Hello all, new here, and I've been reading some of the stickies and info on filters etc. But, I could use some targeted advice and/or direction to relevant resources/threads, We have an old pond with a skimmer and submersible pump, water fall with sacks of some kind of media, maybe lava rock? Maintenance is a headache, particularly cleaning filters, hubby just as soon fill in the pond. I love our pond and fish and need to find a way to reduce the maintenance. But, we have limitations, physical and financial, digging up and completely rebuilding the pond is not an option. Two things we did already, we put shade sails over the pond and cut down a tree that was dumping leaves into it. This has helped a lot. Recent research has led me to the idea of adding a bottom drain and a pressurized filter with external pump and backflush capabilities. These two things are viable. We will have to run the plumbing for the bottom drain inside the pond and conceal it, which I think can be done. I was looking at the Seagate xtreme filter system. http://www.seagatefilters.com/Medium...tems-p-53.html But reading here suggest that this might not be the best option. As I read more, getting a bit overwhelmed, sand filters, settlement tanks, sieves, and more.. I don't see anyway to add a settlement tank, from what I've read they need to be gravity fed, there is just no easy way to do this. So, I'd appreciate any suggestions or directions to other resources that might be helpful... thinking there were a lot of these old style ponds built, must be other who have tackled this problem. Thanks -cj-