Hello,

I need a pump and filter for an existing pond. There are actually two ponds
the main one is about 2 or 3 feet across and 3 or 4 feet long. The top pond
is very small, about 1 foot round and only a couple of inches deep.
Horizontally there is about 4 or 5 feet between the two ponds, and the top
pond is about 2 feet higher than the bottom pond. The top pond overflows
into a channel full of pebbles which trickles down into the main pond. There
is also a separate waterfall into the main pond. There is some existing
hoses and a switching valve allowing water to go either into the top pond or
to the waterfall or to both. At the moment we are just connecting a hose to
the tap every now and then, but we can't run it for too long, as the main
pond will overfill, and too much tapwater probably isn't good for the
pondlife. The main pond is home to frogs, so will need something with a
decent filter that won't digest the tadpoles.
What sort of power would I need? Would I be best with a pump in the pond, or
outside? Should I get a separate filter, or a pump with the filer built-in?
I'm in the UK, any recommended makes, models, suppliers would be useful.

TIA
Phil

In article ,
"Phil Preen" wrote:

Hello,

I need a pump and filter for an existing pond. There are actually two ponds
the main one is about 2 or 3 feet across and 3 or 4 feet long. The top pond
is very small, about 1 foot round and only a couple of inches deep.
Horizontally there is about 4 or 5 feet between the two ponds, and the top
pond is about 2 feet higher than the bottom pond. The top pond overflows
into a channel full of pebbles which trickles down into the main pond. There
is also a separate waterfall into the main pond. There is some existing
hoses and a switching valve allowing water to go either into the top pond or
to the waterfall or to both. At the moment we are just connecting a hose to
the tap every now and then, but we can't run it for too long, as the main
pond will overfill, and too much tapwater probably isn't good for the
pondlife. The main pond is home to frogs, so will need something with a
decent filter that won't digest the tadpoles.
What sort of power would I need? Would I be best with a pump in the pond, or
outside? Should I get a separate filter, or a pump with the filer built-in?
I'm in the UK, any recommended makes, models, suppliers would be useful.

TIA
Phil

Hi Phil,

I think a small in-pond pump with pre-filter (foam piece) attached would
serve you fine. You need a big enough pump to drive the water to the
higher level. Some mathematics involved.

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On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:24:09 EDT, Phil Preen wrote:

Hello,

I need a pump and filter for an existing pond. There are actually two ponds
the main one is about 2 or 3 feet across and 3 or 4 feet long. The top pond
is very small, about 1 foot round and only a couple of inches deep.
Horizontally there is about 4 or 5 feet between the two ponds, and the top
pond is about 2 feet higher than the bottom pond. The top pond overflows
into a channel full of pebbles which trickles down into the main pond. There
is also a separate waterfall into the main pond. There is some existing
hoses and a switching valve allowing water to go either into the top pond or
to the waterfall or to both. At the moment we are just connecting a hose to
the tap every now and then, but we can't run it for too long, as the main
pond will overfill, and too much tapwater probably isn't good for the
pondlife. The main pond is home to frogs, so will need something with a
decent filter that won't digest the tadpoles.
What sort of power would I need? Would I be best with a pump in the pond, or
outside? Should I get a separate filter, or a pump with the filer built-in?
I'm in the UK, any recommended makes, models, suppliers would be useful.

Hi Phil,

Have a look at http://www.pumpsandspares.com/ where the say what each
pump will do, towards the bottom of the detail for each pump. You don't
say that you have fish so I'm assuming not and in that case you can
size the pump by how much flow you want. Since the upper 'puddle' is
tiny you won't want much flow otherwise it will loose it's shape.

Any filter will digest tadpoles, if it lets something that big through
there isn't any point in having it. Tadpoles tend to be around the
edges so I'd put the pump in from the edge a bit and raised. Tadpoles
can pass through a solids handling pump and survive. With our nature
pond we have a small pump driving a small waterfall. The pump is just
below the water surface on the far side of the pond to the waterfall so
that we get a flow across. We use a Blagdon Hydrotech Multi but I can't
remember which one. It's screens don't let tadpoles through and there
are newts in that pond.

You can estimate the flow from your hosepipe by timing how long it
takes to fill a bucket and then a bit of maths to work out how much
that would be in an hour. Then use your hose to estimate how much flow
you want. A big of a guesstimate but better than a total guess.

An external pump may be tricky to install since you really need a
bottom drain. Personally I don't like filters on pumps since you have
to pull the pump out to clean it. The nature pond pump is near the
surface so we can turn it off and just brush off it's slots when
needed. The main pond has a solids handling pump so the external filter
does the filtering and we only tend to pull the pump out once a year
for a clean.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk