I too dug my hole in the ground thinking liner, pump, and have pond... Then discovered as you have skimmers, biofilters, and more...
A bottom drain is a good idea in any pond. As you say leaves will be dropping into the pond and you will have many plants that have leaves die and much else will contribute to gunk accumulating at the bottom of the pond. A bottom drain is the least labor intensive way to remove all that stuff. If your comfortable using 55 gal plastic drums, plastic stock tanks, etc to build, as you say "a plastic box" then that is a very inexpensive way to build your pond. As mentioned there is a wealth of detailed information at koiphen on how to build all kinds of DIY pond equipment.
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51710Keep in mind Koiphen is about koi ponds. They can have tunnel vision about koi pond construction, but there are not good sources for watergarden construction to my knowledge. Keep in mind the closer you build to a koi type pond, the less maintenance you will have.
Essentials; Bottom drain plumbed with 3"-4" pipe, gravity feed to a mechanical filtration device of your choosing. An external pond pump, turning over your water approximately 1 time per hour. External pumps are more costly to buy, but will save you a lot of money on electrical costs, as well as last you much longer. W. Lim, or Artesian make good ones. You can use a no-niche skimmer, a pool skimmer, or make one, or buy one. They will need some kind of filtration. All the water gets mechanically filtered before it goes to your pump. The pump can then push the water to your bio filter, then down your falls.
Avoid putting rocks on the bottom of your pond. You won't need sand for frogs and they are capable of jumping a good distance. There is a caveat on depth. If you build it shallow, say 2' deep then it's good for plants. At that depth raccoons can be a real problem, and they will eat your frogs and trash your plants. Deeper keeps the raccoons at bay but then you have to work out a solution for the plants. You may want to build a few areas of shallows for marginal plants—and keep those areas level or slightly sloped to the edge which keeps the rocks from sliding down into the depths of your pond. I have discovered that by putting my edging stones halfway into the water that the areas between the rocks and even behind them I can plant marginals there and they have places to grow and cover the liner over time.
Read all you can. The more you learn before you build, the less headaches you'll have later...
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