The present invention relates generally to an improved falls box as part of a filtration and water circulation system for artificial ponds and other bodies of water and, more particularly, to an improved falls box of a design and method of use that allows for vertical stacking during storage, the vertical use of a multitude of support grids to fill the cavity, the use of support ribs in an intermediary section to support aesthetic additions, an upper surface that can be opened to orient the horizontal flow across the box and create one or a plurality of artificial falls, the capacity of connecting a plurality of falls boxes in series to create a filtration cross-flow through falls boxes, the use of the falls box in a plurality of ways as a pump vault box in a disappearing water recuperation system either in connection with a falls box, by itself, upside down, in order to create an underground vegetation system, a disappearing falls system, a small pond, or a disappearing falls filter, and a tessellated upper geometry that allows connecting edges between boxes to be joined in a plurality of methods to create complex water surfaces.