Tucson, AZ zone 4 elevation 2700 ft

Turns out the pool is about 28 feet long. I haven't measured the width, and the bottom appears almost cone shaped, the point of the cone being at the drain. I don't think it has ANY flat bottom. It actually looks kind of steep all the way around. So Corrie, NOW how do I put water lilies in?

I have a sturdy steel pole (actually the rod that is used for automatic garage doors, I think) that I can lay across from edge to edge and use S hooks to hold a few buckets of lilies, maybe some cattails and rushes.

Apparently many water plants aren't readily available here until MAY.

My plan for now--I'm posting it for guidance, so all input is welcome--

is to

1)buy both a sump pump and an air pump, and plug the air pump in to help with aeration. Then the pool pump won't need to run all the time

2)buy and pot water lilies, and get watercress, water lettuce, spinach, and a few other floaters to help with filtration.

3)let the chemicals dissipate, and work to keep the string algae down by brushing and raking the sides of the pool. The floaters will eat the algae. Put the plants into the pool/pond.

4) I plan to build a gravel bog filter, in part to have more plants, in part, because then I can add some edible fish to the pond. I will use the sump pump to push water to a small fall from which it will flow through a plant filled gravel bed filter before returning to the pool.

Then in August I'll get in...If I can catch the few fishies by hand, I won't have to sit on the bank with a pole... LOL!

Since the bubbler will run most of the time, and the plants will provide oxygen, the pool pump can be left idle to use for a yearly cleaning.

It doesn't have much of a skimmer, so I think I'll add one. It does have a vacuum that travels the sides and bottom, but that has to come out, doesn't it, until time to clean the pond?

That's MY plan. But I have no idea what I'm doing, and am asking for input from the experts here. Tell me what I've left out, what else I need to do and in what order.

Thanks

Ella