Choosing the right pump and filter for your pond

With a wide range of equipment out there it can be tricky to know where to start when choosing the right pond pump and filter for your garden pond, don't worry here at Garden Craft Ponds and Landscapes we got you!. here are a few tips to make your life that little bit easier.

First thing first regardless of the type of garden pond you have you need to work out the volume of water in your pond, their area couple of ways to do this, you can work it out into gallons or litres, this method will calculate the amount into litres and works in metres.

Length of the pond (m) x Width of the pond (m) x Depth of the pond (m) x 1000

e.g. if your pond was 4m long by 2m wide by 1m deep it would be,

4x2x1x1000=8000

So you would have 8000 litres in your pond.

Now you have the volume of water in your pond there are a few factors to consider when choosing which pump and filter suits you, e.g. what the pump and filter will be running on.

Wild life pond (no Fish)

If you don't have any waterfalls or water features running on your wildlife pond they don't really require a pump or filter to keep them squeaky clean, it will turn murky from time to time and plants can grow out of control, but after all its a natural wildlife pond and wildlife will thrive in it, just try to pull out over invasive plants to maintain some open surface to your pond.

Goldfish Pond

When stocking your pond with goldfish as long as your pond is not over stocked we recommend to turn the full volume of the water in your through the filter at least every 2 hours, that works out that the pump you choose should have a flow rate of at least half the volume of your pond, so the pump to run a 8000 litre fish pond though a filter would have to be at least 4000 litres per hour (LPH). Take note this size pump is to to run a filter alone, if you are thinking of running a water feature best bet to use a separate pump, when it comes to a filtration on your goldfish pond we recommend a pressurised filter, but any filtration system can be used as long as it maximum flow rate is at least equal if not exceed the flow rate on the pump, to make this a little easier why not look at pump and filter sets.

Koi Pond

When keeping koi fish it is advised that you turn the full amount of water through your filter at least once ever hour due to the amount of waste koi fish produce, fish waste in your pond is not a good thing its will build up really fast and cause toxic water, so therefore you will need a bigger pump and should choose a pump that is at least equal with the volume of water in your pond, e.g. if your pond has 8000 litres in it the pump you choose should have at least 8000 litres per hour (LPH), we highly recommend that you use a box filter when keeping koi, they offer a much higher level of filtration than pressurised filters, the box filter would have to be at least equal to the same flow rate as your pump, once again you could look at filter sets to make life easier.

Here are a few short explanations.

Filter Pump

These pumps are designed to run 24/7 and pump solids up to a certain size, they push the dirty pond water to a filter, and are ideal for also running water features, they themselves provide little filtration but simply feed your filtration system.

Flow Rate

The speed in which water is moving either through a pump or a filter.

Pressurised Filter

A pressurised filter is a airtight unit which allows the water to flow through them much more quickly as they maintain the pumps pressure, and can be placed away from the edge of the pond with extra hose at any level to discreetly bring clean water back to your pond.

Box Filter

A box filter is a non pressurised filter that uses gravity to draw water though, they must be placed above the surface level of water in your pond so water can flow out naturally, water works its way through them much slower therefore allows for a higher level of filtration to take place as the water is inside the filer for longer.

So to sum up, with the calculating method we showed you and the tips on what size pump and filter to use you will be well on your way to the water garden of your dreams, if its still to confusing why not get in touch for us here at Garden Craft Ponds and Landscapes to professionally install your setup. #gcplandscapes #wildwoods #blagdenwatergardening

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