Setup

Now that you have prepared the inner and outer buckets, packed the pond basket, and cut your fill tube to length, you can put them all together. The pond basket fits into the big hole in the inner bucket and extends down into the outer bucket, while the fill tube passes through its smaller hole in the inner bucket down into the outer bucket.

I've found it's easier to do the same step to a number of buckets rather than do a single bucket from start to finish. Here's a photo of six buckets that are on the way.

Cutting

The next thing to do is trace a circle on the bottom of the bucket around this nifty little invention that will act as your wick. These guys are called pond basket and you can order them here or you can make your own by drilling holes in plastic containers that used to hold hummus or yogurt. Then you cut out a circle just inside the line that you drew. And then cut out a smaller hole toward the side that will be big enough for the filling tube.