Another reason not to have your pump on the bottom

[mrsclem]

So had a bog on koi pond for years. Have had numerous issues with bog overflowing so raised edges. Koi are gone so now just a goldfish pond again. Clean out stack was overflowing!
Not sure why but pumped out bog. Clean out stack had 6" of kitty litter in the bottom! Bog pump had been on bottom of pond for years with koi rooting thru liiy pots. All that litter went to bottom of bog. No more kitty litter and pump is off bottom!

 

[GBBUDD]

pump isn't on the bottom so much but my main drain is certainly at the bottom Thank god for the strainer basket at the pump.

 

[addy1]

I have stuck with external pumps. To me so much easier to care for.

 

[GBBUDD]

I have stuck with external pumps. To me so much easier to care for.

They are more work if not set properly. But it's very difficult for a pump to fail and polite the water. Unlike submersible where the gaskets or metal fails and oils and grease get in the water. Because the pumps are sorounded by water.

 

[addy1]

They are more work if not set properly. But it's very difficult for a pump to fail and polite the water. Unlike submersible where the gaskets or metal fails and oils and grease get in the water. Because the pumps are sorounded by water.

The one thing I did right!

The pump is slightly below the water level, thanks to my slope build. It self primes without issues.

 

[permaculturebob]

So had a bog on koi pond for years. Have had numerous issues with bog overflowing so raised edges. Koi are gone so now just a goldfish pond again. Clean out stack was overflowing!
Not sure why but pumped out bog. Clean out stack had 6" of kitty litter in the bottom! Bog pump had been on bottom of pond for years with koi rooting thru liiy pots. All that litter went to bottom of bog. No more kitty litter and pump is off bottom!

I have a bog filter/skimmer as part of my main pond, and have a pump at the bottom of the bog, but the clean out pipe which has the pump in it has it's only access to water through a couple feet of rocks and gravel, no worries with clogged pump, but I do have a fair amount of soil tied up in reeds roots growing on the surface of the bog that has built up over a couple years (one of the cleanout projects for this year is pulling those reeds and rushes right down to bare gravel ) I think it has affected my water quality a bit.

the bottom of my pond is a couple feet deeper than the bottom of the bog, and there is a separation wall keeping water flow from pond to bog closer to the surface

 

[GBBUDD]

I have a bog filter/skimmer as part of my main pond, and have a pump at the bottom of the bog, but the clean out pipe which has the pump in it has it's only access to water through a couple feet of rocks and gravel, no worries with clogged pump, but I do have a fair amount of soil tied up in reeds roots growing on the surface of the bog that has built up over a couple years (one of the cleanout projects for this year is pulling those reeds and rushes right down to bare gravel ) I think it has affected my water quality a bit.

the bottom of my pond is a couple feet deeper than the bottom of the bog, and there is a separation wall keeping water flow from pond to bog closer to the surface

So you have a swim pond with a dividing wall that leads to a bog where at the bottom of the snorkel is where you pull water to through the bog as a downward draw in the bog to the pump ?

 

[permaculturebob]

That is how the water flow works at present using just one pump with a limited flow. and it sucks the water through the pond bog and sends it up to a second bog about 6'higher, and the water is introduced at the bottom of that bog and seeps up and then out in a short fall to a second koi pond, then back down a series of small falls and settling pools. The pump is relatively small-1200gph,
so the filtration is not optimal, and I have in construction a third koi pond and third biofilter which will work from a second pump out of the first bog and into the third one repeating the pattern of the first circuit.

at present the second koi pond is running more fish, but noticeably clearer than the 1rst pond

The second image shows the clogged intake bay/ bog filter. both bogs are desperately in need of a cleanout, but for as overstocked, dirty and clogged as they are, the systems are still working enough to keep the fish healthy. and adding the second pond and filter should reduce some of the overcrowding and increase the available filtration as well.