Restore 50 gallon pond?

[academiannut]

Thought I'd make a second thread for my second water feature... My house has an approximately 50 gallon water feature that has never run - the tubing coming out of the waterfall has been cut and the liner has been removed (it looks like a large cement flower bed with a little water fall at one end, maybe 2 feet high).

I'd like to get it up and running again - We'd like to make it more like a pondless waterfall than have a little pool, so we were thinking of adding a liner, a water box or two, covering with some gravel to bring it up to within a few inches of the rim level, and putting a submersible pump in either a vault or under a grate. I was wondering if there was any type of skimmer I could add to this setup? The whole thing is above ground cement, so I think it would have to be an inset skimmer, but since the dimensions are about 14 inches by 24 inches by about 48 inches, not sure if anything would fit - also, is there some kind of filtration I could/should add? Undergravel filtration perhaps? Would I just make that out of some PVC pipes and hook it into the pump? Or is there something more efficient?

I'm looking to make this as maintenance free as possible...

 

[academiannut]

Is a 1056 gph submersible pump about right?

 

[qclabrat]

the pump could be oversized for that pond size, but depending on the pump may be correct depending how much water needs to be pumped upwards. Which pump are you looking at?

 

[academiannut]

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E9IO9SW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?smid=AXC6VLRHTOFD2&psc=1 I was looking at this pump - It did seem like a lot, but since the water has to travel about 4 feet horizontally, 2 feet vertically, and then open into a 6" waterfall spout... thought it might need the pressure?

 

[EricV]

Whether 1000 gallons an hour is the right flow depends on if you want a trickle or a real stream out of your 6" weir, but it sounds about right to me. But I would not suggest buying a "cheap" 1000 GPH pump. There is no indication of how much current/wattage that pump uses and I'm guessing you will save money in first couple of years by buying something higher quality that will give you this info.

A Laguna, Tetra, or other easily available pump will draw about 70 W to move 1000 GPH. The pump you are looking at could easily be twice that. Even a 70 W pump probably costs $5-6/month to run.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

I found that pump on a different website that states it draws 60 Watts for the 1056 Gph size. I have never heard of that brand though so I couldn't speak on reliability, etc.
https://www.zenhydro.com/simple-del...ains-ponds-statuary-aquariums-more-17340.html

 

[Mmathis]

@academiannut Did you mean 50 gallon or 500 gallon?

 

[EricV]

Then it's a great choice to see if its the right amount of flow. Since you say you've got another pond, having a spare pump around for maintenance is always helpful. I have two pumps in my pond and another 5 that I use for quarantine tanks, cleaning, etc. Those mostly come from Harbor Freight where the inefficient ones don't matter. They are small and don't run much.

 

[EricV]

FWIW, this stuff is probably the best deal in dechlor you'll find: https://www.chewy.com/api-pond-chlo...gUtlJDi4s_nuPnPLai2yc2hQBkaGqXcIaAu-gEALw_wcB

The smaller bottle will treat almost 10,000 gallons. Easily enough to treat your pond twice.