I usually put my pumps in the Rubbermaid, and run water up to an overhead filter.
In the photo below, the pump is in the tank pushing water up to a biofractionator.
I do the same in ponds, like the video below. koi pond fractionation
Sometimes the pump is in the deepest part of a pond, water pumped into a tank (the highest point) flowing back by gravity to a Rubbermaid, down to the pond.