pond pump/filter question

I am building a pond that is about 8' x 6' with a max depth of 4' - I'm looking at a Laguna Max Flo 1500 pump to power a pretty serious waterfall. Questions:

Is this pump strong enough?
Are these pumps any good?
Do I need to have a separate filtering system?


Thank you for your help here. I really want to buy a good pump that will last for many years. The first time!!!

laguna pumps are good pumps and easy on the electric bill. if you plan on a pressure filter you will need to move up in pump GPHs. how serious of a waterfall are you thinking about? 1500 gph will make a nice waterfall thats proportionate to your ponds size which will be in the ball park of 1400 gals, but if you want a big falls youll need a bigger pump.

Very happy with my laguna 4200 max flo

Yep! I agree with koiguy. I had my Laguna Max Flo 4200 and it worked wonders. I still have it just in case my external filter every konks out as an emergency back-up.

You need to go higher in GPH than the 1500.

Thank you for your responses. So, does that mean I don't need an external filter because the laguna max flo has one built in? Or, do I just not need a filter at all for a pond of this size?

Sorry for the noob questions - I'm brand new to this

You only need a external filter if you want to keep your water clear

Oh! Of course you need a filter!! A pump is not a filter--the pump simply pulls the water from the pond and pushes it into a filter. Laguna makes a great pressure flo filter that you might want to consider if you're interested in just buying something off the shelf.

If you are handy and can DIY something. Look at the stickies in our DIY forum, which can help you build a filter out of a 55 gallon barrel.

55 gallon drum? That's not gonna happen. I am very handy and could easily handle a DIY. What about something involving a 5 gallon bucket?

Are there smaller, submersible filters? Or even all in one setups?

a 5 gal bucket will be just fine if your only gonna have a few goldfish . at even 1000gph, the water would spend about 3.5 seconds in filtration... not much time for bascterial function. but i guess you could get some mechanical filtration out of it. if you want an efficent filter and a clean healthy enviroment for your fish, think, a bigger filter and plants (the more the better ). try a stocktank filter theyre lower profile than the drums, making them real easy to hide as a waterfall basin filter, and perform great..i have and use one of each. i have plans for one in the DIY section. or google SKIPPY FILTER.

heres my waterfall with my 70 gal skippy style filter ...the filter is the center of the falls you fill it with water hiacynths and lettuce ..it disappears.