Sorry, i got busy yesterday and didnt find the time to respond.

As far as specs, no i dont have any. Its an old pump and i dont remember anymore details than the HP rating. I think youre hitting the nail on the head with the flow vs pressure though. What im starting to wonder is if sump pumps are the best type of pump for this that maybe a 1/4hp or less can achieve the same pressure, but with smaller hose sizes. I currently have a nozzle (hose adapter) on the fountain thats 3/4in so that 1.5in piping the pump has for the great flow is mostly wasted being compressed down and prob overworking the pump like you said. Im not really concerned with the height of the fountain so less hp will probably work.

Problem is i dont want to go too small and end up with a trickle and i dont want to keep buying pumps trying to dial in the spray pressure and cost to run. I guess ill have to recheck the wattage with my kill-a-watt on the current pump and then find a pump with less wattage but thats still rated for similar lift/head at my depths if i can.