Clogged Pump

[Rick40]

Hi

 Sorry if I haven't posted here for a long time ,but I have been very busy with my other activities . It seems like this year the filter in my Sunterra 1250 GPH Pump clogs every day. This slows down my waterfall drastically . Then I have to rinse out the filter in the pump to get my pond flowing again.I didn't experience this  the previous 2 years I have tried  Algaefix,Barley Straw(just added about a week ago below my 2nd waterfall),and other additives . My pond is about 1000 gallons . This year I have added Lily Pads to the lower pond. They cover about half of the lower pond. Sorry,but I haven't taken any pics of my pond this year. My lower  pond has about 30 Goldfish in it. Is there something else that I can buy that will help me with this problem? Should I put a 2nd barley straw below the upper waterfall. I thought about a UV Clarifier,but I really don't want to spend that type of money if I don't have to.

 Sorry, I forgot to add that I also have a Bio- Filter that is located between my pump and my upper waterfall.

  Here is a pic of my pond that I took a couple years ago. It still looks basically the same. Only I have planted more flowers around the pond

    Thank you

   Rick

[Rick40]

 Any suggestions ???

[miguynmkoi]

Is the material in the prefilter too dense?  Mine was on the pump with a very dense cone on the intake.  I made another to fit over the intake that is less dense.  Yeah more stuff gets through but at least there is no clog in the front end.  The bio filter can handle more stuff even if you need to drain the sludge in the box a little more often.

[Rick40]

Thank you Annette. I will see if I can find some less dense material to make a filter. The only other possible reason that i can think of is that this year we have had more rain and higher temps than in the previous 2 summers.


  Rick

[miguynmkoi]

As a matter of fact, my pump stopped yesterday and this morning I opened it up and the problem was that thin roots from my plants, most likely pulled out by those mean koi, were wrapped tightly around the impeller basically holding it from turning.  After cleaning it out....like brand new.