The plan is to join preformed ponds together

[guitarman023]

One of the main reasons I want to use the preformed, is I'm building on a slope, and wanting to make one side above ground a foot or so, and using the preform, I won't have to brace behind it as much. I'll sit down and draw up about what I'm wanting to do, and then see where you guys think I should go from there. And buckry, I'm definitely planning on going 3-4ft on it for sure.

 

[buckry]

To have it above grade you'll need just as much dirt, rock, brick, or whatever as with a flexible liner. I assume you're not going to slip a single cinderblock under it on the low side, if you plan on making it look natural, the process is basically the same for both types. When I first got my preformed liner I set it up on flat ground and put the hose in it. As soon as it got to the top of the plant shelves the whole thing started to cave in on itself, after a few inches it was flattening out on the ground under the weight of the water. I had to put blocks under the plant shelves and even then it looked all mis-shapen. The preformed liners may be rigid, but they are not load bearing or strong in any way, they need to be treated just like a flexible liner in my opinion.

 

[guitarman023]

hmmm, maybe craigslist is the way to go then. I guess I could do this without the preforms. One thing I do want to do is have a waterfall off the main pond. I've noticed that on my top pond, the waterfall acts like a skimmer, and I'd like to do the same on the main pond to keep the bulk of debris from sinking to the bottom. Even after two months, the top pond barely has any stuff in the bottom. How would you do this with a flexible liner?

 

[ididntdoit99]

[sup]Now you got me all confused... you wanted streams connecting so they could swim from pond to pond, and now you are talking about a waterfall from one pond to another. Your koi aint jumping up a waterfall [/sup]

[sup]if you decide to buy a liner to make a big pond, but still want to do a top and bottom pond.... then i'd go ahead and keep one of the preforms, make a smaller top pond, make a waterfall weir on the preform and have it fall into the bigger pond below. [/sup]

 

[buckry]

I'm confused too. Waterfall acts like a skimmer? That is one weird waterfall. I think I need to look at the pictures again really quick.

 

[guitarman023]

yeah, this is hard to explain without pics. It's looking more like I'm not going to need the preforms, I just found 45mil liners on ebay, that should be plenty strong enough.

 

[sissy]

Thing is you are still using a liner and what happens if the liner floats up from the preformed .Offer them on craigslist or something else and the money you make use towards your pond .I love the shape of preforms also but they make no sense as they are not deep enough for your winters and koi will be lost in each pond and koi do get very large and summer heat on a preformed is not good .Besides that hard to level and hard to keep level .Plus they shift and heave during thaws

 

[ididntdoit99]

Yeah buckry, it makes sense, if you have a small pond that has a waterfall weir pouring down to another pond leaves and things that fall on the surface are going to go down the waterfall to the bottom pond. Which probably doesn thelp much, except you only have to clean the leaves out of one bottom pond instead of from both.

 

[guitarman023]

yes, my pond is in close proximity to a few trees, and anytime a leaf or a crab apple or bug falls in the upper pond, it heads right for the waterfall, and goes into the main pond. So I am thinking of doing the same thing on the bottom pond, having a low spot that falls to a third small pond with a screen to catch all the debris, and then pump the water back to the top.

 

[guitarman023]

I'm already leaning towards keeping two of the smaller preform ponds and selling the rest, I think that's the way to go.

 

[buckry]

Ahhh, I see, so there is no skimming really. I get it.

 

[guitarman023]

i'm glad I came here, or I would be in for quite a mess sounds like.

 

[guitarman023]

Ahhh, I see, so there is no skimming really. I get it.

right, this is my cheap way of skimming, which works surprisingly well.

 

[buckry]

You can easily keep them, and even plumb them together with waterfalls or streams, keep fish out of one and use it just for plants, let frogs have the other one, or your koi fry when they are born, although that may not work, they'd probably just wash over the waterfall back into the main pond and get eaten.

But as far as designing your new pond to stay clean while another lower pond gets dirty, I think I'd just buy a skimmer box, the one I bought was $79, and it creates the most perfect current across the top of my pond. If I drop a leaf in at one end, the leaf follows the edge of the pond all the way to the skimmer in about 2 minutes. I let it run all day, and my surface is 100% clear at all times. Talk about a small price to pay, best investment I've made so far on the pond.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Personally i would stick with the two ponds... and a skimmer in the second one to collect the stuff.
I think maybe waterbug has picture on his site about making a diy skimmer, its way easier than you think and costs nothing, just uses a little bit of your liner.
if you are using a submersible pump you throw it in there, all of the water will pull into the skimmer, and then pump it back up to that top pond, and no $50 plastic box needed.