Need pump advice

Well, my one half-barrel pond is turning into three. I decided to do it
the way I REALLY want and have more water and space for critters and an
interesting layout. I'm going to run an electric cord from the porch
light the way someone suggested to get a pump going so I can have
adequate filtration for the shebunkins I wanted in the first place. ;-)

The barrels will be set on different height cinder blocks with a
spillway from barrel to barrel and a pump to filter and return water
from the lowest barrel to the bottom of the highest. Trailing marginals
and potted plants will hide the cinder blocks. I found these great
Calpump barrel filters that have sponge prefiltering and can be filled
with bio balls, carbon, or whatever I need. I got 2 and put them on a T
fitting and they'll be on the intake of the pump.

The spillways are going to be black 2" ID PVC cut in half, screwed into
a hole in the lip of the barrel, and covered with the liner I've
discovered I need. (The barrels leak.) The spillways will be gently
sloped with 4" drops between barrels.

All told, I will have 60-70 gallons to circulate and 25" of head from
the bottom of the lowest to the rim of the top barrel. The guy at the
pond shop recommends a Pondmaster Pond-Mag 5 pump with a 7 food head but
I'm concerned that it will exceed the flow rate of my 2" spillways since
it's rated at 415 gph at 2 feet of head! I think maybe a Pondmaster
Pond-Mag 3 at 325 gph with 3 feet of head would be better. I did buy a
ball valve for fine-tuning but my understanding is that I can damage the
pump if I have to turn the flow back by more than 1/4.

I'd sure love some help deciding, and also your opinion on Pondmaster
versus other brands of pumps.

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__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__