In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:

I'd still stick with
that 19 gallon size for your size pond.

Built a "Mini-Me" Skippy filter.
From Lowes bought a 20-gallon macCOURT Plan*Tain*er,
http://www.maccourt.com/products/ponds/pp2620.html, for $19. Green
Mama's, North Richland Hills (Fort Worth), had a very similar one for $28.
(They also had the really-really-big Rubbermaid Skippy filter tubs.)
Installed PVC. Wrote "Skippy" who said to lay the grate right on the
pipes. Today bought a box of 5 commercial floor scrubber pads for $5 each,
the white ones because they were finer than the rest. Bought the smallest
bottle of Microbe Lift from Green Mama's. Tonight I install it all and
flip the switch. My only question now is rhetorical, if I hold my breath,
will I be right and truly blue before the pond stops being green?

(I know - "Yes.")

I'm not up on how the skippy works (down flow, up flow?)

Up-flow. Just like a Veggie Filter, but instead of 2-3 inches of 1-inch
stones topped with root-dragging plants, you have several inches or a
couple of feet of bacteria-growing medium.

I have to drain the pond and remove all the baby
fish in the spring so the frogs can breed and do their thing. Thus I shop
vac the bottom in the spring. ~ jan

You... You vacuum the baby fish? Oh, my.

John
http://artships.com/pond.php

ps. Thanks, Jan, for all your help, both directly and as archived by
DejaGoogle.