"joe" wrote in message
...
.. You might wish to
consider a skimmer. I have one and love it. It takes the crud that's
floating on top and is also a very good place to house your pump.

My pond is similar in dimension to yours. We have a PondSweep skimmer and
love it. Very easy to maintain and my water is clear all the time. I added
a filter mat that has embedded barley straw, and due to a mysterious influx
of snails last summer, added a pump sock (a glorified wrap-around filter in
a bag sort of arrangement that you put the pump into) to prevent snails from
ever clogging the pump again.

YMMV,
NJ