Installing my new Sequence 750 pump

[GBBUDD]

worry the flow is too strong that it will end up stirring up debris at the bottom of the pond and may not be a good environment for aquatic plants.

It would be nice to know which model you went with performance pro has all sizes and you may have just gone too big period.
An 3/4 inch is only good for 11 gpm a 1.5 is good for 35 gpm and a 2 inch is over 80 gpm . So even though 1.5 is only twice as large as 3/4 it puts out 3 times as much water . And 1.5 to 2 inch that is only a 1/2 inch larger than 1.5 puts out twice as much at 80 over 35gpm .
What size is the discharge on the pump? I'm betting it's 2 inch meaning your pump is probably over 4000 gph and seeing as you have ONE 1.5 line leading from the pump that can only handle 2100 gph so to push half of of you bound up pressure again if your 4000 gph that's 1900 gph that's being pushed to a pipe that can't handle it at low pressure and is pushing it to a higher psi adding head pressure. And seeing as my scenario is half its power being choked the pump will not last as long. Again this is IF my numbers are close to what pump you have if it is a higher gph it's even worse.

Solution can come when we know how many gph your pump is. Unfortunately you didn't need a high head pump. But let's see what you got.

 

[GBBUDD]

It would be nice to know which model you went with performance pro has all sizes and you may have just gone too big period.
An 3/4 inch is only good for 11 gpm a 1.5 is good for 35 gpm and a 2 inch is over 80 gpm . So even though 1.5 is only twice as large as 3/4 it puts out 3 times as much water . And 1.5 to 2 inch that is only a 1/2 inch larger than 1.5 puts out twice as much at 80 over 35gpm .
What size is the discharge on the pump? I'm betting it's 2 inch meaning your pump is probably over 4000 gph and seeing as you have ONE 1.5 line leading from the pump that can only handle 2100 gph so to push half of of you bound up pressure again if your 4000 gph that's 1900 gph that's being pushed to a pipe that can't handle it at low pressure and is pushing it to a higher psi adding head pressure. And seeing as my scenario is half its power being choked the pump will not last as long. Again this is IF my numbers are close to what pump you have if it is a higher gph it's even worse.

Solution can come when we know how many gph your pump is. Unfortunately you didn't need a high head pump. But let's see what you got.

Also you don't want plants using soils in the water to grow you want your plants to be in 3/8 inch pea stone and make the plants get the nutrients they need from. The water that way algae is lessened and strung algae is not your ponds future

 

[miamicuse]

I have the Performance Pro Artesian 2 A2-1/2-HH-C model pump. THP:0.99 RPM: 3450

Here is the link:

Specification

www.performancepropumps.com

 

[GBBUDD]

Well I was right, but I was soo wrong.
It appears your pump pushes 6600 gph meaning your 1.5 inch pipe that can only push 2100 gph is short Your pipe can only handle 1/3 of what that pump puts out . You said you have a geyser ...I believe you do..

Not sure if you can get that pump turned down enough

You would need to start off with a 2 inch line the immediately jumps to a double 2 " teewhy. But your going to need to place at least 2 return jets if they are both 1 .5 that's 4000 gph and the other line would have approx 2000 gph that could make your waterfall and your fountain.
Make sure to Have ball valves on everything. And you'll have to replace your intake line . Upgrade to at least a single 2 inch line all the way to the pump. If not a 2.5 inch

 

[Pablo]

Well I was right, but I was soo wrong.
It appears your pump pushes 6600 gph meaning your 1.5 inch pipe that can only push 2100 gph is short Your pipe can only handle 1/3 of what that pump puts out . You said you have a geyser ...I believe you do..
Not sure if you can get that pump turned down enough

Earlier in the thread he had questions about the type of pump he should get. I think the issue back then is that he had many turns in his pipes so the head calculations were high so a stronger pump was recommended. Could be wrong but I think that was what the discussion was about several months ago.

