What type of pump for duck pond?

[TracyZ]

We are in the process of creating a 10X10 duck pond for our girls and I'm curious what kind of pump people use for their duck ponds. My husband was thinking we should get a sewage pump to make sure it doesn't clog up all the time.

And then we are planning to filter the water through a few barrels with plants. I have been looking into duckponics.

Thanks,
Tracy

 

[curious chickee]

I would like to know too as I want ducks, but don't want to be wasting water due to the drought.

 

[tomynoks]

Any updates on your pond?? I bought a used little Giant WPG-80-PW it's a 3500 gpm pump w 2 outlets. Someone else on here used the same on a rather large pond with waterfall. I am currently just going to use 3 kiddie pools and cascade them into one another w a water fall at top and pump in lower pool. I have 2- 55 gal food grade barrels that I;m going to make a filter out of. This should be sufficient for if/when I decide to make a bigger, more realistic pond.

 

[TracyZ]

It's a long story. We worked on the pond all summer and are still having issues with the pump. We thought a sewage pump would be a good idea, but they haven't worked, so I'm now trying to find a pond pump that can handle the size of the pond. We ended up making the pond bigger, it is approximately 21' x 20' and 4000 gallons. We have two large containers filled with lava rocks (approx 400-500 gallons) for the filter, which has to be cleaned a couple times a month. We started with 2 55 gallon drums but it ended up not being enough filter for our pond. I heard from a pond expert that you need 50 gallons for every 1000 gallons of water and even more for a duck pond.

 

[revans2003]

While sewage pumps are convenient they aren't designed for continuos use and sometimes have a lubrication oil that can seep out and kill everything in the pond.

There are absolutely pumps that can handle this but you have departed from the submersible flavor. You'll be wanting an external pump as the submersibles don't have a high enough flow rate for your application. You will run the input into the pond, likely with a pre filter, and the output to your bacteria filters. Think of it like a small pump house for a pool.

The pump can can be picked up locally at a pond store or aquarium store that deals with large koi ponds.

This is the koi pond store I purchase my pond supplies from and all the filters, pumps and plumbing is available so you can get an idea of scope and cost.

http://www.sdpondandgarden.com/Pumps-External-Pond-Pumps-c-550.html

 

[tomynoks]

Skippystuff.com Build a skippy bio-filter and never clean again! http://skippystuff.com. Check out sicce


Take a look at Sicce pumps. Good quality and low amp draw. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sicce-syncra-hf-16-0-pump-4200-gph.html

 

[smithmal]

I have a small pond (350 gallons) with 4 ducks. I would like a small waterfall which will be about 2' -3' from the surface of the water I was thinking of the following arrangement:

Pump Info:
1. Pump = Sequence Primer (6400 gph) external pump: this pump has rather large 2" and 2.5" inlet outlet diameters which I would think would be good for pumping duck muck
2. Inlet hose will be inside a filter cage to protect from large debris (feathers, etc)
3. Pump will be below level of pond so it will always be flooded to protect against priming issues and/or running dry

Filter Info:
1. Initial filter will be a 60 gallon inductor tank (total drain) which will be arranged using a radial flow orientation (I'll probably use medium size basket or plastic flower pot to create the radial flow). This should allow me to collect a majority of the muck and remove it from the inductor tank as it builds up.
2. Second filter will be a 30 gallon biofilter using filter media (probably bioballs) and will be pre-seeded with bacteria
3. Third and fourth filter will be a plant filter using lava rocks with with 55 gallon plastic drums. I'm hoping to use the plant material to feed back to the ducks
4. From there it will go to a waterfall to help oxygenate the pond.

Thoughts?

 

[smithmal]

Quick question: I'd like to use an externa pump in my system to move the pond water through the filtration system that I set up. My understanding is that pumps naturally macerate solid waste pretty badly as they pass through causing larger solid chunks of waste (which would settle out quickly) to become tiny pieces of waste (which would take longer to settle). Could I place my pump downstream of the my radial flow filter so that a majority of the waste wouldn't pass through it?

In this arrangment water from pond would go:
1. Radial flow filter
2. Pump
3. Biofilter
4&5. Hydroponics

Thanks!

 

[itsmatt]

Quick question: I'd like to use an externa pump in my system to move the pond water through the filtration system that I set up. My understanding is that pumps naturally macerate solid waste pretty badly as they pass through causing larger solid chunks of waste (which would settle out quickly) to become tiny pieces of waste (which would take longer to settle). Could I place my pump downstream of the my radial flow filter so that a majority of the waste wouldn't pass through it?

In this arrangment water from pond would go:
1. Radial flow filter
2. Pump
3. Biofilter
4&5. Hydroponics

Thanks!

Perhaps you've already solved this - if so, I'd love to heard your solution.

I'm assuming your radial flow filter is gravity fed, correct?

My solution is different - I have to pump up and out of the pond as it is lower than everything else.

I have a 24V system - twin 100W photovoltaic panels charging in series twin 12V deep cycle AGM batteries - I tried running submersible pumps but either the impeller gets clogged up by feathers wrapping around it or whatever pre-filter material I use to keep the feathers out of the pump gets gunked up.

Regardless, the existing small pump doesn't solve the main problem: moving the manure, dirt and other detritus out of the pond into a system where it can be cleaned up.

My solution to this - I'm in the process of installing it now involves a 24V macerator pump that self primes to 5' (some of these pumps won't self-prime) and then cuts up waste and pumps that up into a 275 gallon IBC tote with a length of 6" electrical PVC conduit (it slides perfectly through the 6" top opening and the swaged end is a bigger diameter than the hole so it will just hang there without anything being done. The 1" hose coming out of the pipe runs up into that conduit at the top and is zip-tied to the interior so that the water exits and is directed around that pipe - my hypothesis is that the worst of the heavy waste will exit the bottom of that PVC (it is 14" from the bottom of the tote) - and then gravity will help separate dirt from water.