Spring will be here soon, and many of you will either be looking for a pump for your pond, or be looking to replace a non-functional pump.
The pump is one of the most important features of a pond, because without a pump, there will not be any trickling or moving water, and you will effectively have a bog. If you choose the wrong pump, your water will either not flow the way you desire, or you may have insufficient flow to filter your water and/or feed your waterfall. Therefore, it is worth taking the time to choose the proper pump to suite your needs. The first question you should ask yourself is: What functionalities do I require from my pump? Are you using your pump to drive a waterfall? Do you have a statue? Or do you need a pump to circulate your water and drive a filter?
Many people require a pump merely to circulate and filter their water. It is recommended that you circulate your pond water at least once every 2 hours to ensure that mosquitoe larvae do not accumulate in stagnant water. Thus, you should measure the number of gallons in your pond and obtain a pump that pumps at least half that volume every hour (I.e. the gallons per hour rating, or GPH, should be 50% that of the pond volume). If your pump needs to feed a biological and/or mechanical filter (E.g. submersible, pressurized, and above-ground filters), make sure that you consult the manual for the filter to determine the minimal required water flow to run the filter.
You will need to increase your pump rating to accommodate both fish and waterfalls. Calculating the proper pump for waterfalls is a bit trickier, because waterfall pumps are rated by both GPH and maximum waterfall height. To estimate your waterfalls height, you must measure the vertical height from the top of your pump to the top of your waterfall or stream. In addition, you must add another foot of height or lift for every 10 feet of hosing you will be using (to account for loss of volume from hose resistance). The general rule of thumb is that each inch of width of the channel will require an extra 100 GPH. For example, if your stream or waterfall spillway will be 10 inches wide, you will need a pump that generates an additional 1000 GPH of flow at your waterfalls height. One affordable line of pumps that we recommend is the Algreen MaxFlo line of waterfall pumps. These pumps (rated at 2200 GPH and 3170 GPH) are powerful submersible units that can fit into any skimmer.
If you wish to feed water into a statue or fountain, you will need a smaller pump that has a large head (I.e. maximum pumping height), and preferably an adjustable flow control. The highest quality pumps that we have found are the SICCE magnet-driven statuary pumps. These pumps have a built in sponge filter, vibration-damping rubber pads that allow them to run in absolute silence, suction cups at the bottom to increase their stability, and variable flow-rate adjustment knobs. The SICCE statuary/fountain pumps vary from 60 GPH up to 468 GPH and can generate maximum heights of up to 7 and 4. The various models in the SICCE line include the Extrema, Irda, Nova, Micra Plus, Micra, and the Mi-Mouse.
If you have multiple pond considerations, or youre not sure which pump to choose, you can always go with a multi-purpose pump. Magnet-driven multi-purpose pumps usually come with mechanical pre-filters to trap large debris, variable flow control, built-in fountain with various fountain heads, and diverter values to allow you to split your output flow into multiple devices (E.g. watercourses, statues, and larger external filters). Several examples of multi-purpose pumps include the Shott Nursery Pro, Algreen SuperFlo, and the Algreen UltraFlo.
Before you start building your pond, you should take the time to consider the many pump options available. Make sure you shop around to find the most affordable and the most effective pump to meet all of your requirements.
For more information about pond pumps, please go to http://www.gardensupermart.com/tips/pump.asp
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