PondAndFountain.com/ Pond Pump Overview

POND PUMP - OVERVIEW

Pond Pump Product Pages

Sequence Pumps
(3200 to 6000 gph external for ponds 3000 gallons and above)

Pondmaster Pond Pump
(250 to 5000 gph, internal/external for all sized ponds)

Rio Pond Pump
(69 to 900 gph pumps. Perfect for fountains and small ponds)

General
Every pond and water garden needs water movement. Unless you have a river or stream running through your pond, you're going to need a pump. Pond pumps provide:

aeration, which is critical for fish

power to the filter (which is also necessary), and uv sterilizer

water for features such as fountains and waterfalls

One pond pump can be used for all the above listed critical needs, or multiple pond pumps can be used. If you have fish you may want to consider getting two smaller pumps instead of one larger pump. This because your pump will fail one day, and unless you have a pump working you may lose your fish.

GPH/Head Pressure
You should turn over (circulate) your pond water about once per hour. If you have a 1,000-gallon pond*, you will need at least 1,000gph (gallons per hour) pump. To determine the correct pump for your needs you will need to determine the amount of head pressure you will have. Head pressure refers to the degree of resistance to water flow. Head pressure can be calculated as:

one foot of head pressure for every foot of vertical lift for a waterfall or fountain. NOTE: vertical lift refers to the distance from the top of the pond to the top of the waterfall or the fountain head

one foot of head pressure for every 10 feet the pump must push the water horizontally

one foot of head pressure for each filter

For our Pondmaster, and Rio pumps we have "GPH vs. Head/Foot Table" charts. Just determine the Head Pressure for your application and the chart will give you the corresponding gph. (For example: At the Pondmaster Pump Specifications page, the Pond Mag 3 pump at 4 feet of head pressure puts out 270gph.)

*How big is my pond anyway?
Pond size in gallons= Length x Width x Depth x 7.5

For circular ponds, multiply 3.14 x 1/2 diameter x 1/2 diameter x depth x 7.5

External/Internal Pumps
Beyond Selecting a pump based on gph and head pressure, the next important consideration is choosing an external or internal (submersed in water) pump. The Rio pumps are internal only. Running a pump internally is most common for ponds less than 700 gallons, especially water garden ponds (ponds without fish). Internal pumps are inexpensive and less of an eyesore when they run in the water. For larger ponds (1000 gallons and above), however, external pumps are more common. Additionally, external filters are also more common, and in the case of biological filters, the filter should always be external.

Pond Placement
A pond pump can be placed almost anywhere, but you should take the following into consideration:

-internal pumps should be placed at the bottom of the pond on bricks or something else solid so they do not suck up the dirt at the bottom of the pond.
- for those with waterfalls, place the pump at the opposite end to maximize the circulation.

Pre-Filters
Because pumps are clogged easily it is important to have a pre-filter on the pump. Some pre-filters are simply a piece of foam that attaches to the intake side of the pump, as can be seen in the Pond-Mag 12 w/ Foam pre-filter photo on the right. All the Pondmaster pumps come with a foam pre-filter. However, please keep in mind that these pre-filters are only intended to protect the pump from larger materials that may clog the pump. You will need another filter to trap most of the waste in a pond.

With the Pondmaster pump/filters combos the filter is attached to the intake side of the pump and serves as a pre-filter.

Power
Our pumps are all 110 volt

A pump can cost up to $150 to run a year per Amp (based on certain California rates with a kilowatt-hour cost of $0.15, and also assumes constant use). So, when comparing pump prices take into consideration the amps a pump draws.

Put the pump on its own circuit and use a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet.

Inlet/Outlet
Be sure to get a pump with a connection that matches your filter connection or the connection of any tubing, sterilizer, etc. that you are connecting. You can connect a pump to a filter with a larger or smaller connection, but if connected to a filter with a smaller connection you will restrict the flow.

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1536 W. Todd, Suite A102
Tempe, AZ 85283
(this is a shipping warehouse address only, we do not have retail pickup)

Phone: Toll Free 877.878.9349
Email: sales@pondandfountain.com
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