nql, great job. do you have a pic of the aerator in action/bubble action? also, sounds like you are trying to optimize your water into your pond. you are putting a lot of work on pumping the water from that small area to your main pond. i just had a quick suggestion. it doesn't look like you have a lot of runoff to your pond. but i do notice a gutter down spout on your porch area, but no gutters on your building closest to your pond. i thought maybe you could put gutters on it, then dig shallow trenches from the down spout exits, connect to plastic or pvc pipes and channel all that water to your pond. then cover up the pipe. you could maybe even converge all the pipes into a small area and have a nicely rock landscape area like a little waterfall or creek coming into your pond when it rains.
