Ponds and Water Gardens - Opinion on pumps

My wife and I have been taking on the task of a nice little water garden. We have a couple pre-molded ponds we will be using on a sloped piece of our yard on top of a 4 ft retaining wall. It is a great location for a pond/waterfall (one pond with water flowing to the bottom pond)

The ponds will hold a combined total of only 250-300 gallons.

Anyways, I would like some opinions from some people here regarding the best choice for pump, filter, and or a combination of both. Would a submersible pump be best? Would a filter/pump work?

I am pretty new to this and really just know that I need a pump to pump the water from the bottom pond to the top (7 ft or so) and some sort of filtration system.

What else would I have to have and does anyone have suggestions or opinions on what works the best. Cost is important. I do not have $500 to drop on a filter or pump. I just want a pretty simple pond with possibly some small fish or some small water plants....or a combo of both.....just need some help with the pump, filter, and other things for upkeep

We have a water feature similar to what you describe. Ours is on a steep slope in our back yard. We have a pond at the bottom with a creek running from the top to the pond at the bottom. At the top is a small pond with a gravity filter consisting of filter media, gravel, and plastic filter rings all inside a filter box hidden by large stones. The pump is submerged in the pond at the bottom of the hill with the pipe underground beside the creek. The pipe coming into the filter has a Y-connector so that water can bypass the filter if the filter becomes partially obstructed.

Make sure your pump has adequate capacity to pump a sufficient volume of water the height you described.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your project.

I just built my second pond, after rebuilding my first one 3 times.....I would recomend for you to go bigger on the pump, and put in a ball valve right above the outlet..this lets you control the flow...mine is 3000gph and I have it choked off half...but can always crank it up if I want to...my pond is small, but has a big rock waterfall...the problem with my last pond was not enough power....frustrating because ther is not a lot yo can do about that!...I bought mine on e-bay...type in waterfall pump, and I saw them for around 100-120 shipped for a 2000-2500 which should be more than adequate....I do not have filter on mine as it a solids handling model...I just put it into a plastic water planter basket (pond section; $5 at Home Depot), but big rock around it and then put the whole thing into a mesh bag and secured with tiedowns..this will act as a bio filter, and your plants should help with any algae...crystal clear water...getting some fishies today!!...good luck...ponds are awsome!

On the pump, get about a 2000 gph and install a ball valve so you can turn it down. On the filter: that's a small amount of water and will be a nightmare to keep clean if youput in plants and fish. Suggest no fish/plants and buy algecide to keep it pristine with weekly applications.