Time to think about a pump...

[bagsmom]

Hey experts - especially those with bogs -- I'm looking at a pump that might be good.

To refresh your memories, I am working on a largish pond in the backyard. It will have a pump inside aqua blocks, located in an intake bay (to pull in floating leaves and debris. The pump will move water up a gentle incline to the bog, which is about 12 feet away and probably about 3 to 4 feet higher than the pump. I know the flow rate doesn't have to be quite as high when using a bog.

The pond is about 10 feet across (not including the bog) and about 18 feet long. It will be about a foot deep at the "beach" end and will be 3 feet at the deepest point. You can see in the photos how it steps down gradually. I think the bog is about 4 x 9 and about 2 feet deep.

This is a pond intended for wildlife in the backyard - deer, raccoons, amphibians, birds - and whoever else wants to stop by.

The Pond Advisor (Mark Wilson) has how tos on using the aqua blocks as a pump vault. He said the flow rate should not exceed around 1000 gph to keep the blocks from collapsing in on themselves due to the pressure. But he said using zip ties will help prevent that.

With the information provided, I was thinking this pump might be good.

Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

 

[bagsmom]

Of course now I realize I haven't taken any pictures since I moved the intake bay. Instead of being at the lower left corner, it is down at the bottom center of the picture.

 

[Lisak1]

We actually have that pump. Bought it to use for winter, used it one winter and put it away. Now it's our "just in case" pump. We have all Aquascape pumps - never had a problem with them!

 

[bagsmom]

I'm really wondering if the size is good, considering the dimensions of the pond and all that stuff. I am really mathematically challenged so all the stuff about "head" and pressure and "GPH at 5', GPH at 4'" etc. - confuses me beyond belief. For the size of my pond and what I want to do, I wonder if it would be good?

 

[GBBUDD]

A flow rate of 1000 gph along with a water fall is going to be little more then a trickle. here is an example in flow rates

As far as someone saying that aqua blocks will collapse as water flows over 1000 i would be VERY skeptical of they use aqua blocks and build patios with concrete pavers and parking lots above. You can find many a video online where they drive 50,000 pound equipment "excavators " over the aqua blocks. so i am very confused by that statement. i have aqua blocks in my bog and i push a minimum of 6000 gph through the area. You have to remember as well while 1000 gph sounds like a lot you can see from the video there is not a lot o.f pressure.

As far as head pressure etc the total pressure will not be a lot. I would give aquascape a call i have seen video after video that will help design or answer questions you may have.

 

[bagsmom]

It wasn't that the blocks would collapse because of water flowing over (I don't think, anyway.) His method uses the aqua block as a sort of pump vault. You cut an opening in one side of the block and actually put the pump inside it, then replace it like a little door. The pump is sucking all the water through and into the block, which is set in the intake bay. So it is more a concern of the block collapsing in -- due to the "suckage" and the fact that cutting one side can compromise the structural integrity. (At least that is how I understood it. Along with my limited math abilities, I'm not a great engineer! ) Mark is now a certified Aquascape contractor over in the UK -- so I can check in with him on this again! He is great about answering questions in the comments on his YouTube videos. Thank you for the video! I love videos! I believe a lower flow is desired for a bog filter, since you don't want the water to push through too fast (so the plant roots can do their thing to absorb the nutrients.) I remember @addy1 saying something about that with her bog. I need to go back and see if I can find that conversation. I am getting VERY excited to get going on this again!!!!!!

 

[bagsmom]

One other thought -- I do want the pump to be strong enough to pull leaves and floating debris into the intake bay. But not be too powerful for a bog. Not too strong, not too weak. I need the Goldilocks of pumps. Just right!

 

[Alice_Bee]

I am going to suggest a Danner pond Mag 18, about 1800 gph as the smallest pump. I get so much longer life out of Danner.

I put my Mag 18 on my backyard pond in 2005, it pushes up to a bog without media, I use it to raise water lilies, and the pump is still running.

I clean that pond out every couple of years, I keep the pump intake at bottom in a bucket of lavarock in the bottom and I clean that bucket out about 2-3 times a year Probably going to go to a plastic hardware cloth wrap in a bucket soon, lava rock is getting heavy. and Aquablocks are a LOT stronger than my plastic hardware cloth

This one's green, I had just rebuilt the waterfall from the upper to lower pond. Actually I just rebuilt the whole pond, had a dog tear up the bottom liner.

This is definitely not an aquascape pond. There is no skimmer, no gravel in the bottom, and the lilies do beautifully in the bog. It cleared about a week later

 

[Lisak1]

I am really mathematically challenged

The very reason I offered absolutely no advice about pump size! I let my husband do all that math when we were building!

 

[GBBUDD]

As they say a second opinion is always advised. While there are certainly many ways to build and maintain a pond 1000 gph will hardly move the surface or keep dead spots from forming but thats just my two cents

 

[bagsmom]

As they say a second opinion is always advised. While there are certainly many ways to build and maintain a pond 1000 gph will hardly move the surface or keep dead spots from forming but thats just my two cents

I appreciate it very much. I definitely don't want dead spots and as I said, I want to be sure the flow is enough to pull stuff into the intake bay! Back to the drawing board! Thank you!

 

[bagsmom]

@addy1

 

[bagsmom]

GBUDD, thank you for the video showing flow rate - that is really helpful to see!

 

[Tula]

We bought two new pumps last Summer, both Aquascapes. previously I'd fly used Pond Master, which I believe is a Dinner product. I'll check to see what size we're using for our new bog and get back to you....our bog is pretty small.

 

[bagsmom]

@Tula - the top dimensions of the bog are pretty big, but it actually curves down like a bowl, if that makes sense. So the dimensions of the bottom will be smaller than that of the top. It might LOOK big when it's done, but won't be quite as big (capacity-wise) as it looks.