What equipment must I have?

[Alden]

Hi, All! I am anxious to break ground for new wildlife/recreation pond. However, I am a little confused as to what equipment is appropriate for my plan. It will be 9ft x 11ft, largest area about 1ft deep, with shelves progressively deeper to 3ft. Lots of plants, no fish hoping to attract many frogs! I know my kids and dog will be in it, so I want to use an external centrifugal pump. I also want a small waterfall, no more than 3ft higher than pond water level. I don’t love the idea of skimmers/filters because of threat they pose to the frogs, but it seems I will need something to protect the pump. All suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[bagsmom]

Alden - have you considered an intake bay instead of a skimmer? It serves the same function, but is made to be safer for wildlife.

 

[j.w]

@Alden

 

[Alden]

Hi, bagsmom! Thanks for your reply. Can I have an intake bay without the pump vault? The most important factor is protecting kids from the wayward electrical current that can come from submerged pumps.

 

[Alden]

Thanks for that, j.w.!

 

[combatwombat]

Hi, bagsmom! Thanks for your reply. Can I have an intake bay without the pump vault? The most important factor is protecting kids from the wayward electrical current that can come from submerged pumps.

Yes, you can. I am building exactly that right now. You simply draw your water from a pipe in the bay rather than installing a submersible pump.

 

[Alden]

Yes, you can. I am building exactly that right now. You simply draw your water from a pipe in the bay rather than installing a submersible pump.

Great news- thanks! So I can bury much of the hoses going to intake bay and waterfall, but leave the waterfall / pump connection area out for priming the pump?

 

[combatwombat]

Great news- thanks! So I can bury much of the hoses going to intake bay and waterfall, but leave the waterfall / pump connection area out for priming the pump?

Yep. You can either do a flooded suction installation or install a priming pot on the pump to fill the suction tube w/ water before starting up. Or you can buy a self-priming pump, but they're kind of expensive for how simple priming a pump is and how infrequently you should need to do it.

 

[Alden]

Just what I needed- thanks, combatwombat!

 

[kelpie]

snip...
wayward electrical current that can come from submerged pumps.

Hi alden, Welcome. could you expand more on the above statement please, I've not heard of this?

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

What is a “centrifugal pump”?

 

[combatwombat]

Hi alden, Welcome. could you expand more on the above statement please, I've not heard of this?

It's low risk, but there is a risk. When a pump is installed in the water, then you have 120v electrical current in that water. If the part of the pump that separates the electrical from the pond water cracks (could be from freezing over the winter and then turning on in the spring, then that current will leak out into the pond water. If there is someone in the pond when that happens, they could get shocked.

If the pump is installed on a GFCI outlet/circuit, the shock should be mild as the breaker will trip before much voltage leaks, but there will still be a shock. It's also not impossible for a GFCI outlet/breaker to fail closed (maintaining the circuit). They're designed to fail open (shut off current) but it's not impossible for the opposite to happen.

An external pond pump removes all of those possibilities.

 

[addy1]

It happens I got shocked by a submersible pump. Now just use externals pumps. Except for the hot tub pond, that is a 250 gph laguna pump. I unplug before hands go in the water.

 

[poconojoe]

It happens I got shocked by a submersible pump. Now just use externals pumps. Except for the hot tub pond, that is a 250 gph laguna pump. I unplug before hands go in the water.

Ouch!

 

[GBBUDD]

Yes, you can. I am building exactly that right now. You simply draw your water from a pipe in the bay rather than installing a submersible pump.

You need to keep in mind however that external pumps do not pull water rater they push water. So you need to keep the pump and the water level very close if you pump is higher then water k even by 3 feet it will not be able to prime its self .