Pumps are rated for lift, which is the biggest detail you need to investigate. The packaging and product info will tell you that. Then you need to understand headloss, which is caused by such things as gravity, pipe diameter, obstructions, friction, changes in direction, etc. What you want to do is not necessarily easy or cheap depending on the force you want. A more narrow tube propels the water with more force than a larger diameter tube. Fountain heads are cheap and widely available. They are simply a cap that has holes or divisions that redirect water flow and can increase the force of the discharge. They are attached by pushing them onto the end of the discharge pipe. They are often included with pumps. I have acquired a box full that give different spray patterns. All just cap the end of the discharge pipe. What kind of spread do you want? Any bowl or surround of the tubing or the fountain head is pretty much ornamental rather than functional unless the tubing is really flexible. Then it can help keep it in position. Filtration is important for fountains. They rely on small holes to separate the spray and propel it. Blocking part with even a bit of algae can change the dynamics with drastic results. Debris of any sort will be a problem. Water loss will be a problem with such a tall spray. Wind will redirect the water very easily and evaporation is going to be increased especially if the spread is wide. I don't know a thing about the pump you show. I've never seen it before but then I don't buy pumps a lot. Mike in Illinois may know something about it.

Yes, the box filter is just what you described and I leave out the filters. It has a hose that runs to the filter which is just sitting between plants right now. You can build an enclosure if you want. They aren't supposed to sit in direct sun, so it depends on whether you have a protected area to place it in. You can dig the hole so that about half of it sits in the hole. Then a simple wooden cover held up by stakes would be all you need. The outlet hose runs to a small waterfall. The filter comes with instructions on how to hook it up, where to place it, and everything else you need to know and the filter material comes with it. You just have to buy hoses separately. All season I only clean it by turning the knobs and then you pump them up and down a couple of times to get the gunk out. We only rinse it out at the end of the season when we're storing it away for the winter. You have to store it where it won't freeze. My pond always gets full of tadpoles and some end up in the filter box the pump is in. I do check it often during the spring and pour them back in the pond. Some probably get sucked into the filter and killed, but I don't know how that could be avoided with any system. You're welcome! Hope this helps.

Hi Frank, The filter I have is the kind that the pump goes inside it. It comes with the filter media and some plastic things for the bacteria to live in. Just set the pump inside the filter box, place the plastic things on top, put in the media, and close the lid. Drop slowly into the pond. As I said earlier though, I cut a piece of pond underlayment to fit, and sandwiched it between the 2 filter pads it comes with. To me, the holes were just too big to filter out really fine silt. The pump will dictate the size of the hose. The hose on mine is 5/8'. It's black, and in the pond sections at the hardware stores. Comes in 20' sections. about $9.00. The link at the bottom is the Beckett page, and the filter I have is the 2nd one on the list, which comes with the 325 pump. I think I remember seeing the whole thing for about $119.00(HD). Lowe's has the same thing, under a different name though. Just make sure to match up the size of hoses while you're there, because the pump hose fittings are all different. I had the smaller pump/kit until I expanded my pond, and changed out the pump for the 325 gph. You could put a valve in, but I don't know if you will find that easily. But that would be great if you did. I had a hard time finding anything in 5/8' in black, but if yours will be hidden, it doesn't matter if it's black or not. My T is a 1/2', connected under water, with the 5/8' hose, very very tight, with a black cable tie. If you use a cable tie, make sure it's really tight, or water will leak out, and you will lose flow. You can use a metal hose clamp, but eventually they rust. I'm actually taking out one of the waterfalls this weekend, because I want to put in a bog shelf across one end of the pond. My pond is only about 3' wide, so I need to make the most of it. I consider my pond more of a water garden/water feature, so I have the water flow really scaled back, because it does splash out, and it's next to a cracked tiled patio, which has grout.(water splashes out-grout gets green) It's as big as it's ever going to get though, because it's wedged in a corner, in the ground, inside a 40X18' screened enclosure. Believe me, you will change/expand this no matter what, several times down the road, if you're able, because once you have a pond, you'll want it bigger. ;-0) Here is a link that might be useful: Pond filter

Hello everyone, I've been away but we are starting to emerge from winter around here (near Kansas City) and I'm thinking SPRING CLEANING! I've brought this old thread back since it had some good pictures of detritus AND algae shown collected on the bottom. My pond is going on year 3 and I've never really did anything about the stuff on the bottom. (No Bottom Drain). My water really turned clear the latter half of Year 1 and since I've netted the pond I've been able to keep most leaves out. But, after two full years and the eventual die-backs of winter, there is an accumulation of detritus on the bottom. I suppose it's mainly particles of rocks, plants, small leaves (that escape my net), and whatever else makes it pass the water's edge. Every time I get into the pond and move around I really stir-up the detrital muck and the water goes cloudy for a day or so. I've read Horton's comments from above, but I don't yet have a shop vac and I really don't want to purchase a pond vac ($$$). Surprisingly, I don't really have any string algae this year (at least not yet)! I'm without a bottom filter ( I do have a Savio skimmer), what options do I have of removing the fine algae and the detritus from the sidewalls and bottom of the pond? (It looks a lot like the photos from above). I think it is too fine to sweep. It would just float away. As always, all help is much appreciated!