Pump Ideas

[soneil241]

Good evening all,

I wanted to ask a few questions about my small pond about 250gals. I have a 600GPH pump going into a 8" spillway right above my pond. I recently added another water (preformed 3 tier). my current setup is 600gph pump into a pressurized UV filter out of that to a "T" then going to the waterfall and spillway. The pressure is super low. I wanted to see if I needed a bigger pump or perhaps to take one waterfall before the filter to give it some extra power. If I do need a bigger pump I'm looking for suggestions on size, make, model, etc.

Thank you,
Sean!

 

[JRS]

Some more information may be helpful. Pipe/tubing size, and height and length of pump output can all effect your throughput. You just have the one T ? What type/model of UV pressure filter? What type of pump?

Flow can fall off substantially with a bit of height or restrictions. Any output before the pressure filter restriction should make a difference in your volume to that feature.

Here is a similar thread with a Mag drive pump flow chart as an example

Gph and water flow

Hi all, I posted in here a couple months ago trying to figure out a diy waterfall. I had to fix my liner, but I'm back to working on this while it's still warm enough to work outside. I upgraded to a 210 gph pump and modified how the water was split between the two spillways. I get...

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[soneil241]

I've attached a picture for reference(she's a work in progress). I'm using 3/4 tubing. pump is sitting a just under the lilly pads on the right (approx 2' down). Yes a single "T" after the filter. pump is just a generic pump that came with that filter on Amazon. I know the filter can be restrictive I just want to make sure I'm getting maximum flow and filtration. let me know whatever information would be helpful.

Thank you!

 

[Stephen Noble]

I like your pond. The manufacturer probably has your filter and pump designed to maximize flow without any modifications. You are trying to make it do something it isn't designed to do. Adding a larger pump might not deliver an appreciable difference in water flow. It could also stress the filter. Here is what I would do if you want to keep the pond as it is with the current filter:
Return the filter to its original state flowing only over the right waterfall. Get a second submersible pump for the waterfalls on the left.

 

[soneil241]

Thank you we started it in May of this year!
Do you think the 600GPH pump would provide enough power if I placed a "T" before the filer one going to the waterfall on the left (unrestricted) and the other going through the filter and on to the right waterfall? I could even add an inline valve to the left waterfall to ensure just enough water to the waterfall and back pressure for the other tube going to the filter? I could probably go with a larger pump with that configuration I want to avoid another pump if possible since I'm running low on outlets already haha

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yes, you could put the T before the filter but I suspect the flow will be very uneven. I bet more will go to the left side since there will be significantly less resistance. And, as the filter becomes dirty (and it will) even more water could divert to the left side. You are really asking the pressure filter to do something it is not designed to do. You could tier all three of the waterfalls. The downside to that is the head height and water flow degradation as @JRS mentioned. If tiered, your water flow will of course be the same over all three of the falls. But I bet the overall GPH pumping through the filtration system will be noticeably reduced.

 

[soneil241]

Can I ask stupid question? Do most people run their waterfalls after filters or is there usually a 2 pump system 1 for filtration and 1 for waterfalls. I would assume you would want all water to go through the filter but again i'm just starting out and would like any ideas.

 

[Lisak1]

There really is no "most people" answer to that one. Some run all their water through their waterfall; others T it off to create other elements. Some people run off one pump; others run more than one.

We have a bog filter that feeds our main waterfall but we run some of the water out of the bog via a separate line to a smaller waterfall and stream that THEN feeds the main waterfall. We only have one pump for the whole system.

So it all really depends on your pond design.

Welcome to the GPF by the way!