Best Pond Pump Location

[Akai-San]

What is the best pump location for a pond? Should it be placed before or after the biological filtering system. It is a small test pond, only 4'wide x 8'long x 3.5'deep. Will house 2- 6" koi.

What is the best location of a pump if I'm planning to run pond water from a bottom drain, into a heavies capture box with brushes or screens, and then through another capture box with finer screens and some airated K1 media and then into a final chamber with more K1 media for fines filtration and then pump water up to a water-tower for final treatment of pond water before entering back into the pond.

Any suggestions?

[bekko]

Hey CA. If the tower is at a higher elevation than the final chamber, then the pump will have to go between the final chamber and tower.

-stevehop

[longlong2]

imo after the filter so that there's less chance of clogging

long

[maryland_ponder]

I suggest that you place it prior to the filter with a strainer basket installed (many pumps have built in strainers). This will catch the larger debris so the filter doesnt get all clogged up.

[Steve Nguyen]

my pond water flows as follow:

water leaving pond through bottom drain and feed into settlement tank, and then feed into pre-filter with japanese mats, then pump with leaves trap basket. water from skimmer feeds directly into pump. on the settlement tank, there is a one layer of japanese mat on top before water flows to pre-filter tank. this japanese mat piece keep 99% of debris inside the settlement tank. I have not have a clog on my pump or much of debris caught in the leaves trap basket attach to the pump. I clean the leaves trap basket once every few months and notice a few small debris. I have air stones in both settlement and pre-filter tanks for gas exchange purpose.
Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by Akai-San What is the best pump location for a pond? Should it be placed before or after the biological filtering system. It is a small test pond, only 4'wide x 8'long x 3.5'deep. Will house 2- 6" koi. What is the best location of a pump if I'm planning to run pond water from a bottom drain, into a heavies capture box with brushes or screens, and then through another capture box with finer screens and some airated K1 media and then into a final chamber with more K1 media for fines filtration and then pump water up to a water-tower for final treatment of pond water before entering back into the pond. Any suggestions?

[MikeM]

It is preferable for the pump to be last so that it is not acting like a blender smashing waste and debris into smaller particles. This is one of the basic lessons taught in Koi Kichi. Obviously, this cannot be done when using a pressurized filter or a tower/shower.

SteveN: I'm confused by placement of airstones in a settlement tank. Typically we want slow flowing, still water in the settlement stage so solids can settle out more completely, and then boost aeration in the biological stages of the filter system. I'm thinking you must have a design that allows aeration without churning the waste-laden water, but it is not clear to me from what you have said.

[Steve Nguyen]

Hi MikeM,


what you said is true but here is my observation. originally, I didn't have air stone in the settlement tank, all waste settles to the bottom as designed except I notice the water tend to smell bad after a few days. So I added a couple small air stones to the middle of the settlement tank and off the bottom so the air bubbles doesn't impact waste as gravity pull it down to the bottom of the tank. the bubbles do impact it but not too much. this is why I added a layer of japanese mat to keep any waste that fail to settle to the bottom of the tank. check out a sloppy diagram. it seems to work well so far. they key is not to have too much air bubbles.
Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM It is preferable for the pump to be last so that it is not acting like a blender smashing waste and debris into smaller particles. This is one of the basic lessons taught in Koi Kichi. Obviously, this cannot be done when using a pressurized filter or a tower/shower. SteveN: I'm confused by placement of airstones in a settlement tank. Typically we want slow flowing, still water in the settlement stage so solids can settle out more completely, and then boost aeration in the biological stages of the filter system. I'm thinking you must have a design that allows aeration without churning the waste-laden water, but it is not clear to me from what you have said.

[Akai-San]

Here is a sketch of something I was thinking about. Interested in all your expert feedback.

This small test tank will be a prelude to a planned 15K gallon home pond in Hawaii...at least when I get back in 3-4 years.

Please see attached concept. Sketch is very basic, I am interested in everyones thoughts and experience with K1 media and how to best utilize. thanks again.

[junglegeorge12]

that looks pretty good, the only thing I would noticed is your chambers are square, why not use round? Also, you can easily add a skimmer basket and line and simply pipe it in just before the pump inlet.

[Steve Nguyen]

Akai-San,

I am not an expert but I would like to share some knowledge. I modified your drawing on MS paint so it doesn't look very good but you get an idea. bottom drain pipe should be mini 3" pipe for small pond and 4" pipe for large pond. you can my drawing a little to utilize one pump for the waste removal as well as water circulation. just a discharge valve and connect the waste pipe to the in-take pipe of the pump. if you want additional details, let me know. hope it helps.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by Akai-San Here is a sketch of something I was thinking about. Interested in all your expert feedback. This small test tank will be a prelude to a planned 15K gallon home pond in Hawaii...at least when I get back in 3-4 years. Please see attached concept. Sketch is very basic, I am interested in everyones thoughts and experience with K1 media and how to best utilize. thanks again.