Help!!! Pond pump

[Craigy boy]

Hi

I have a half wine barrel outside which we lined and filled up with plants and 5 gold fish.

We just got a pump solar and it's grunty - is it too grunty?

It's a 120 ltr pond and the solar pump at its highest output is 1360 ltr per hour.

Plugged it in today and wow there's a bit of water movement! I can't turn it down but is this bad for the fish?

It's not a whirlpool but the waters moving. Fish seem ok but I don't want to stress the little beggars out trying to keep their groove going!

Please help.

 

[DrCase]

If I was a fish!
I would like it

 

[Big Lou]

Looks good to me. At one time I had a half barrel water feature using no liner. The water swelled the wood and prevented leaks.

 

[sissy]

It will over oxygenate the pond which will keep the water clearer and fish happier .I have lots of water movement in my pond and water is crystal clear and fish and plants are fine with it .Once the sun goes down it will slow down or stop .

 

[Meyer Jordan]

This is the main drawback with Solar, unless one has storage batteries. There is no consistency in flow rate within a 24 hour period and they are useless on rainy/overcast days. I would replace it with a smaller mag-drive fountain pump with a set flow more suitable to the size of the feature.

 

[Big Lou]

Meyer, are mag drive pumps usually very small in physical sized? If those are the ones I am thinking of how do such small pumps have so much gph?

 

[sissy]

There are pumps referred to as fountain pumps that are smaller with less gph .I wonder though the reason for a solar pump ,is there any electricity nearby or is it just to save money

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Meyer, are mag drive pumps usually very small in physical sized? If those are the ones I am thinking of how do such small pumps have so much gph?

The flow rate of a pump is determined by basically three (3) factors: The rpm of the pump; its size; and the size and the configuration of the impeller.
Their are also basically to types of pumps; direct drive and mag-drive.
Mag-drive pumps can have a quite high gph rating, but they can not attain the head the of equivalent size (GPH) direct drive pump due to the impeller configuration. The impeller on a mag-drive pump is multi-directional because the drive shaft may rotate in either direction when the pump is started. A direct drive pump is one-directional in rotation so the impeller is designed to take advantage of this to maximize flow rate and control head height (there are both high head and low head pumps available with the same power and gph ratings).

For example-
An Easy Pro mag-drive with a GPH rating of 6300 will at 10ft. height have an effective flow rate of about 3300-3400 GPH.
An Easy pro direct drive pump with a GPH rating of 6000 GPH will at 10 ft. have an effective flow rate of 4980 GPH.

Even though the mag-drive produces an initial flow rate that is 5% larger than the direct drive, at 10 ft it produces slightly over 30% LESS GPH than the direct drive.

 

[sissy]

Thing is no matter what pump you buy you have to factor in energy use also .Some of those pumps use 500 or 600 watts .

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thing is no matter what pump you buy you have to factor in energy use also .Some of those pumps use 500 or 600 watts .

Yes, the larger the pump the more energy is needed to power it.

 

[sissy]

I guess I am glad I went with laguna pumps .One hit it's sweet spot at 80 watts after I put bigger 1 1/2 hose on it .Said 100 watts and it is a 2900 gph .But read oase pumps are even better

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I guess I am glad I went with laguna pumps .One hit it's sweet spot at 80 watts after I put bigger 1 1/2 hose on it .Said 100 watts and it is a 2900 gph .But read oase pumps are even better

Mag-drive pumps, such as Laguna, typically are of lower wattage basically because they do not contain a motor, they are magnetically driven, hence the name mag-drive.

 

[Big Lou]

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Hi

I have a half wine barrel outside which we lined and filled up with plants and 5 gold fish.

We just got a pump solar and it's grunty - is it too grunty?

It's a 120 ltr pond and the solar pump at its highest output is 1360 ltr per hour.

Plugged it in today and wow there's a bit of water movement! I can't turn it down but is this bad for the fish?

It's not a whirlpool but the waters moving. Fish seem ok but I don't want to stress the little beggars out trying to keep their groove going!

Please help.

Welcome to the forum! Nice water feature you have there

I know this wasn't part of your question but I wanted to mention that five goldfish in 120 liters of water (which equals about 31 US gallons) isn't ideal for the long term health of the fish. Goldfish (if given the proper care and space) can live for many years and grow quite big. Just an example of a common goldfish (which is the type most people keep in ponds) can live to be 15-20 years old and grow up to 12 inches. They produce a lot of waste compared to smaller tropical type fish.

Not trying to discourage you, just mentioning it as it's something you may want to consider.