Bog wetland pump

[Vin nepa]

Hello all
I have a question on what kind of pump everyone is using for their bog wetland system?
I want to use a 1.5hp pool pump. I attached a photo of the pump I was looking at.

Thank you

 

[GBBUDD]

Most "pool" pumps are not designed to run 24/7 365 . or is that just a generic name you are using for a external pump?
there are many Pond pumps out there and some pool pumps that can do the job read the specs.
in use a performance pro 1 hp 12000 gph

 

[Vin nepa]

Yes just a generic name. I attached a photo of what I was thinking of using.
Do you think that will work? Or what do you recommend? Pond is around 5' deep 30x30

Thank you

 

[Mmathis]

What is in the pic says “pool pump,” so as @GBBUDD said…..read the specs!

 

[GBBUDD]

the design of a quote pool pump and a pond pump you could never tell them apart it's the inner workings that are different the pond pump will have better bearings etc expecting to run 24/7

 

[combatwombat]

Pool pumps are typically designed for high head/pressure applications. In addition to not being designed for 24/7 operation, they will be much less energy efficient in a bog application.

If you want an external pump, go for it. But don’t get a pool pump.

 

[Wildneg]

You say you have a 30' x 30' which is 5' deep everywhere? So just ball parking, roughly 30K gallon pond?

Do you already have a bog filter setup and just need to pump the pond water up through it? Or are you still designing your bog filter and determining size?

Everyone here I think mentioned, pool filter isn't a pond filter. I have been building my pond for the past 3-4 months and in the past month, have the bog filter online, pond filled and pumps working. I've done a lot of research to get me to this point. Disclaimer, I may be somewhat wrong about some of the concepts mentioned below, but it has been working for me so far. The internet is full of opinions and based on all my reading/research, I follow the concepts/ideas that were most popular.

I ended up going with Jebao pond pumps. They are DC and utilize much lower watts which equate to less kilowatts (cheaper electric bill). As far as longevity, I'm not sure yet. The folks I know that have used them say they are great. Unfortunately they are submersible and I think you were looking at external. Mine are dropped in right by the edge for easy access. My smaller pump attaches to a skimmer via 1-1/2" tubing ran on the bottom of the pond. But again, very easy access to pull it out if something happens. In fact, I've pulled both out to get permanent tubing hooked up for outside the pond since I'm in the process of trenching/hiding it all.

The size of the pump will depend on the size of your bog filter. This is why I asked if it was already built. If you know the estimated gallons it can hold, you could do some math to determine how big of a pump (or even pumps) you'll need to get the water through it. I have some excel sheets with a bunch of math built in to figure this out. I also have it setup to tell me what size bog filter I need if I want to use a certain size pump. Obviously you want to cycle your pond water through the bog filter frequently but you also want to have that water sit in the bog filter for a short time so the nutrients can be taken up. So it is a balance of how many GPH you need to feed to the bog filter and what size that bog filter should be.

I unfortunately built my bog filter with the extra liner I had one the far side of my pond. I purposely waited to see what I had left before trimming and then built the bog filter as big as I could. Once that was done, I estimated the gallons it could hold and then did the math to determine what size pump I needed to keep each 'gallon' pumped into the bog filter for 10 minutes. You can read all day and everyone has some different time frames to keep the water in there. I found 5 - 12 minutes the most common time mentioned. Again, maybe I'm write, maybe I'm wrong. The Jebao pumps are adjustable though and I believe can go down to 30% of their GPH with a controller I have in my shed. So if I'm wrong, I can always adjust.

The other thing you need to balance with the time to keep in the bog, is trying to cycle your pond water through that bog. I believe it was something like half your pond volume an hour. So your total pond volume should go through the bog once every 2 hours. I could be wrong here, do not recall off hand. But this too is relative to your water quality. If you are over stocked with fish, may need it to be cycled more often and if not a lot of fish, you could perhaps back off on that a little. Having the Jebao pumps though, will help me adjust all that. I can not change the size of my bog filter easily, but I can adjust how long the water stays in the bog. I can have it stay in longer and recycle less frequently or have it stay in shorter and cycle the water more.

But if you have not built the bog filter yet, you may need to figure the size out first, based on your pond volume and what your looking to push through it. Estimate I believe is something like 30% of the total pond volume.

Again, I'm new to all this and some of my research my not be spot on. I've had my pond functional for about a month so far with good results and fish doing OK in there.

