Thanks to both Cary and Ted. I know something isn't right with that pressure.
The pressure guage reads 1psi when the unit is shut off so I know it is 1psi off. I went back and checked with it running and no load it also reads 1psi which makes sense i.e. 0psi. The only thing on the intake side is the brown cylindrical filter. No other valves? that I can see.
The relief valve on the exhaust side does in fact pop off at about 11psi on the guage which takes into account the 1psi error so I'm thinking the guage is o.k. but still will test with the new guage to verify.
If you have any other troubleshooting thoughts on why the pressure is so high, it would be greatly appreciated. I think I'll pull the diffuser back out of the pond and work backwards i.e. disconnecting to see what happens. Someplace in the system there has to be some type of restriction!!
I definitely read the start-up gospel and started with 15 minutes on Monday and been doubling every day. That is the correct gospel, isn't it?? So far so good........
Chuck