Pond brainstorming, need help.

[Ratlova30]

So I've been taking in unwanted fish for about a year now and I have four goldfish as well as 5-6 baby trout that are rapidly growing and the urgency for a pond is also rapidly growing. So here's the problem, I have a limited income and I'm well aware of how expensive ponds are but I think I have figured out a way to do it but I need some help working out the kinks.

So someone posted a thread on here of a pond they built out of cinder blocks and that's the way I want to do it also. I'm going to see if I can get them for free off CL. Then I'd buy the pond liner. So the part I had trouble coming up with for a while is a filter. I can't even afford the cheapest ones on a few websites I looked at. So... I had a brainstorm. I want to get some sort of black container(tough plastic) fill it with filter media and such and then get something that will pump the water up from the pond into the container of media. The water will travel down the container of media and come out through a hole on the bottom of the container, creating like a water fountain effect.

Does this Sound doable? If so, what do I buy that would pump up the water?

[WeedCali]

Any fountain pump should work. check ebay or harbor freight even. that filter idea actually would work just fine IMO.

[WeedCali]

Here, THIS (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220722) is what i was thinking of when you said your filter idea. just fill the container with media.

[Ratlova30]

That's a neat looking pond I'll look around some hardware stores to see if I can find a cheap fountain pump. I figured for Winter time because I don't have a place for them inside once their bigger I'd build an identical pond in my garage to move them to once the weather turns bad. How much would a fountain pump cost? I would like to try and make my ponds about 200gals and so I'd need something that would pump a lot of water.

[Muske]

If you only want the ponds to be 200 gals., why not just buy 300 rubbermaids?

A skippy filter will be a cheap and easy DIY.

[user_name]

i have a pond filter in decent condition....

[Kentucky Koi]

If you only want the ponds to be 200 gals., why not just buy 300 rubbermaids?

A skippy filter will be a cheap and easy DIY.

I'm with you there. Buy a 300 gal rubbermaid stock tank, a 150 gal rubbermaid stock tank, some PVC, a 2" shower drain, a pump, some lava rock, and some sort of grate, and your done!

A pump should be able to screw into the bottom of the 300, and run it to the top of the 150. say your pump outlet is 1", let it gravity feed down a 3" piece of PVC. it will upflow through the grate, and through the lava rock, and it will gravity feed out of the shower drain at the top of the 150

-Eric