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Old 05-10-2012, 05:57 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
Phyllis and Jim Phyllis and Jim is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Dec 2006
Posts: 880
Default Cleaning the pad in the waterfall pump

Our pond is like Ingrid's in that the muck gathers in the veggie filter an
d is drained annually. If you can reach it, a pool scoop net works pretty
well to pull out large debris. It won't do the muck very well, however. I
agree about getting your intake higher. Less stuff to get stuck in it. O
ur old Silent Giant ran for more than a decade in a bucket with 1/2" holes
drilled around it. The pump could grind up anything that got into it.

Our new Pondmaster is cheaper to run, but can't grind stuff up. It's intak
e line is about 15" off the bottom and we scoop the large much once a year.
The pump slowly gets its small intake clogged with small bits of stuff.
The pump is out of the pond and I have set up the lines so that I can cut o
ff the flow to the veggie filter, and backflush with a permanently installe
d line. That way I only need to close the flow to the veggie filter and al
low the backflush for about 10 minutes. The clog is returned to the pond.
That has to be done every month or so in the summer. I don't have to worry
about pads.

If you are going to stay with the filter pads, you need to have them higher
up and easy to change.