Use my pond pump as vacuum?

[sgrawunder]

Hi, I have a 5000 gal pond, external Seahorse 3/4 hp pump, Alpine 3000 pressurized filter, IonGen, and 100 gal skippy style bio filter to a waterfall and fountain. The pond is 48 inches deep at center with shelves from 12 to 18 inches around sides. I have koi, goldfish and plecos. My pond is great, water is clear and the fish are happy, BUT I have a major problem in the fall with a 70 year old pecan tree nearby, the leaves are overwhelming!

Can I rig up some sort of pond vacuum using my pond pump? I've tried 2 kinds of shop vacs but they don't suction well at all, and a separate pond vac seems expensive and redundant when I already have a decent pump. My pump has a very small debris basket so I'm trying to figure out how to pump (pull?) the water through some sort of leaf catcher gizmo before all that gook enters the pump.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Sandi G

 

[addy1]

I have a rigid shop vac, it will suck up anything.

You can add an inline leaf basket before your pump. You might be able to set up a flexible line that you hook up when you need to suck the leaves up, hook up to your pump with the leaf basket in the line. Just a out there thought that might work well for you. Flexible line so you can move it around to suck up the leaves.

 

[sgrawunder]

Thanks for response! Yeppers, I tried the Rigid also, the one that supposedly also works as a pump, but it hardly pumps at all unless the line is right at the water level. Perhaps my pond bottom is too deep. I had installed my pressurized filter behind my pond pump, I am wondering if it will work if I install it ahead of the pump, i.e. the pump pulls the water through, rather than pushing? That way I could install a second intake line with valve and use that for a vacuum line through the filter using the typical pool setup. I figure I could remove the fine filter pads, leave the coarse one, and sew up a net bag to catch the leafy junk. I've been cogitating on this for awhile but I have replumbed this system so many times I'm getting addicted to PVC glue LOL! Will that work???

 

[addy1]

That I am not sure of. Some pumps do not pull water as well as pushing water. It would seem that a 3/4 hp pump would be able to draw the water through that filter.

 

[DrDave]

Not all pumps are made to suck. A lot of them require a gravity feed. Pumps that do suck, cannot have any air in the line before the inlet. That may be your problem.

 

[sgrawunder]

Aha, of course that makes sense! My pump does suck well, as it pulls water from the inlet box at the bottom of my pond thru about 20' of 1.5" spa pipe and about 4' drop from pump to pond. The pump was rated at 4000 gph for 10' of head and 100' length. Actually I have had to reduce flow to my skippy filter because my gravity returns are too small. I have two 1-1/4 lines running to the waterfall and a 3/4 line going to the fountain. When the guys built my waterfall they didn't allow enough spaces for larger pipes, so I'm looking as some tear down and redo so I can put in larger returns. Bummer! I hope that two 2" returns will do the job. I have no clue how to calculate the gravity flow capacity of pipes LOL!

So...back to my vacuum dealie. My pressurized biofilter is after my pump. Can I move it ahead of the pump i.e. the pump pulls water through the filter first? If so I could put in another line as a vacuum line and use the filter with a net bag as a leaf catcher when I want to clean the pond. Does this make any sense?

 

[DrDave]

Moving your filter ahead of the pump may not work since it requires "pressure" to filter.
I personally would never have or use this type of filter. Someone else may have experience with these and a better solution.