittings are all different. I had the smaller pump/kit until I expanded my pond, and changed out the pump for the 325 gph. You could put a valve in, but I don't know if you will find that easily. But that would be great if you did. I had a hard time finding anything in 5/8' in black, but if yours will be hidden, it doesn't matter if it's black or not. My T is a 1/2', connected under water, with the 5/8' hose, very very tight, with a black cable tie. If you use a cable tie, make sure it's really tight, or water will leak out, and you will lose flow. You can use a metal hose clamp, but eventually they rust. I'm actually taking out one of the waterfalls this weekend, because I want to put in a bog shelf across one end of the pond. My pond is only about 3' wide, so I need to make the most of it. I consider my pond more of a water garden/water feature, so I have the water flow really scaled back, because it does splash out, and it's next to a cracked tiled patio, which has grout.(water splashes out-grout gets green) It's as big as it's ever going to get though, because it's wedged in a corner, in the ground, inside a 40X18' screened enclosure. Believe me, you will change/expand this no matter what, several times down the road, if you're able, because once you have a pond, you'll want it bigger. ;-0) Here is a link that might be useful: Pond filter