Pump? And when to attach liner?

[TLWR]

2 questions

I have the liner sitting in my landscape timber pond with drain installed. The silicone won't be cured until tomorrow, so no water yet.
When do I secure the liner to the top of my landscape timbers? Can I do that today or do I have to start filling it before doing that?

DH picked out the pump and I'm just not sure it is right for the pond, so before we get to that point, I want to make sure we have the correct pump.
The pond is ~950 gallons (~16" deep)
There will be a skippy like filter that is ~70 gallons attached to the pond.
I may create a prefilter for the pump, maybe not.
All we need to do is to get the water from the pond into the filter.
What size pump do we NEED? Any suggestions on brand or whatever?

 

[koiguy1969]

1200gph + for the pump...i have a 70 gal stocktank filter on my 1200gal pond fed by a 1200 gph tetrapond pump...keeps mine crystal clear...so it would serve you well...and is enough flow to have a decent waterfall up to 12" wide...want a wider falls go a little bigger on the pump. heres my filter build instructions:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/koiguys-70-gal-skippy-style-filter-t5089.html
i make and sell the weirs...
***** i would fill the pond adjusting folds and wrinkles as it fills before attaching liner...and wait a couple days even, so any settling occurs first.
any Lowes has tetrapond pumps..lagunas are the cheapest to operate.

 

[TLWR]

The one we bought was from Lowe's. But DH had been reading that it only had to turn over half the volume of the pond, so that's what he picked up.

Waterfall out of the filter - I mitered out to hold a 12" piece of slate yesterday in the top timber of the filter.

I'll check out the 1200 gph tetrapond pump.

 

[TLWR]

another question
what's the difference between fountain pump, waterfall pump and pond pump?
I'm guessing the fountain pump is expecting clean water, but I have no clue.

 

[koiguy1969]

I D K....but probably nothing except the name and the attachment package that comes with it. i wouldnt go under 1200gph on the pump

 

[sissy]

wait as my pond is half above half below and my liner kept sinking down for 2 weeks with the weight of the water

 

[27goldfish]

Fountain pumps are typically smaller volume pumps. That is really it. The are made for small features.

 

[sissy]

I have ones that say fountain pump from harbor frieght 22 dollars and 1268 gph and they have 1 that pumps 3600 gph

 

[27goldfish]

I stand corrected :0 All the ones I have seen have been rated under 200gph

 

[sissy]

I had one of those in my big fountain at my house in NJ and it worked great for 10 years and I only paid 5 dollars for it .

 

[addy1]

Water fall pumps tend to handle higher head pressure, but some use a lot more electricity to do that.

 

[TLWR]

We ended up with a laguna pump Max Flow 900, but on the unit itself, it says maxflow 800??
Pinning the liner and putting on the top board today, just need to figure out how to do the corners of the liner and then we are ready to put the top board on and then move on to the filter box.

 

[jupiter1]

I have both a maxflow 600 and a 900, boths are marked 800 on the outer cage . Same cage , different pumps on the inside .

 

[TLWR]

It's maxflow 800 on the cage and the pump.
Is it just the internal workings of the pump that make it 900 or 600? If I didn't have the box, how would I know which one it was?
Just weird.

 

[jupiter1]

I deal with parts all day at my job . There is no ryhem or reason to the way so manufactures number their parts . Laguna is a reputable company. I am not sure but may be the same pump housing and impeler for both with different windings on the motor that makes one a 600 and one a 900. No complaints with mine.