How many GPH for a 150 gallon skippy?

[fisharefishy99]

I have a 2,000 gallon pond and I am starting to get confused as to what to do about my Skippy stock tank. I keep getting told that I need to have a pump that turns over my pond volume once every hour but it seems that a Skippy stock tank can only handle 1,000 gph.

So my question is do I increase the GPH sent to my Skippy filter to meet my "quota" of my pond volume every hour?
However the water is being pumped up to it and the return is gravity through a two inch pipe and I'm not sure how many GPH that will be.

Or does simply having my pump move that much water count and it doesn't matter if the other 1,000 gph just gets shot right back into the pond and not into some kind of filter?
The plan was to use the leftover 1,000 gph to just aerate the pond by creating a flow along the bottom to keep everything mixed up.

 

[koiguy1969]

where do you come up with a 1000 gph is all a skippy can handle?....a 150 gal stocktank should be able to handle 2500 gph...i put 1000 gph thru a 55 gal (basement pond filter). and my 70gal is powered by a 1200 gph pump, the 1200 runs thru the filter, and another 1000gph pump is venturied into the top of the filter for circulation and aeration. putting 2200 gph out thru the weir and falls. i would recommend a weir on the tank, as they allow more flow,while allowing for more stocktank volume being utilized....the only restrictions keeping flow that low would be the outlets size, or a 'small' filter.

 

[sissy]

or smaller hoses .I saw a neighbors pond they were using a half inch hose on a 2650 gph pump and could not figure out why they were not getting enough water in there filter and they had a waterfall head .The outlet from the filter was 4 inch and the inlet was a 1 inch with an adapter to take it down to fit the half inch hose

 

[fisharefishy99]

where do you come up with a 1000 gph is all a skippy can handle?....a 150 gal stocktank should be able to handle 2500 gph...i put 1000 gph thru a 55 gal (basement pond filter). and my 70gal is powered by a 1200 gph pump, the 1200 runs thru the filter, and another 1000gph pump is venturied into the top of the filter for circulation and aeration. putting 2200 gph out thru the weir and falls. i would recommend a weir on the tank, as they allow more flow,while allowing for more stocktank volume being utilized....the only restrictions keeping flow that low would be the outlets size, or a 'small' filter.

I read in a post that the flow had to be between 500 to 1,250 gph for a skippy to be an effective bio filter. But I probably misunderstood the application or something. I may end up doing a weir if I end up putting the tank close to the pond. But so far the inlet to the filter is going to be 8-10 ft above the water and about 15 ft away from the pond. And last but not least I keep hearing totally different numbers for how much water a 2 inch pipe can pass through it by just gravity. Anywhere from 750 gph to 4,000 gph. Oh and just to give you an idea of where my filter will be here is a picture of my backyard. As of now it is supposed to be underneath the deck up on the third retaining wall. The pipes will be ran along the wall and covered with ivy or something haha. Thank you Koiguy for the help, I am really excited for this pond and any help making it easier to maintain and more efficient makes me even more excited haha.


https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1518-2011-10-11-110143/



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1521-2011-10-11-110223/

or smaller hoses .I saw a neighbors pond they were using a half inch hose on a 2650 gph pump and could not figure out why they were not getting enough water in there filter and they had a waterfall head .The outlet from the filter was 4 inch and the inlet was a 1 inch with an adapter to take it down to fit the half inch hose

I definitely know what you mean by small hoses being restrictive, I use a 3/4 inch hose for my 2,000 gph pump and it pretty much explains why I thought it was so weak. However I imagine after being run for 2 years with that pipe the pump is probably shot and is now going to be a backup. Now no matter what size pump I get I'm going with the two inch hose, although I worry about pumping that vertical distance would not be very efficient with a two inch hose, it would seem to me that a 1 1/2 inch hose would be more efficient. :dunno:

 

[sissy]

I use 1 1/2 inch hose for 1268gph and the same size for a 940 gph and not much difference between the 2 .The pumps have 2 outlets on them with a turn down knob for waterflow to one of the outlets from the pump ,but my pumps are cheapy harbor freight so better pumps probably pump better .I tried a 2 inch and it put to much water to the filter and kept it from working right .If the water goes through the filter to fast it does not get a chance for the filter to work the way it should

 

[fisharefishy99]

Thank you for the help! My final setup is looking like this

prefilter with very coarse filter mats
Submersible pump inside prefilter
pump puts water in skippy at about 1500gph
gravity fed back to pond

probably am going to add a split in the flow for circulation.

I do have a major issue with this setup though, and that is
my pond will need tons of mechanical filtration to get
all the debris out. I wanted to make the prefilter contain all the
filter pads for that but I was told that would burn out the pump.
Is there any kind of mechanical filtration I could put
in between my pump and the skippy? It is my understanding
that if I put Matala pads in the skippy I will have to take them out
to clean them. Is this true? If it is I would prefer to not use the skippy as mechanical
Filtration.

 

[koiguy1969]

i use a prefilter before my pumps....NEVER HAD A PROBLEM!! i made my prefilters. my pump (submersable) sits on a ledge in my pond just to the left of my waterfall. its plumbed up to my filter. with 1&1/4" hose, and the input is also plumbed with 1&1/4" hose, ran to the opposite end of the pond where my prefilter sits. i made it out of an old trickle bio filter from tetrapond. it has 5 layers of filter mat, and a activated carbon pad. whoever says that prefiltration burns up pumps is either WRONG if the prefilter is made right, and big enough, or talking about those stupid little foams crammed in a little cage aound the pump. you do have to clean prefilters regularly. but all that crud that you remove before the pump purees it it that much less your biofilter has to contend with.keeping your filter cleaner and therefore far more efficient, and less chance of any anaerobic activity in it!!

 

[fisharefishy99]

Thank you so much for clearing that up for me!

 

[fisharefishy99]

The prefilter I was going to make was just a large plastic flower pot with a light grid to keep the filter media away from the pumps intake. Is it of any benefit to place the prefilter in the deepest part of the pond? The floor of my pond is slanted but I would imagine pulling a prefilter out of 4 ft of water would be a massive pain to do once a week. Unless of course it was of great benefit to my pond then I wouldn't mind. I don't think I will be able to plumb it with an intake because it will be an open top flower pot, so wherever it is currently is where it will pull water.

Lastly since this will be about 99% of my mechanical filtration what kind of filter mats would you recommend? Coarse, fine, medium?

I am getting something like this but larger.
http://lawn-and-gard...pot-524739.aspx

Any other suggestions or recommendations?