 

[poconojoe]

On top of the fact that a pool pump probably shouldn't be running 24/7, I would think a 1.5 hp pump would be WAY too powerful to feed an upflow bog filter.
You want the water to flow through the bog slowly.

That being said, you could always split the output of any pump having a valve on each branch so you can fine tune how much water goes to each location.

 

[GBBUDD]

So your total pond volume should go through the bog once every 2 hours

Once you start getting to the 30k gallon range that is a huge volume of water and the ratio of turn over can lesson.

Mother nature starts to help out in ways that she can not in a small pond .
Circulation becomes more important imo. So a 15000 gph pump with some return jets from the pump and a couple circulation pumps buried in the pond toward the bottom is crucial. I also believe in a bottom drain and at that size the rhino with a bubbling bladder is ideal.

I run a 1 horse at 12000 gph but I split that 4 ways one three inch line runs to the bogs . One matrix bog and one peastone bog. Where the three inch runs to the bottom of the 6 foot matrix bog and a 2 inch branches to the peastone. A second 2 inch line taos at the pump and is for two venturi return jets to aid in keeping the circulation within the pond.
Then

 

[combatwombat]

They are DC and utilize much lower watts which equate to less kilowatts (cheaper electric bill).

Fun fact about DC pumps. They're actually AC. The only thing that is DC is the controls. These pumps convert AC to DC and then back to AC to drive the impeller. In that regard, they're actually less efficient, but they make their gains in the impeller design, which seems to be unique to these cheaper pumps. That design is really high efficiency for low head applications but loses its efficiency as head rises above about 5'.

Not sure why other AC pumps don't use this impeller design. Maybe because most pond builders tend to end up with more than 5' of head.

Unfortunately they are submersible and I think you were looking at external.

I could be mistaken, but I think most Jebao pumps are amphibious. You can take the debris cage off the wet end of the pump and there should be a threaded connection to attach a pipe for external use.

 

[Wildneg]

Fun fact about DC pumps. They're actually AC. The only thing that is DC is the controls. These pumps convert AC to DC and then back to AC to drive the impeller. In that regard, they're actually less efficient, but they make their gains in the impeller design, which seems to be unique to these cheaper pumps. That design is really high efficiency for low head applications but loses its efficiency as head rises above about 5'.

Not sure why other AC pumps don't use this impeller design. Maybe because most pond builders tend to end up with more than 5' of head.



I could be mistaken, but I think most Jebao pumps are amphibious. You can take the debris cage off the wet end of the pump and there should be a threaded connection to attach a pipe for external use.

That's odd? I'm actually reading 24V DC at the end, right before pump. After the controller. Unless within the pump, it's converted back to AC which seems odd to me.

I only know this because I did testing. I had to run underground cables to reach the pump from controls which are in my shed.

I can say the DC 10000 (rated at 44gpm) with the lift and run to the big filter, is moving 36gpm at about 100 watts AC. It goes to the power supply which converts to 24vdc and goes to controller.

My DC-20000 is rated at 88gpm. I have not actually did a bucket test with timer with that one. I will when I install my ball valves which will split some of that to the bog as well.

But I'm guessing 70gpm or so. That one is close to 200 watts AC. But again, reads DC. This one uses a 36vdc at the end, right before pump.

I may double check though now that you mention this. But my fluke meter is pretty good. Either way, the performance for the watts used is incredible. They need to move that impeller design to all of them!

I had to run UG rated cable to keep everything organized and clean in the shed. So I have water proof heat sealed connections on the ends with a water proof plug on case i ever have to swap. I tried to think of everything and make it maintainable. I don't want to dig another trench.. haha.

But, the pumps work rather well... For the month I've had them at least.

And yes, they do have the threaded end if you remove cage. The DC20000 I have the cage on. For the DC10000, I have a 1.5" barb connected (that comes with the pump) to a 1.5" tube over to my skimmer. I had 1" and lost some gallons per min. Once I upgraded, that skimmer is kicking some butt.

 

[combatwombat]

That's odd? I'm actually reading 24V DC at the end, right before pump. After the controller. Unless within the pump, it's converted back to AC which seems odd to me.

I was incorrect to say that DC pumps are actually AC and that only the controls are DC, but they work basically the same and your thought that the "AC" happens within the pump is correct. So these DC pumps are fed with AC from your mains power. The controller converts it to DC, and then the positive and negative DC voltages are alternated between the motor windings which is what allows the magnets to lock on to each other and spin the rotor.