So this is where things stand or a quick recap. Overflow from the pond spilled to a 6 gallon sump inside the “doghouse” with the submersible pump. Piped through the wall in to the garage and through a shower filter. Then gravity fed into the small box you see hanging on the garage wall which contained a planter filled with gravel. Holes in the planter allowed water return and a nice water feature. Yes, this worked! Quite fantastically with very little maintenance. The parameters were spot on %100 all last season. 2 ISSUES. First off during power interruptions (we get a lot), I had to rig a holding relay so the pump would not just startup when power was restored. The sump is not large enough and would run dry before the return would get flowing. Therefor restart required having a 5 gal bucket primed and ready to pour into the sump when you restarted manually. You can see the issue if I’m away for a period of time. Second issue, shower filters take up a lot of room. Way easy to clean and really powerful but big and my fish room inside the garage is NOT. So my plan is to pull the sump from the “doghouse” and install a pressure canister I’ve picked up in its place. Move the pump into the pond with a pre-filter (yet to be built). Plumbing will run back and forth through what was the sump spillway. This addresses both issue for me but leaves me with a new question. What to do with the return? One idea I have is replacing the small box hanging on the wall and building a larger one that rests on the back 1/5? of the pond. Wrap it in cedar or black steel with the appropriate liner and provide a spillway center of it to return to the pond. Plant it with what have you. Jenny, pathos, native pond plants. What say you pond nation?
