Humbirdlover's Green Va. Pond

[humbirdlover]

I did...We have the real deal if you dig far enough down, right here at home, and I did find a little bit back on one of hubby's dirt piles. and it squished down real good, LOL I just figured the kitty litter should look the same. I finally took the hose of the pump and re routed to a container with batting. so hopefully see some improvement on the green water. I really need to see the bottom to find a rock I accidently knocked of the shelf the other day, and to bring the pre filter up from the bottom. who knows what is going on down there

 

[humbirdlover]

sissy, do you have your pond in the photography section, or in the showcase? I'd like to see yours and how you constructed it? and did you say you have an external pump? I've been reading thru so many threads, I can't ever get back to where I read something, LOL

 

[sissy]

No pics of the build because that is long time before i joined here and the pump i have can be in the water or out of the water .But for now both of them are in the water .I dug the hole and did the pond by myself so no time to take pics as my fish were sitting in the old preform pond and were getting to big for it .I never thought to even take pics of it then because I just had an old camera and my son bought me the digital one only 3 years ago .I had a habit of breaking cameras and was amazed when he bought me this and i could just down load them to the puter instead of taking them to get them developed and guessing which ones would come out .

 

[humbirdlover]

I like your bridge, and provides shade, neat Reason I was asking, I really should be getting another pump and saw where some of you all have the external ones. How many gallons is your pond? Not sure what size pump I would need to say pump water from a 450 gallon pond to maybe the elevation of 3 feet above the pond and for a distance of maybe 6' from the pond? I saw links to a couple sites that have calculations, but geez, not sure I can figure it. Was looking on line for some pumps, any suggestions there?

 

[addy1]

I like external pumps, less hassle imho. For a 450 gallon pond with 3 feet of lift and 6 feet from the pond, you need a pump that can handle about 10 feet of head pressure.

The pump size can be from 500 gph to 1000 gph, that will turn your pond over at least once an hour up to twice an hour. Check the sequence pumps they are nice to your electrical bill.

 

[humbirdlover]

Will do..thanks. Does an external have a pre filter?

 

[addy1]

Will do..thanks. Does an external have a pre filter?

Mine has a leaf basket, sort of a pre filter, just collects leafs / debris that is larger than about 1/4 inch.

this is the one I have for my sequence pump, my dragon pump has one built in.

 

[sissy]

check local places also that way if you have a problem it is easy to return and I have 2 pumps 1 is around 2900 gph and is a lowes smartpond one and the other is a harbor freight one 2150 gph .Not sure how many gallons never did the calculations on it :razz: The one from lowes is supposed to be 2500 gallons but when I checked the gph it came out to 2900 .I kept saying it seemed like more gph so only way to find out was to check it with a water meter .I just got done rebuilding the sides and the bridge .I have a big shade sail but took the pipes down because I kept walking into them when I was rebuilding everything .There are metal sleeve pipes in the ground and then the metal conduit fits nice inside there and then just attach the shade sail .I have not reattached it because I still need to rebuild the other waterfall .All you would need is about a thousand gph one and that should be more than enough to give you some flow back into the water and for your filter .I like submersible because at the end of the season you just on hook until the next year and out of water pumps need taken in a warmer area so they do not freeze .Plus you have to hide them when they are by your pond .So that is really up to the individual

 

[humbirdlover]

Mine has a leaf basket, sort of a pre filter, just collects leafs / debris that is larger than about 1/4 inch.

So the pump can handle the smaller stuff like fish poop, and algae? My little submersible is a pain, and has a prefilter attached by a 5 foot piece of tubing. the prefilter has 2 filter mats in it, and I have to pull that thing out and clean it a lot! Trying to make pond life easier, LOL

 

[sissy]

I noticed most of the externals in smaller sizes do not have the option addy is talking about and a shame because I would think they would sell more .I looked at a lot of them and seem all the bigger than 4000 gph have it and smaller do not .

 

[addy1]

You are probably right Sissy, I have never looked at smaller pumps, all of mine have been 4000 plus pumps. But humbluv you could use an external and just put the leaf basket in line before the pump, if you wanted to. I had one just plumbed into the line, it just screws in. You might be able to get one that is a slip pvc fit, then just use rubber connectors so you can pull for the winter.

It takes me about 5 minutes to disconnect, clean and carry into the basement for the winter. About 5 minutes to reconnect all in the spring.

 

[sissy]

Addy you mentioned leaf basket .I have a prefilter that gets clogged up to fast .Not with leaves but roots and stuuf the koi rip off what exactly is it and where can you get one ,I have been thinking about making the harbor freight one external since you can do that how would you set something like that up and could it be done with my pond .

 

[sissy]

where would you buy it to start with .

 

[addy1]

here sissy

https://duckduckgo.c...t+for+pond+pump

http://www.pacificwa...nal-sc-195.html do a search on leaf basket for pond pump

I just plumbed it into the line before the pump. Mine has a two inch input and out put. They are screw not slip.

I just draw the water from the pond via a two inch line, run it through the leaf basket then into the pump.
Right now I am using my dragon pump, it has a huge built in leaf basket so my two add on ones are just sitting in the basement until needed again.

They have a drain plug on the bottom, which I never used, but if your basket gets full of fine stuff you can just drain it too. i.e. muck below the removable leaf basket. You can see the plug sticking out at the bottom in the picture.

 

[sissy]

wow thanks addy did not know what they are called and found one for 49 dollars that sounds good .Do you have a skimmer addy and is there a way to set it up without a skimmer so you will not suck fish in.Eastern koi has the cheapest price at 49 dollars