I did it (thanks to all of your suggestions), my little 250 gallon pond as been up and running for one year. Ran the water fall ALL winter (Zone 7) even during the coldest temps. It was a HORRIBLE winter. I lost one fish but never found it during the spring clean out. Lots of pond plants have kept and are keeping my water nice and clear. My 5 gold fish and occasional frog seem to be just fine. I have quilt batting but gave up using it. I am running all water through three layers of Matala mat blue filter material. It does not catch all the fine particulates but...hey, the water looks clean. I still want to enlarge my pond but I am afraid of messing with success. This is a great forums (I have told others about it) so thanks again.
Rich
Rich