"Roy" wrote in message
...
I have a swimming pool filter that is driving me crazy to come up with
something to make out of it. I finally decided to use it as a base
for a floating / submerged support for a fountain in the middle of my
pond.

Plan is to use a submersible pump, mounted to a plate attached on top
of this large roundish shaped filter container that will be installed
where the normal flush, backwash etc valve is normally found. Two or
three eye bolts near the bottom on the sides to moor it from three or
so directions, with cables attached to concrete block anchors on pond
bottom. I plan on ballasting this filter assembly so it will float
with the pump side up, but still able to be kept submerged under the
waters surface to allow for when water level drops. Its a 1 acre pond
so I need something with at least a 100 foot or so lead or capability
to extend power lead. Price of a commercial fountain kit is out of
the question, due to prices, and believe one can be made with a
decent submersible. Would like a lot of flow for a decent fountain and
quanity of water (not necesarily for display as much as for aeration
and keeping floatsum off the ponds surface. Basically all I am going
to need is a pump, the rest I can make myself such as the fountain
heads etc.

Any suggestions appreciated
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Flotec makes a stainless steel waterfall pump that has a 4100 gal/hr capacity
that might be right up your ally:

http://www.flotecpump.com/asp/Product.asp?PId=283

My garden pond filter is an old jacuzzi pool filter that I converted for use
with the pond. I gutted it, and had a glass company make a 1/2" thick Lexan
plate for the top cover. I used the original backflush valve bolts to bolt it
to the top of the filter. The pump is mounted underneath the cover, and sits in
the water, above the filter material. I drilled holes through the cover and ran
ABS fittings through it for the water outlet, and bought a rubber grommet at a
hardware store to run the electrical supply through the cover, so everything
comes out of the top. The bottom had a drain plug that I overdrilled in order to
make the hole larger, then I ran a threaded coupling through it and fitted the
coupling on the outside with a 90 degree elbow, then connected the inlet hose to
the elbow. The filter inlet hose is connected to a pre-filter that I
periodically clean. I never have to clean the main filter. On the inside, I
have a stainless steel in-line basket strainer connected to the threaded
coupling. It sits vertically inside the tank. Then I have about 40 lbs of
washed gravel around the strainer that covers it completely. It works very well
as a filter for my pond. The entire system is a suction system instead of a
postive pressure system. I can see you using a similar setup (with the cover
and pump, but perhaps without all of the filtration) for your fountain setup.
Just remember that whatever you do, you need to make it so that debris doesn't
clog the pump or the fountain, perhaps the in-line basket strainer would
suffice. Just make it so that you can backflush it under pressure if the basket
strainer gets clogged.