Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Lets talk water features back into the pond!

Ok, so I have a pond and have read up on here a lot. I now have a diffuser system thats up and running and have a lot of small LMB fry.

My pond is approx two acres in size when full but gets smaller in late summer and fall.

My wife would love a sitting area near the pond to sit, BBQ close by and relax.

I have an idea to build a small dry river bed from the top corner of my dam area that leads down to the pond. This at the longest will be 20 feet or so and when the pond if full a 1/4 of that.

In in serious clay area and when the pond subsides, its not near as pretty in this particular corner as when its full. If I build this area and the dry river bed, that will act as a pond waterfall area when turned on, it will remedy this. I will simply run a pump into the pond then up to the water feature top, then make a river bed on a pond liner down to the pond and fill in what I think is attractive, rocks, gravel, ect.

That said I have no knowledge on pumps or the items needed for this and I dont see a category here for this?



Im looking for what sizes I need to do a decent size water feature, maybe 4 feet wide so its obvious water is pouring out and streaming back into the pond. This wont be running all the time and will be for when we are hanging out. There are so many water pump folks selling items I have no idea what company is good or who to stay away from.

Below are two pics of my pond during different times of the year and of something similar that I want in the way of a water feature. Im just looking at the stream portion as the stream would poun into my pond.

I should probably say that I will need to use 110 power.

Dave

I've been eagerly awaiting to see if you get an answer from anyone here. I asked almost the same exact question just on a smaller scale after I joined a week ago. I submitted it in the construction and projects category titled "Need Waterfall Pump Advice" 86 views and 1 welcome so far. I've been looking at pumps online but don't want to buy the wrong one and would love to get an American made decent pump if possible. Please....any expert advice out there would be appreciated.
Good luck RUMBLON

Wow! Your place looks beautiful! I am looking for how to best use a low flow artesian well into a tiny pond. I really wish we were even more remote than we are.

Well, I'm not an expert by no means but I will give you my thoughts, observations, and suggestions so you don't feel like you are being blown off. The guys here on the forum are probably just not real familiar with what you are wanting to accomplish. I have a decent size Koi pond and have tinkered over the years with different pumps and such. What I have found is that you may just need to do a little trial and error. I buy my pumps at my local hardware store. It is a True Value store so it is a bigger chain and has lots of options. I have looked at both Home Depot and Lowes and they have the same items. My biggest pump will pump 800 gallons per hour through a 1 inch pipe up hill 6 feet. This might not sound like much but if you pop that hose off unexpectedely, you will be shocked how much water comes out. Do I think it would supply a 4 foot wide simulated creek? Probably not. Now what I would do though is get the next couple of sizes up. I think I saw a 1600 gallon per hour pump last time I was there. I believe that would probably supply a good flow down a small simulated creek. The good thing about these small pumps to is that they just lay in the water. They have a screen to keep junk out of them and once in a while it will get plugged and you just clean it off. My pump cost 89 dollars and I think the bigger one was around 150. Not to bad if you ask me. Then if that does not supply the amount of water that you need, I would just put another one in. They are very efficient, simple to hook up, and last a long time. My one pump has been running for 4 years and just pooped out on me. The hardware store also sells the flexible line that you would need and the pump comes with the fittings.

Well said. I know nothing about water features so didn't respond..

Welcome guy's
As said probably not in everyone's wheel house as its not mine either.
But I will say this. I have a recently installed a dose type septic system. It pumps 230' and 21' of head.
What I'm getting at is if you go to a plumbing supply company they can tell exactly what you need. Might give you a starting point anyway.
I'll bet someone on here will have more and better insight though.
Good Luck.

Like everyone else, i am no expert but here are my experiences. I have three smaller ponds - each with magnetic drive pumps. One is 500 gph, another 700 gph, and one 2000 gph plus rating. Magnetic drive pumps are generally quieter and use less electricity. Mine last a long time. Every one of them needs a degree of service though. They all require filters on the inlet side of some sort and these need to be cleaned of debris on a regular basis. They do make backwashable pre-filters which is something else you can check out. You will be thankful to not have to clean off the pump screen every couple of days - trust me.

As for flow, you are going to want to be at least 2000 gph or more to have any kind of flow like you see in the picture you attached. Let's take a 3600 gph pump as an example. This is flowing 60 gallons per minute. This is .1337 cubic feet per second. Or about a half-inch deep stream over four feet wide. (I think) Now if you narrow the stream it will get deeper and faster, then widen out and slow down into a pool, then narrow again - all that would make it look interesting too.

Remember that as you go up in elevation from the pump, the capacity will drop. The ratings should be easily found on any pump schematic.

Lastly - welcome to PondBoss. There are great people here. I don't get much time to post and read as I want but try to share my experiences whenever I can to pay forward the friendship and expertise I have found here.

Excellent.
Thanks for the replies and info. I will look into True Value. I had found a pump calculator online but it was only helpful figuring out total water capacity of the pond then seemed to have a glitch when it came time to figure pump size.
I wasn't looking to circulate the 80,000 gallons each day in my pond (see "need pump advice" in construction and projects category) but more so just move a similar amount of water that's coming out of the garden hose that's temporarily in use to get that waterfall look.....maybe a tad bit more 😄
I also planned to feed it with a 1" pipe from the pump to the waterfall rock where I have installed a valve box to 3X 3/4" pipes with individual valves on each to control the flow on top of the main rock as well as the 2 pipes I've hidden on both sides at the bottom of the main rock to ad more water to the stream as needed.
I hope RUMBLON gets back in here as I certainly didn't mean to hijack his thread.....just excited to be getting some advice and ideas.

Victor, great info. Thanks so much.

This is the pump we run for our water fall. I liked how efficient it was that I replaced our two pumps that filled our pond with just one of these as well. Our waterfall is about 8 feet high and the top rock is about 5 feet wide.

No mater what pump you choose pick one that is brushless. I am so happy with the above pump. We leave it in the water all winter and its been running flawless since spring of 2013. Just turn on the timer in the spring and away it gos. I have not even picked it up to clean it. I installed it inside a milk crate to act like another screen.

https://youtu.be/tsMhSxiEe2M

This flow is with one pump and twice when the fill pump turns on.

Cheers Don.

EDIT: P.S. on both pumps I run a full 2" water line.