Hi all - wow thank you for the input! For some reason a few of these comments never made it to me via email, so sorry for the delay in response. CHAS: I think I'm going to just go with a shorter stream, which will cut down on the height a great deal. I will wrap it around the pond (instead of going straight up the sloped ground) - which will make the head height less and also keep the flow calmer for froggies. I also decided that I will focus the main pond on fish; and I'm going to put a little, shallower pond tucked along the creek which will be just for frogs - with a pump maybe, but no filter or anything (my current frog pond has just a pump/waterfall, no filter, and the frogs are very happy and healthy there). Hopefully the frogs will natuarlly choose the little pond instead of the bigger pond, and even if they lay eggs in the lower pond, I can just move them up to the froggie pond. I at least will feel like I've done my part to provide a safe haven for them :) RSINGLEY: I had read a similar recommendation elsewhere of putting mesh and other media around the pump - I like the idea, though I do wonder what the negative effect of not filtering the larger particles will be? (seems silly to get a debris handling pump and then restrict the debris from getting in, but alas, the dilemma of tadpole lovers). FROGMAN4: You'd be right on the calculation but it's not all at a 3.5' depth, and it's an oval pond. If you picture an upside down oval wedding cake: the biggest layer is 16x13 but it's only about a half-foot deep (it's a rock shelf). The second layer is 14x11 and is 1 foot deep. The third layer is 11x8 and is 2 feet deep (so total depth at the bottom will be 3.5). I calculated each "layer" out as separate pond volumes; using the oval pond forumla of L x W x D x 6.7, the top layer is 696 gallons, 2nd layer is 1031, 3rd layer is 1179 = 2906 gallons. The third (bottom) layer will have sloped walls, too, which actually will cut down the gallons, but I'm fine with over-estimating. I have wavered back and forth a hundred times about going with a skimmer filter as opposed to an external mechanical filter. I still haven't hit the "place order" button on my pump/filter order, but I made up my mind last night that I was going to go with a Laguna max flow pump (2000 gal), pressurized filter (3200), and also have a waterfall bio filter at the top. Holding off on the drain for now, but I saw some that I can add later if the need warrants. Chose the external filter instead of skimmer because I didn't want to have to do 2 pumps, and I just felt that not having the pump at the bottom (which it wouldn't be if I put the pump in the skimmer) wasn't the best idea... which was my deciding factor. I hope what I'm choosing will be sufficient... weeks of research got me here, and I'm ready to just install all this already! :) MEGANMCA: Thanks for that link - it's very helpful! I did read that pipe diameter is important - I'm going to go with 1.5" and hope that's sufficient. My sister just installed the same pump/filter combo I'm using with 1.5" and it's a beatuful flow. Her waterfall is a little lower than mine, but I think it will suffice... If not, can add a 2nd pump but hoping I don't have to do that. Thank you all so much for the input - and as always open to any other thoughts/suggestions!

Here's some caution. When trying to hide equipment, you need to be aware that what you construct is very temporary. The front of your heater will need about 20-30 inches frontal clearance for service. This does not include room for the service guy. The top of your filter will usually need an area equal to the filter height for service. The pump needs the ability to have the motor separate to the rear with up to 12 inches in some cases. Worse if you have a Northstar. Grasses will grow into motor fans and heaters if not kept up. Soils and rocks should be kept form the heater casing as the water wicks up into the sheet metal and results in rust. If you are putting in those plastic fence panels that require a stake in the ground, BE ADVISED, THERE IS PLUMBING UNDER THERE ALL AROUND THE PLACE. You could drive a stake into your line and that will ruin your day.

Well people say all kinds of stuff on the internet - no filter is possible I suppose but if you have fish you really should have one - both to filter poop, debris, fish food, etc. out of the water.... AND to provide surface for your beneficial bacteria. If you havent already done so pls read up on biofilters and the nitrification cycle which changes ammonia (from fish poop/decomposing organic matter) to nitrite to nitrate. The first two are highly toxic to fish, nitrate is what your plants will need to live on. Look into external filters of some sort since your pond will be very small - if you want to diy there is a "mini-me" skippy filter, also other similar you can buy already made. Yes there are ways to have a water garden and/or a stream at the TOP of your waterfall be your filter - that actually would be a very effective more natural-looking way of doing it and maybe thats what you have in mind? The plants growing in and among your filter media would utilize the nitrate in the water from the fish - in that sense the plants and the other media (whether lava rock, bioballs or whatever) would be acting as your filtration . Re pump size - I'd get a slightly bigger pump , maybe 150 gph (because once you add in tubing to take it up to waterfall its going the flow will be lessened). You might even go higher gph depending on the height and length of the waterfall and the tubing (there are charts where you can look this up and figure it out.) Last but not least, no more than THREE GOLDFISH. Those tiny fish will grow to 6-10 inch long within a few yrs and 30-50 gallons per goldfish is the recommended minimum. Have heard that rosey red minnows are good for small ponds too - if you want more fish. They are short lived naturally unlike goldies which live 10-20 yrs under good conditions. No koi - instead you might want to go a pond store for goldies - there are some bred now for ponds which are beautiful with bright markings and long fins. Thats all I can think of - my first pond was about your size, so Im trying to think of what I wished Id known then. Im sorry to say I lost some goldfish at the beginning because some idiot at the garden center kept insisting I didnt need filtration, just let it "balance out" he said... meanwhile the pond kept getting muckier and muckier. Yes you do need some sort of filtration, whether a formal product you buy or make, or informal system of plants/rocks. Spoze it could work if you just net or vacuum out the debris and have some system of doing frequent water change, or of trickling water in and out. With that small a pond its doable, but I cant help but think if you have a pump, why not do the filter as well and make it easier on yourself.

The idea is to have the free standing closets placed away from the house and usable as "posts" for a fence -- not against the house to hide the utilities INSIDE of a closet, lizziesma. Your point is still a good one: it is always good to know precisely where any utilities are buried in your back yard before doing anything, even planting shrubs that require some digging. My objective was to avoid the necessity of any digging and keep the project easily removable. The fence would be built connected to the closets and to the exterior wall of the house but safely to the side away from the utilities. You could walk behind the free standing closets between the meters and fence. The free standing closets would be set atop patio blocks -- perhaps removing just a few inches of turf to have the tops of the patio blocks level with the top of the ground -- no deep digging where utilities are buried necessary. If the closets ever needed to be removed for a utility company to dig into the ground by the meter/utility access point, the digging could be done one each side of and beneath the fence, the bottom horizontal board of which would be hovering several inches off the ground ... not touching wet grass. If the fence needed to be removed, it could be knocked off the sides of the closets with a hammer or, if attached with screws, simply removed w/a screwdriver/drill. Even the small closets themselves could be moved if truly necessary.