# pond pump probs



## twitchyme (Jun 26, 2009)

hi, l,m new to the forum, and would like advice, l`m probably missing a simple solution to my problem, but cant think of it so hope you can help.
l have two small ponds 5ft x 3-4ft approx, with about 5 fish in each, just lost two from one pond due to cloudy water.
l bought two cheap pumps which are quite powerful for the size of pond, so they tend to suck in bits of plant and debris, which clogs them up every 3-4days, l have tried the pumps in oblong containers as deep as the pumps and put pieces of flat stone over top in theory to let water in but not plant or debris, but still gets in, plus l seem to have masses of floating pond-duck weed, is this good for the pond fish, or best without it, also elodea 
advice please


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## N0z (Jun 3, 2009)

i would clean out your whole pond and then once you set it back up, keep your pond plants away from your pond pump


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2009)

i'm building a three stage pond filter for a 180 gallon lilly pond. i consists of 2 power heads that turn 50GL per hour pulling water up from the pond at one corner, runs it up to 3 stone trays built into the wall with a meshed hole at the one end in a step down manner. 

Tray 1 contains Sponge, Tray 2 Sand and Tray 3 Coal. test runs show it cleaning the water verywell. i'm using Loam soil for the lillys for a better growth so the water tends to get murkey but the filter seems to be doing the trick.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I would make it simpler than that, and just make a big filter out of a 5 gallon bucket. The pumps go in the bucket, and the bucket has a bunch of little holes all over it to slowly pull in water from all sides, and is filed with filtering media of some sort.. The lid has a bigger hole in it through which the pump output pipe runs. It filters like crazy without sucking in the plants or fish.
The duckweed is a good thing, usually.


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