Is my pump big enough?

[Mella]

hi we have a raised pond 2.6m x 2.4m and .6 at deepest point, so about 3700 litres? We can not get our water to keep clear. Currently looking like pea soup! We have a Pontec 8000 multi chamber filter/ pump, which says it for ponds up to 8000l without fish or 4000 with. So we thought this was perfect size. I was reading something last night that said the pump should be able to pump the entire pond volume in an hour, but ours is only 2500 litres and hour. So, do we need to change our pump for a bigger one?

 

[RobAmy]

Welcome. I recommend a minimum of the total liters once per hour, twice a hour would be better

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Welcome @Mella, I’ve always heard/read that it is ideal to circulate the volume of water through your filtration 2x an hour. So my 450+ gallon pond has a pump that handles 1000 gallons per hour. This is especially important with ponds stocked with fish. The more heavily stocked ponds need a lot of circulation and filtration. Another thing that might help is assessing your current plant level and increasing it if possible.

 

[Gordo33]

We can not get our water to keep clear. Currently looking like pea soup!

I agree with above posts
How old is your pond. New ponds will go through a pea soup stage until enough bio film developes and if you have plants until the roots start competing with the algae for nutrients

 

[Mella]

Thanks for all your reply’s
The pond was built last year before summer so it’s not really a year yet
And yes we do need to change the plants as at the moment we only have a lily and a long grass type plant which is brown at the moment
I want to get some more plants that give more coverage in the pond to stop too much sunlight encouraging algae
Just one last question about the filter/pump we have it was sold as a set by pontech 8000 set why does it say it can do a pond with fish stock 4000lt yet the pump is only 2500lt p/h

And what pump/filters do you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Gordo33]

Surface coverage as you mentioned is also important for preventing the pea soup effect. It is recommended to cover 50 -60% of the ponds surface if the pond gets a lot of sun. I have seen others here use other shading apparatuses, sorry not sure what they are called , above the pond.
can't answer your question the Pondtech pump recommendations. Personally I use a pump made by Danner called Pondmaster 2600. I have had it running 24 / 7 for 4 years.
It took my pond 3 years to establish and not green up. Each year was progressively less.

 

[j.w]

@Mella

 

[Mella]

Would a more powerful pump be ok to use with same filter box can you mix and match instead of buying the whole filter and pump again

 

[RobAmy]

Most filter boxes have a max rating of the gallons per hour they can handle, as long as you do not exceed that you will be fine. It is okay to mix and match also just make sure the fittings do not leak.

As an example my Savio waterfall filter has a Max GPH of 5000 so you would not want to use a 6000gph pump but if you have a 2000gph pump then you could increase it to more them double.

If your not sure you can always call the manufacture and ask.

 

[Mella]

Thanks for reply I had already bought a pump online by the time I got your message and it's a 10000lt per hr
As there was no specs I could find on the website or googling I tried it with the filter today and yes the filter is just coping with the new pump but as soon as it starts to build up on the filters it may leak

So my next question get a new gravity one or a pressurised filter to cope with the new pump ?