 

[GBBUDD]

I know it was but a high head for volume of the size pipe you can squeeze a little more through smaller pipe by increasing psi. .
Without looking back I remember the plumbing was with 90 degree elbows and tee's I probably used the Metaphore where a car can not turn off a 55 mph road at a 90 degree and keep the speed at 55. But if you change the 90 degree to what's called a street 90 that's like a highway on ramp. You turn at a 90 degree but you do so rounding the corners. Like an on ramp. That the 90 degree dead turns would restrict flow and apparently it did and a larger pump was purchased. And it is a high head as well. This pump can push I think it was 58 feet that's impressive but it is also for a 2 inch line not 1.5 though I did not see that on the schematics . The number didn't jump out atme it's a guess . A 2 inch line will do 4800 gph as standard psi around 21 if I remember correctly bump that to high head high pressure and it appears you can squeeze another 1200 gph out of it but your psi is going up as well probably in the 50 psi range . And what a geyser it will make.

 

[GBBUDD]

The 750 was 3000 gph it's a little over double in gph at 6600 but add high head to that equation and it does not loose pressure as fast a low head pressure pump or standard usually fades to no water pressure water 10 to 15 feet of head. Meaning at 15 feet it's less than a kitchen faucet. A pump at 3000 high head say 58 feet and you will probably have 2500 gph.
I remember this build well.

All is not lost use the extra as circulation . I do forget the filter but I remember there was a t where the bottom drain was elevated? Or am I crossing posts.
Regardless you do want to disturb the bottom of the pond blow all waste to the drain.
Make the plants get nutrients from the water not the substrate.

 

[GBBUDD]

I just went back to check why this got so messed up and here's what i see in the posts admittedly i did not read every page every word but i see a recurring oversight . You reduced the pipe size right off the bat to 1.5 inch all the head calcs were based on the manuals number for head . but they started with 2" @ 4800 gph you insisted to stay with 1.5 inch @ 2100 gph So again I'm not a hydraulic engineer but when you restrict by more than half, I'd say your head will drop in similar. So when you came up with 10 feet of head without the reduction to 1.5" the max of 14 head should be dropped to 7 , thus 10 is considerably over max head.

I wish i could point to some error to flip and fix easily , but the solution is not that terrible either. go buy an aquascape stacked slate urn problem solved or bowls use the main pump you don't need any other pumps.

 

[miamicuse]

It's been a while with this project with all the starts and stops along the way.

I initially got the Sequence 750 pump (which is the reason of the subject title), hooked it all up but it just wouldn't prime even with a prime basket. The conclusion was that I need a stronger pump because the pump is elevated and about 40' from the intake valve.

This started me on doing the friction loss calculations using various formulas and charts. I based everything on the 1.5" piping and fittings. Different formulas yielded different head calculations, somewhere between 25' and 44' is what I need, theoretically. I end up looking for a pump that can provide 25' of head at 3200GPH. I was leaning towards the PerformancePro Artesian 2 1/2HP high head model. I called the retailer and explained my situation and they told me (which I quoted in post #82) the following:

"...when I called a pond pump retailer and asked about the PerformancePro, the phone rep told me that based on my configuration, he thinks the flow rate will be too high and resulting in more friction losses. He suggest that I install a 1-1/2" ball valve on the return to throttle the flow down. I don't understand this, if all the friction loss calculations were done based on a 3200GPH flow rate, then once we have everything calculated and picked the pump based on the head and flow rate hitting the middle section of these curves, and then if I slow the flow with a ball valve, doesn't that change the flow rate, and if flow rate is changed, all the previous calculations based on that flow rate are changed as well? I am missing something here."

I do have a 1-1/2" ball valve on the return side, and then a ball valve on each of the four branches off the return line going to each of the outlets so I can turn on/off and turn the flow as needed. So yes right now it's flowing too much, and I have the 1-1/2" ball valve opened 100%. I guess I could throttle it down a bit to reduce the flow out of the pump.

 

[miamicuse]

I tried throttling the 1-1/2" return ball valve down about 30-40%, turned the other individual fixture ball valve on fully opened, and turned off the hose bibb branch, I can now get the two water features to work better. There is still a submerged branch that's open that is basically stirring up the bottom of the pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

Looks like a touch down to me

 

[Pablo]

Looks awesome, I know you did a lot of work to get to this point you must be relieved.