Hi All,
I'm new to this hobby and looking to build my first pond. I am in the process of putting together my equipment list. If I decide to go with a pressurized filter set up, I am trying to decide between the Polygeyer and Alpha 1 offerings. From a sizing standpoint, I am looking at the units that contain about 6 cu ft of media (polygeyser DF5/6 and Alpha 1 6.0 units).
My pond specifics (at least on paper) are as follows:
- Approx. 6000 gals
- 2 4" Bottom Drains and Skimmer pairings feeding 2 independent settling/pre-filter chambers
- The settling/pre-filter chambers would then feed into a manifold connected to the pump, feeding the pressurized filter
- Exitting the pump the flow would need to feed 3 "shear" falls with a total width of approx 72"
My questions are as follows:
1) Has anyone done any type of comparisons between the performance of the Polygeyser and Alpha 1 units? I've heard some pretty good things about the Alpha 1 but not a whole lot about the Polygesyer (but the concept sounds interesting)
2) Does anyone have any information on the flow restrictions (feet of head) that either of these filters place on a system? I hear that both are "low head" systems, but I would like to get some numbers that i can use to help with pump sizing requirements
3) I understand that in order to support the (total) fall width that I am looking to build, I will need somewhere between 3500 - 7000+ gals/hr of flow. Only thing is, I don't know what a 3500 gal/hr flow would look like (for this fall sizing) so it's hard for me to tell if 3500 gal/hr would be "sufficient" or if I really need to be shooting for the upper end of the spectrum. I don't want to have anemic looking falls. Can anyone help me with this?
4) I'm debating between plumbing a single (larger) pump into my system, or setting up 2 smaller pumps to provide for a little greater flow and provide me with a built in backup, in case one of the pumps should fail. If I go with a dual pump set up, I think that I could realize some additional savings by shutting one of the pumps down in the evening and during the winter months, where I'm guessing that waste production would be reduced. Each pump would be sized to cycle the pond at either a 90 minute or 2 hour interval. Is logic regarding a 2 pump set up "reasonable"?
5) If I go with a 2 pump set up, I think I've read that hooking the pumps in "serial" fashion would maintain a consistent flow rate, but greatly increase (double) the head pressure the system is capable of. A parallel set up would increase (double) the flow rate, while keeping maintaining the head pressure limitation of a single pump system. This all sounds reasonable. However, I saw a set up where someone had a serial pump set up where it "looked like" flow rate increased when both pumps were engaged. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks in advance for your help.