I am in the process of designing my pump/filter system for a pond in our backyard. The pond will be located on our huge deck with most of the water level below the deck and about 16" (the height of a bench or seat) above the deck level. The intake will probably be near the bottom of the pond and will come up and over near the top (to avoid drilling a hole in the wood). I read on another pond guy's site where he had a round pond and put in a full circle of PVC with various holes drilled in it for an intake. As my pond will be rectangular, I was thinking of a "T" of PVC near the deep end with holes drilled in it. Acceptable? Do I need to put some kind of protective covering over it?