Filter Design

[GreatDanesDad]

Forgive the new guy for funny pictures and questions that may have been answered a thousand times on this site already.

I have dug out my pool and I am working on my plumbing right now. I have two 1500 gph sub pumps with UV fliters. I removed 200sqft of dirt witch calculates out to about 1500 gallons.

First think, is there such thing as too much water flow? My plan was to have two waterfalls oppisite eachother with one pump running each waterfall. I have the plumbing necessary to run both falls with one pump and keep the second as a spare or use both pumps as origionally planned. The pumps say they can push water 10 feet vertically, and my falls will only be 4 feet higher than the pump. So one pump will only be pushing water 8 feet. Advice?

The second question is about my awesome picture attached. I am going to build my own filters. The water falls are large lined whiskey barrels. I have seen tons of these designed and functioning well on youtube. Dont know if that is a good resource, but im trying. I would like help deciding on material necessary for a good filter. Can you tell me what materials to use in levels 1, 2, and 3 from the finger painting attached?

Third, the pond is between 3 and 5 feet deep with two proposed waterfalls. Do I need a seperate aerator? Pictures of pond design here: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/10282-new-pond-builder-im-building-from-the-ground-up/

 

[sissy]

I have two you just have to make sure they do not turn over to much of your cooler water .I do not use an aerator any more .Because so far have not found a good one

 

[sissy]

lol what a drawing .

 

[Waterbug]

Forgive the new guy for funny pictures and questions that may have been answered a thousand times on this site already.

Asked and discussed thousands of times...but never answered to everyone's liking.

First think, is there such thing as too much water flow?

Sure. Fish can only swim so hard for so long.

The pumps say they can push water 10 feet vertically, and my falls will only be 4 feet higher than the pump. So one pump will only be pushing water 8 feet. Advice?

Not sure what you're looking for here...is there a problem? For vertical push (called head) you measure from the water surface where the pump is to the top of the feature. Not from the pump to the top of the feature. So if the feature is 2' above the pond the pump head is 2' no matter how deep in the pond the pump is located. But water does lose flow due to friction inside the pipe, so that's another factor.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Couple of ideas... IF you want to build those type of filters, area 1 is generally a dead spot, put some legs on a grate and keep the filtering material off the bottom a few inches, that way debris can build up in the bottom. you will also want a valve or something at the bottom which you can open to clean the filter once in a while. Not the best type of filter, but many people do use them and are happy.


From a design standpoint, and I don't know if this is an issue for you or not, having a waterfall at both ends of the pond. Imagine a leaf drops in your pond, where will it be pushed to? You didn't mention whether or not you plan on a skimmer. I don't know your exact design, and maybe they are both angled slightly to push all current towards the front of your pond, or whatever. But when you say two falls opposite each other i imagine them pointing directly at each other and pushing everything into the middle, making it hard for a skimmer to pull leaves from the surface of the pond.

And yes, your head height is only going to be 4 feet, it the amount above the surface of the pond, not from the top of the pump.

 

[GreatDanesDad]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

Here are some clairifications. The first is in regards to the height of my falls and my pump. Can a single pump rated for 10ft head run two falls with 5ft head a piece?

Second is in regards to the two falls. The pond is a 10x6.5x4 with a 15x2x3 stream that runs into it. The stream and the pond make a very large L shape. The skimmer and the pump will be in the corner of the L and the falls at the ends of the L shape, pushing all water toward the corner where the skimmer and the pump are. This is also the deepest part of the pool.

 

[Waterbug]

Can a single pump rated for 10ft head run two falls with 5ft head a piece?

Yes. The pump wouldn't be able to tell whether there was one or a dozen falls. It would only "know" about the falls with the lowest head. For example you could have a 5' and a 6' falls but the pump would perform like there was just a 5' falls because no water would go to the 6' falls. For this reason you normally have to place a ball valve on the pipe going to the lower falls to restrict flow, which increases pressure in the pipe until water flows into the higher falls. Now the pump reacts like there's only a 6' falls.

If there's going to be 2 falls of the exact same height a ball valve has to be placed on both pipes imo. A builder might consider the falls to be the same height but the pump and pipes will have their own opinion and that's the only opinion that counts. Unless of course the builder is OK with whatever falls flow they get with no valve control.