Essential Pond Pump Buying Guide from The Water Garden Experts

Pond pumps are doubtlessly an essential part of your pond. It keeps the water moving and healthy and makes your pond sparkle. Getting the right pond pump will help you get the most out of your pond, so we’ve compiled a guide for finding the right one.

POND PUMP TYPES

 Pond pumps can be divided into two main types. The different pond pumps can fall within one of these types and have different features.

Submersible Pump

Submersible pumps are placed directly in your pond. They’re designed to be completely underwater, usually in the deepest part of your pond. They can also be used with a skimmer box or pond vault. They range in size from 50 to 5,000 gallons per hour (GPH)

External or In-line Pump

As the name implies, external pumps sit outside the water. They use a series of tubing to suck water in and push it out the other side. This is the most well-known pump used for advanced aquariums and ponds.

POND PUMP SIZE CALCULATIONS

Step 1: Figure Out the Flow Rate

Flow rate refers to the volume of water moved per unit of time; in this case, it is gallons moved per hour (GPH), although depending on your location, it could be liters per hour.

To figure out the flow rate, determine your pond’s volume. The total volume should be moved every hour (or 2 hours for light fish stocks). The calculation for volume is Max Length X Width X Depth X 7.5.

So, if your pond has 30 gallons, the flow rate should be 30GPH. Never get a pump higher than the volume of your pond.

Step 2: Figure Out Head Height

The head height, or simply head, is an engineering term that refers to how high above the surface of pond water is propelled. It’s important to know this if you’ll be powering pressurized filters (add 3-5 feet of extra head) or UV clarifiers (add 1-2 feet of extra head).

Step 3: Consider Features

If you’re going to have features like fountains or waterfalls, you’ll need to take that into consideration for your pump. For simplicity’s sake, we will just talk about the pump to run the fountain. If you add extra filters or other components, you’ll need to account for those as well.

Flow Rate-Take a look at your fountain’s outlet, measuring it. Add 100 GPH to your flow rate for every inch of outlet diameter.

For waterfall, your pump’s flow rate will be width of the fall in inches multiplied by 100GPH for gentle flow, 150 GPH or medium flow and 200 GPH for heavy flow.

Head Height- If you are looking for fountain pump, take the measurement of the vertical distance from the outlet to the pump’s height. Multiply this number by 1.5 to get a good strong flow from the top.

For waterfalls, add 1 foot for every 1 foot of vertical distance between pond surface and the top of the water fall and add 1 foot for every 10 feet of horizontal piping.

POND PUMP FEATURES

There are a variety of pond features you can get using different kinds of pumps. These include:

• All-in-one filter pumps that include filtering and pumping to streamline the pumping and filtration process.
• Solar pumps draw their power from solar panels and cut down on running costs.
• Heavy-duty pumps are excellent for large ponds with a lot of water to be circulated through each hour. They also offer greater energy efficiency and higher durability.
• Mag-drive pumps are ideal for small to medium sized water features like spitters and operated by a magnetic impeller. These pumps are super easy to maintain, and you only need a new impeller to refresh the pumps.
• Direct drive pumps are designed for ponds with high head pressure and flow rate. The impeller is connected directly to the motor to give a stronger push to the water. Most pumps require oil changes to keep the impeller shaft moving properly.

RUNNING COST

The most important thing to consider with running costs is efficiency. Although it might seem like you want a bigger pump, it is more important to have it tailored to the correct size for your pond’s capacity and water.

You can save money with pond pumps with photocells that shut the pump off when there’s no light or by using solar panels to power your pump.

Pump It Good

Finding the right size pump for your pond needs is critical to having a pond that gets filtered and circulated properly. If you are still not sure what pump is right for your customers’ water feature, contact our water garden experts at Castle Aquatics.