Topics

1

Pond Chat / Shop Vac for Pond Vac

« on: April 25, 2013, 09:38:13 PM »

Hello,

After much struggling and hard work, I finally got my pond installed last year.  In the building and design of the pond, I purchased a turtle-shaped bottom drain, that is designed to lay on top of the liner and then you run a pipe up to the skimmer or filtration system of the pond.  I ran a pipe from the bottom drain to my skimmer, with the intention of using my pump to drain the pond or possibly clean out the pond as needed. 

However, I don't want to damage my good pump and I was thinking about purchasing a sturdy shop vac to pump out the water and then drain it into the skimmer.  From the skimmer, I have another pipe that goes to my waterfall weir, but it has a T in the line, so that I can also drain the pond as needed. 

Has anyone tried to use a shop vac to drain a pond?  Some of the more expensive shop vacs have a drain spout at the bottom of the vacuum, so that would work perfectly for me.  I can also use the shop vac in the garage or around the house as needed.  The pond is about 14 x 16 in size and it's just over two feet deep, so it's about 3000 gallons overall. 

Thanks for your input, JLEL

2

Pond Construction & Filtration / Another Question On Pump Size

« on: April 04, 2010, 07:24:08 PM »

I'm hoping someone can help me determine the appropriate size of pump for my pond.  I've read the various posts on this site, so forgive me if I ask another question on pump size. 

I thought I knew what pump to buy, but as I dug deeper into my research, I began to read things about head height, distance from skimmer to waterfall, resistance from friction and flow curve charts.  I'm getting confused and now I don't know what pump to buy.  I thought I would ask the experts for some help.

I've started to gather some materials for my pond.  The pond is about 16x14.  I'm trying to get around 3 feet deep, which gives me a volume of approximately 5000 gallons.  I've purchased the Atlantic PS4900 Skimmer along with the BF2600 Waterfall weir.  Both items are rated for ponds between 3000-5000 gallons.  My plan is to locate the skimmer on one side of the pond and pump the water back to the water fall.  I've measured the distance and it will be about 25-30 feet from the skimmer back to the waterfall.  I'd like the top of the waterfall to be about 2 to 3 feet off of the surface of the water. 

One of the pumps I've been looking at is the Pondmaster Hydrive 4800.  Will that be a large enough pump for my waterfall or do I need to look for a larger pump?  Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.