Pump - Sunterra vs. Pondscape

[CountryEscape]

My daughter's Golden has been watching with enthusiasm as the pond has been filling this afternoon, but so far has stayed away. I think he may reach over for a drink, but hoping he won't go in to swim. Not sure what I will do yet if he decides it's for HIS entertainment rather than mine. I posted more pics on my pond construction thread "The Pond Dig Has Begun", if you want to see the finished product, filling with water! I'm sooo excited and happy! Now, just waiting for it to fill, and hoping the well produces enough water to fill it!

 

[Gomer14]

I have a Sunterra 1250 GPH pump. I am not that impressed with it although I haven't had any problems with it.I don't think it circulates enough water through my pond. I am almost considering buying a sump pump. Thank you for the tip on Laguna Pump and PondMaster Pumps.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, against all suggestions, and mainly because I procrastinated too long, I ended up buying two Sunterra pumps at Menards. For the price, half or less than others I'd looked at, and the fact I can buy them local and possible parts, too, I figured might as well try them out. One is the 1250 GPH which will run the skimmer and then flow into the plant bog. And the larger one is sucking from the bottom of the pond, going part of the power to the fountain, and the rest to the waterfall. Actually, we have splitter and valves from this pump. Seems like the waterfall runs very well even with both valves completely open, but we will watch it closer once the waterfall actually gets done. We just "test drove" it with the DIY Skippy box.

 

[DrCase]

My daughter's Golden has been watching with enthusiasm as the pond has been filling this afternoon, but so far has stayed away. I think he may reach over for a drink, but hoping he won't go in to swim. Not sure what I will do yet if he decides it's for HIS entertainment rather than mine. I posted more pics on my pond construction thread "The Pond Dig Has Begun", if you want to see the finished product, filling with water! I'm sooo excited and happy! Now, just waiting for it to fill, and hoping the well produces enough water to fill it!

Until i put up a low fence around the pond to keep my granddaughter from falling in are pit bull thought it was her summer spa ... the fence solved both problems
Every little dog we have and any small one that comes over ends up in the pond at least once. they slip right through the fence and end up falling in {once}

 

[CountryEscape]

Yeah, Dr. Case, I have a strong feeling that a fence is going to be needed around my pond as well. But, if I make it a "pretty" fence, it should not take away from the beauty of the pond. For not, they are all going to the edge and drinking the water. :-( But, haven't seen anyone in it yet. Once the waterfall and fountain are running, I doubt any of them go in for a swim, but I could be mistaken. Thanks again for the warning. Consider it heeded!

 

[fishin4cars]

I just posted this for Nova on their thread and figured I would repost here by your post.

One thing I would recommend, at least making sure that the pump is not sitting directly on the bottom of the pond. If you place the pump up ( milk crate, plant shelf, rocks, etc.) about a foot off of the bottom of the pond and this happens at least it will leave some water in the pond for the fish until you can get home and fix the issue. Float valves do work great too! I learned the hard way as I had a hose come loose on a pond and came home to about 1" of water and all the fish dead. That's not something I wish anyone else to experience.

On a new pond this something that is very capable of happening, a piece of pipe that didn't glue correctly, piece of liner losing water at a water fall, a unknown leak, etc.

 

[CountryEscape]

Very good point, Fishin. Only thing is that I put the pump at the lowest part of the pond, for the reason of sucking most of the yucky poo up through the filter. If it's up on a milk crate, that won't happen, right? But, better safe than sorry for the fish's sake, I agree. I had a landscape stone fall into the pond yesterday during high wind/rain storm, so will need to "get wet" to get that out of there, and will put pump up on something at the same time. Thanks for the good advice.

 

[fishin4cars]

Actually you really don't want to pull water directly from the bottom unless you have a vortex to seperate the bottom gunk before it gets into the filter, a far better option is raise the pump up some and place a large airstone in the bottom, this will help lift the solids up and the skimmer removes more of that, yes it makes cleaning the skimmer more of a daily task, but I would far rather clean a skimmer daily than to clean out a clogged filter!