Which Pipe Fittings To Use In Your Fish Pond Water garden

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Pipe Fittings Are Confusing And Sizes According To Where You Live

99% of garden ponds contain at least 2 components that need connecting and in some cases more than 3 items of equipment. Most connections start with the pump. Choosing the right pipe fittings and the whole issue relating to fittings, pond hose types can be somewhat of a confusing issue at times! To complicate the matter further, fittings and pond hose pipe sizes are often in metric when you want them in imperial and vice versa. This of course usually depends upon where you live.

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There is a myriad of pond pumps to choose from and many are supplied with the necessary fittings. I would always recommend such a pump and the best are probably from the following 3 well known and established suppliers:

More often than not the pipe from the pump needs to change direction and the important thing to remember here is to use a fitting with a smooth bend. By using smooth bend curves you conserve pumping power. Every pumps loses a bit of flow for every fitting included in the line and the more abrupt the change then the more flow is lost due to pressure drop.

If you need to split flow into 2 directions avoid "T" pieces. A "T" piece creates a relatively high pressure drop that translates into lower flow. When choosing the pipe fitting the golden rule is to always choose the widest diameter fitting you can ... once again the reason is to lower pressure drop and therefore minimize the amount of flow that will be lost. A "Y" piece is a much more efficient way of splitting water flow into 2 directions.

When you use a "Y" piece to split flow then this minimizes friction losses or pressure drop in the fitting. Note the inlet side (white) is of a wider diameter than the outlet and that the 2 outlets have what are called "stepped" fittings. The idea of the stepped fitting is to make it easier to attach the same fitting to different pipe diameters. Whenever you use any type of stepped fitting attach to the largest diameter pipe you can and make sure that you CUT OFF the smaller steps so that they do not impede water flow through the pipe and fitting. Some "Y" fittings have valves built into them so that you can control the flows, incase you want more in one particular direction than another.

Which Pipe Fittings & Pipe Type To Use In Garden Fish PondsWhy is Opaque Plastic Pipe The Best To Use?

The answer is quite simple! Algae will grow on the inside of pipes and therefore it is best to reduce this growth by using opaque plastic pipe that doesn't allow light to penetrate it. Green water (algae) needs sunlight to grow, without this it dies. Transparent piping will eventually become lined with pond algae, which in turn reduces the flow through the pipe. Very often you'll want to bend the pipe and is the second reason transparent pipe is normally not the best choice. Ribbed flexible pipe is by far the best and is perfect for pond keepers. When you bend this kind of pipe it does not kink and act as a restriction to water flow. Most transparent plastic pipes kink very easily and the impact is a lower water flow to your waterfall or fountain.

All pipe whichever type you use should be the shortest possible length and the widest possible diameter consistent with the rest of your equipment and the fittings you use. By optimizing these 2 choices your pump will perform at its best ... To see popular pond tubing reviews on this site click the link ...

When you attach pipe you'll often use what we call Jubilee Clips. If you do use these type of fittings then ensure that you use stainless steel clips, otherwise they will rust and become almost impossible to remove further down the line.

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