Help needed! Completely clueless!

[FuriousRobot]

Hi everyone,

Complete noob and first time poster here...so please forgive anything stoopid!

https://imgur.com/gallery/1eWKd

https://imgur.com/gallery/PhKy6

Me and my partner have just moved into a new house. It has a pond which I'm hoping you will be able to see in the imgur link in this post... as you can (hopefully) see, it's been neglected for a while. It consists of the main pond at the bottom with a waterfall feature coming down from a very small pond/ pool at the top. We live on the side of a mountain in Wales so the incline is fairly steep. As I said I have 0% knowledge of ponds. What I hope to achieve from all this is a working waterfall feature. Fish are not even on my radar at the moment.

If im honest I don't really even know what questions I should be asking..

As you can see in the pics the pond already had a pump in it. It previously did nothing but make a buzzing noise but after taking it apart and cleaning out all the muck and stones it now seems to be making the right sort of noise and a small amount of water is being pumped out of one of the nozzle holes above the blue dial on the side. I suppose my first question is - is this what it should be doing? Is this type of pump purely to circulate a very small current of water around the pond to keep it healthy or should it be pumping out a larger amount of water and therefore is likely to be kaput?

If it is doing as it should i.e. purely keeping the pond healthy does that mean I will need an additional pump to move water from this pond to the top and therefore make the waterfall work? Or if I attach tubing to the nozzle where the water is flowing out will it be sufficient to move the water to the top?

In terms of general pond care as you can see it is full of crap atm such as leaves, the green stuff floating on the top and general garden matter. Should i remove all of this? Would I be better off completely draining the pond, cleaning it out completely and starting from scratch? I must say I am reluctant to do this as it's full of tadpoles atm and I don't want them to die, they were here before me after all.

Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to read all this. I apologise for being completely clueless and really appreciate any help offered!

If different pictures/angles are needed please just let me know and I'll do my best!

 

[Faebinder]

what do you want it to do? create a shower or pump water to the waterfall or a filter?

 

[FuriousRobot]

what do you want it to do? create a shower or pump water to the waterfall or a filter?

Hi thanks for replying,

I would like the ability to pump water from the main pond to the small pond above which would in turn make the waterfall work. I've been told and please correct me if im wrong that you can also get a pump where you can insert a filter half way through the piping?

 

[MoonShadows]

Don't worry about being clueless. We all were at one point....and, there are no stupid questions here. You have come to the right spot. I am still rather new, and I have a raised garden pond with a submersible filter, so I don't think I can be of much help, but we have a lot of very knowledgeable and friendly folks here who are more than willing to help you out..

 

[Faebinder]

Hi thanks for replying,

I would like the ability to pump water from the main pond to the small pond above which would in turn make the waterfall work. I've been told and please correct me if im wrong that you can also get a pump where you can insert a filter half way through the piping?

does you pump have a hose from the outlet to take the water to the second pond?

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome! I googled your pump and this is what I got:

"The ZenBlue CUP-359 is the perfect all-in-one Pump/Filter/UV Sterilizer/Water Feature pond pump. 528 GPH power allows plenty of water to cycle through the UV sterilizer to reduce algae. Combine the UV with the mechanical filtration and your smaller pond should be cleaner in no time. ZenBlue included a water feature kit that includes four different fountain attachments. The water feature kit, includes a splitter so you can divert water to a waterfall or splitter."

So you have a small pump with a UV and mechanical filter built in. It can run a fountain, but I would question whether it has the ooomph to push water up that hill.

Can you give us basic pond measurements? Width and depth will help to calculate gallons. And also how high is that hill? That's what's referred to in pump speak as "head" - the height you have to push the water. Those will give you an idea of how big a pump you need to properly circulate your pond.

 

[Tula]

Welcome

 

[Usman]

welcome , sit take a breath u look in panic lol

 

[Usman]

can u take pic of the pressure this pump is producing , it shud produce decent jet like garden hose , remove the long pipe and clean it too , but this pump seems to b for fountain , there must b separate pump for waterfall , i see a pipe or cord at the back , what is it? , if he was using this waterfall then there must b piping and pump for it , if he removed it or wsnt using waterfall then uil need to use this pump or buy new one , around 2000 to 3000 gph pump will work for ur waterfall as its pretty high around 8 feet
u can clean it later but it will need cleaning u want it to b clear , not muddy for ur new home when uil run the waterfall or fountain , all the mud wil stir if it has at bottom and it must b due as its untouched since long time , u can catch tadpoles and do some netting of leaves and mud from bottom or drain later on .
its nice pond i love the plantation and stonework its old type
is this pond at its full level?

Waterfall pump calculator and stream pump calculator
http://www.your-garden-ponds-center.com/waterfall-pump-calculator.html

 

[Usman]

Hi thanks for replying,

I would like the ability to pump water from the main pond to the small pond above which would in turn make the waterfall work. I've been told and please correct me if im wrong that you can also get a pump where you can insert a filter half way through the piping?

yes i think external pump can b in middle too and that seems to b better for higher waterfalls .

 

[budgenator]

Looks like the pump has a fountain head on it, probably if you take the end off and give it a good cleaning and get all of the little holes opened up you'll get better water flow. Make sure the bottom of the pond is fairly clean too; a swimming pool net works well for netting out old leaves and such. Once this is done, you'll be surprised at the difference it makes in a little while.

Don't worry about being a noob, everybody was one once, and realizing you don't know things is the first step in learning. Welcome to the forums, relax a little and enjoy your pond.