Does the pond pump recirculate all the water or just like the top half?

[Zuke]

Seems like a dumb question but, I have looked everywhere and haven't found an answer for this, does all my water get pumped through my skimmer and filter or just like the top water? Thanks

 

[j.w]

@Zuke It's gonna suck all the water through eventually due to the circulation of the water throughout the pond but only the stuff that is floating on top will end up in the skimmer. Maybe someone else has a more scientific way to explain it to ya.

 

[Zuke]

View attachment 122841@Zuke It's gonna suck all the water through eventually due to the circulation of the water throughout the pond but only the stuff that is floating on top will end up in the skimmer. Maybe someone else has a more scientific way to explain it to ya.

@j.w Thanks What do you mean that just the the the stuff floating on the top will end up in the skimmer? The stuff at the bottom won't get sucked up? Or just the floating stuff will get caught in the filter and not the tiny stuff in the water, sorry I am a bit of a newbie

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome @Zuke !

Where's your pump? In the skimmer? In the pond? External?

What @j.w means is the debris that floats on the pond will get "skimmed" off by the water getting pulled to the skimmer (if you have one) and the pump is housed in the skimmer. If your pump is on the bottom of the pond (or drawing from the bottom if it's external) then more of the debris from the bottom would get drawn to the pump, which may not be a good thing. Most people use some kind of pre-filter to keep an in-pond pump from getting clogged with debris. Fine debris that passes through the pump would get caught in your mechanical filtration (filter pads generally) in your waterfall box. But again - much of this depends on your individual pond set up. Share more about your pond and the answers can be more specific to your situation!

 

[Zuke]

Welcome @Zuke !

Where's your pump? In the skimmer? In the pond? External?

What @j.w means is the debris that floats on the pond will get "skimmed" off by the water getting pulled to the skimmer (if you have one) and the pump is housed in the skimmer. If your pump is on the bottom of the pond (or drawing from the bottom if it's external) then more of the debris from the bottom would get drawn to the pump, which may not be a good thing. Most people use some kind of pre-filter to keep an in-pond pump from getting clogged with debris. Fine debris that passes through the pump would get caught in your mechanical filtration (filter pads generally) in your waterfall box. But again - much of this depends on your individual pond set up. Share more about your pond and the answers can be more specific to your situation!

Thanks!

My pump is in my skimmer that sends the water to my waterfall box, that makes sense, yes my pump has a prefilter that stops the fish from being sucked up too, I checked and my pond has one filter covering the holes to the waterfall. I am planning on redoing my pond, digging it deeper(and maybe wider), adding uv clarifer and biofilter, you can't see through it because of the algae right now, it is only 19 inches deep and I am planning on digging it to 3 feet deep or more, it has maybe 15 small koi that are a couple years old, and I spotted maybe 7 babys in it

Here is a pic

 

[Lisak1]

Way way way too many fish for that size pond. If you plan to keep 15 koi, you should shoot for 4000 plus gallons. Plus 7 babies... make that 6000. And that's probably a low estimate. What are your measurements of your current pond? I know - no one likes to hear that news, but it's a common problem and one we see here all the time. Koi are too big for most garden ponds. They grow big and fast and you will soon see yourself addressing major fish health issues, which is no fun. Your current pond is much more suited to a few goldfish. Even deeper isn't always the answer - total volume is important, but surface area plays a big role, too. More area to exchange gasses, more room for plants, more room for fish to swim - they want to swim from one end to the other, not up and down if that makes sense.

Read about UV filtration here on the forum - some love them, others (myself included) are not big fans. If you have pea soup algae (which is the only thing UV will address), you need to ask yourself what's going on with the pond that is creating that situation. Excess nutrients is 100% of the time the answer - too many fish, too much feeding, too much organic matter not being removed from the pond, not enough plants. Address those issues and the UV will sit unused.

If your pump is in your skimmer, then there shouldn't be a second inlet to the pump itself. It would be pumping the water that flows into the skimmer box back up to the waterfall box. So that part was a little confusing. Maybe you can clarify that part a bit. And what do you mean when you say "bio filter" - if you have a waterfall box, that is your bio filtration. There should be filtration media inside of the box - pads and probably bio balls. Or maybe even lava rock. Is that what you have? Are you just saying you plan to increase the size? Sorry - many questions!

And lots of unsolicited advice there - take it for what it's worth!

 

[SherrysPond]

Pretty pond, but Koi get really big...........you better get to digging!!

 

[Zuke]

@Lisak1 Well they aren't that big, probably around 3 or 4 inches, they have been that big or quite a few years. The previous homeowner had them in there(I'm not saying you are wrong), I'll take a pic real quick, the pond is 14 feet long and 8 feet wide. Yes that makes sense lol, why do people recommend that the min depth be 3 feet?, I am in the planning stage right now so I am trying to learn as much as possible before I do the actual changes, I am planning on putting more plants in it, how much will that use up the nutrients? There is only on inlet to the pump correct, it pumps the water to the waterfall, there is no bio balls, I will take a picture,

Here are the fish

Here is all that is in the waterfall filter

I plan on increasing the size of the pond and making it look good, it is pretty bad lol

I will thanks for the help!!

 

[Zuke]

Pretty pond, but Koi get really big...........you better get to digging!!

Thank you! Maybe these aren't koi???

 

[mrsclem]

Are there whiskers on the fish? They look like goldfish.

 

[Zuke]

Are there whiskers on the fish? They look like goldfish.

I will check later but I googled goldfish and I don't think they look like mine

 

[j.w]

They look like goldfish to me but too hard to see if they have whiskers or not. Would be a good thing if they are goldfish as they don't get so big.

Koi: See the whiskers by it's mouth?

Goldfish: No whiskers.

 

[Zuke]

@j.w interesting, I will check, are goldfish multicolored? I have a white and orange one and a plain white one

 

[Tula]

They look like goldfish, Comets, to me.....which is fortunate given the pond's size.

Welcome to the forum, this is a great place to pick up ideas for your bigger pond.

 

[j.w]

@j.w interesting, I will check, are goldfish multicolored? I have a white and orange one and a plain white one

Yes I have several that are white and also orange and white. I have some also that are called Shubunkins and they are kind of a calico type color. You can't see them here tho.