Yes every fish pond needs a pond pump water pump characteristics pre-determined

Water Gardens Gazette No. 501 Feb 16th 2005

This is the first gazette I have written for a while and the main reason was that I have been extremely busy tidying up my many websites ... after about 3 years they had got somewhat out of hand. In addition I have been busy creating new material and new sites in conjunction with other pond enthusiasts.

I will try to keep to a 2 weekly schedule while the main N Hemisphere season is in full force ... oh and I have opened up a pond supplies store in the North of England ready for the new season. Do take a look ... my US readers will see that I still maintain my strong relationship with two of the very best pond product suppliers on line. There was not a single hint of a complaint throughout the whole of last year

Yes ... every fish pond needs a pond pump. The main purpose of a pond pump is to provide fish and other important organisms in the pond system with life-giving oxygen. Think of the fish pond pump as the HEART of the system

The most important part of any fish pond is the water pump. It is your pond's Heart. It supplies life-giving oxygen to all the garden pond's inhabitants large and small ... and especially the special bacteria that live in the biofilter.

If you want to shortcut this newsletter and get on with it use the 2 links to left ... I have tried hard to make it as simple as possible to choose the right pump QUICKLY, ACCURATELY and EASILY.

On virtually every web page I have ever produced and I have created thousands I include the two links that you will clearly see to the left. The reason is simple ... pond pumps and biofilters are critical to life in any fish pond. If the water is not purified and the fish and bacteria responsible for cleaning water are not supplied with oxygen the fish pond will fail and its inhabitants will die. It just so happens that many retailers supply information and products which are not up to the job and this is not in the interests of any pond owner. The right pond pump and the right pond filter need not cost you an arm and a leg either.

If you have an existing pond filter and you suspect it is a bit small then don't throw it away just increase the biomedia inside it ... learn more at the bio filter web site. This approach will cost you little

Not all makes of water pump are the same ...

Koi ponds, fish ponds, and most normal garden ponds all need a water pump. The only probable exception is for the pure water garden ... ie a pond with lots of aquatic plants and few if any fish. However even in this garden pond situation it is still a good idea to have a reliable water pump gently circulating water.

A good water pump for a fish pond is robust and reliable, yet small and very power efficient. Most types of pond pump are submerged into the pond and placed on a brick or something similar slightly off the bottom of the pond. The reason for this is to minimize the amount of sunken debris that might be sucked into the water pump itself.

Once you have bought a pump it should last you for years. Your pump should minimize your power consumption yet do its duty day in and day out because a pump in a fish pond must run 24 hrs per day. It's like I said ... its the pond's heart after all.

What's all that information on the water pump box mean?

Select your fish pond pump to save money and worry and to do a pre-determined duty. In simplest terms the specification for your pond pump is based upon what volume of water can be pumped against a specific head (or pressure or height) which is normally measured in feet or metres.

The manufacturer's information on the water pump packaging should be helpful but in so many cases it is utterly confusing and more often than not presented in such a way that comparison between different pond pump models is difficult.

The first good clue as to whether you are looking at a pond pump or fountain pump is to look at the box size. Small boxes are used for indoor and small outdoor or patio water fountains. This type of water pump often comes with a short cable of between 3 and 5 feet and the body of the water pump is small so everything can fit neatly into a small box (most pumps of this type fit into the palm of your hand). You will generally need two hands to hold a pond pump and the cable is normally much longer. The pond pump just looks more robust.

Don't get bamboozled by retailers. Know how to choose your pond pump correctly.

Many retailers do not understand a water pump's specification requirements well enough to give money saving advice consistent with correct water pump performance. Selecting a simple water fountain pump is easier than selecting waterfall or pond pumps. For a pond you will generally want to select a submersible pump and not one that sits outside the pond itself.

Pond pump guarantee ... It is when something goes wrong with your pump that you need a supplier that will give you immediate attention.

Make sure that the retailer who sells you the water pump carries spares and understands that pond pumps need to run all the time if you keep fish and run a pond filter.

The following selection criteria must be understood to select the optimum pump for your fish pond. You must know how to:

Calculate the volume of water in your pond system (unless you measured it when you first filled your garden pond)
Calculate correct pond pump head. This depends upon waterfall characteristics mainly. If no waterfall exists pond volume and contents of the garden pond determine specifications for most pond pumps.
Calculate correct water pump flow rate. This is a function of the waterfall situation and other factors ... some people run a filter separately to the waterfall for example

Then specify to a retailer exactly what you want bearing in mind purchase and running costs of the water pump selected. A good way to compare cost differences between pumps is to work out the cost of the water pump power consumption over 3 years and add this to the purchase price of the water pump. Assuming all else is about equal (service, cable length, water pump guarantee etc) then whichever water pump costs least IN TOTAL is the best buy.

Recognize the pitfalls associated with certain types of so called pond or water pumps.

Sump pumps and pool pumps are the main culprits here. These 2 types of water pump are used in many pond situations for wrong reasons which are covered elsewhere on this web site. You often see sump pumps advertised as waterfall pumps ... in fact they are a very poor substitute water pump in terms of cost and reliability for most waterfalls in a garden setting.