I am building my first pond, and am very excited. It seems like I've been
digging forever! Hopefully I can get rid of some of the fat that I've grown
by sitting in front of a computer 24 hours a day I hope to start putting
the liner in this weekend.

Here is the way that I currently have it laid out. If you have any
thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I have a short waterfall and stream (about 10 feet horizontal and 3 or 4
feet vertical) that feeds into a 5x8x2 veggie filter. The veggie filter
will overflow into another waterfall/stream that feeds into a 9x8x4 pond. I
bought the Cal Torpedo pump, and right now I am thinking about using it
inline, not submerged. It just seems like it would be easier to access
external to the pond.

I am not real sure about the design of the veggie filter. I've never seen a
design for one that has a stream feediing into it, and another one out of
it. I am thinking that I will have two 1 1/2" PVC pipes running on the
bottom, spaced about 2 1/2 feet apart, lined with holes about every 6
inches. The PVC pipe will be covered with landscape liner and then about 12
inches of gravel. Than I will put in a bunch of plants, although I haven't
decided what kind yet. Since the water will come in from the stream at the
top, in order to get the water to flow into the PVC pipe at the bottom,
making sure I get good flow though the gravel, I want to create a small
chamber at the beginning of the veggie filter, by partioning off a small
section with some boards, or rocks. There will be a PVC inlet at the bottom
that goes into the PVC pipe manifold under the veggie filter.

I want a bottom drain, but I haven't really figured that part out yet. I'll
probably try and do something like Greg suggests at
http://www.geocities.com/bickal2000/pond.htm.

Of course, I'll need an overflow pipe. I figure that will go in the same
ditch that I dig for the bottom drain and drainage that I need to build
under the liner for rainfall run off (this whole thing sits on hard pan).