Kathy, the people on the pond forum would laugh at my set up. Have you tried Dollar General for the scrubbies? I bought two black plastic plant holders at Lowes (they aren't solid - are like a screen and put my pump in them. They are wired tops together somehow to make a box. This has been going a couple years so I forget. There is no other filter under water. The plastic hose from this is connected sometimes to a spitter sometimes it just comes out of a rock. I change that part. The spitter at the present is spitting into a crock with part of a pillow in it. That is my filter. My water is green but I have many gold fish and frogs and I like it anyway. I don't run the pump all the time but I do most of the summer. When it gets to 100 the fish need the oxygen and my "filter" does get dirt and algae out. I think it would be easier to find the scrubbies and do what you did your successful year. I have a lounge cushion that was in the dog house because someone chewed it when they were a pup. It was made of foam and a layer that is similar to scrubbies; I don't know what you call the stuff but I have used it instead of scrubbies. It could be you have more plants and muck accumulated and scrubbies may not work either this year. I don't clean my pond much but the water lilies lose leaves and a muck accumulates. That is not so bad, I think it may be a home for dragonfly nymphs. Good luck, water gardens are fun.

Thanks Helen, Sorry I have been so slow in checking back. I think they would laugh about my set up over there too. I tried quilt batting and it lasted about 4 days. Last year I had the pump and scrubbies in a cottage cheese container. I tried the Dollar Store and the Dollar tree and they were the metal kind. Maybe I need to check more often.

The black plant holders are especially for water plants; I think they are about 4 dollars each at Lowes. Two tied together is probably too big for your bathtub, but you might make a box out of something similar. If I had a fine filter under water, it would be clogging up in 4 days too. The box that my pump is in is just to keep the leaves out. Small things go right through and shoot out from the spitter.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about a filter then except for something for the leaves. Sure would be easier.