Clogging pump making me crazy!

I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the pond and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter - to
keep the pump clear?

Thanks!

Dave in Des Moines

"David Johnston" wrote in message
news:FN25d.17223$He1.14947@attbi_s01...
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the pond
and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much
debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter -
to
keep the pump clear?

Any chance of clearing the debris by rake (careful!) or hand if there is
that much of it?

Mechanisms can only do so much and your pump sounds like it'd have lots of
suck!

--
Brian

does the pump stand on a brick above the debris?


"David Johnston" wrote in message
news:FN25d.17223$He1.14947@attbi_s01...
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the pond
and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much
debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter -
to
keep the pump clear?

Thanks!

Dave in Des Moines

"Oxymel of Squill" wrote in message
...
does the pump stand on a brick above the debris?


"David Johnston" wrote in message
news:FN25d.17223$He1.14947@attbi_s01...
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer

See, if you'd posted *underneath* the original posting you might've read
what he wrote about how it collected from a skimmer...

:-)
--
Brian

I have a net in my skimmer that catches all the big chunks.

I keep thinking that I need to concentrate my efforts at the skimmer. At
first I glued a scrap of nylon window screening over the outlet in the
skimmer where the hose leaves the skimmer, but THAT was a bad idea - it
completely clogged right away. I am thinking I need to wrap screen around
the skimmer basket, but it will have to be a tight fit to catch everything.

It would be nice if there were a small, easy to clean in-line filter that I
could place between the skimmer and the pump. If I can't find one, might
see if I could build one from scratch.

Thanks everyone for your input!


"Jimmy G" wrote in message
news:BmA5d.75636$9Y5.4934@fed1read02...
I have a net in my skimmer that catches all the big chunks.

A rake would be a good idea to stir up the leaves that are on the bottom,
then catch with the net. Today I use the net to stir up the water and it is
a little difficult. A rake sounds easier.

Thanks!!


"Brian Watson" wrote in message
...

Any chance of clearing the debris by rake (careful!) or hand if there is
that much of it?

Mechanisms can only do so much and your pump sounds like it'd have lots of
suck!

--
Brian

"David Johnston" wrote in message
news:FN25d.17223$He1.14947@attbi_s01...
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the pond and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter - to
keep the pump clear?

Thanks!

Dave in Des Moines


You should put an inline pre-filter between your skimmer and the pump. I have a
five gallon Tetra brand pre-filter that works great for my purposes, but you can
build one that is cheaper and probably works better for your needs (my pond
holds about 1,500 gallons). You need inflow from your skimmer to the
pre-filter, then a course filter media, followed by biologic filtration, such as
lava rock in nylon netting. Then, of course, outflow from the pre-filter to
your pump. That should keep most debris out of your pump, and will allow the
microbes in the main filter to do their job more efficiently without getting
overwhelmed. Then once every 2-4 weeks, you just clean out the pre-filter (make
sure that you design it, or buy one that is designed to be easy to clean). I
have no skimmer in my pond, so I just use a coat hanger wire to grab the
pre-filter, and pull it to the surface, where I drain the crud out and rinse the
filter pad (I use pond water to rinse out the pad), then put it back together
and drop it back in the pond. It takes about five minutes, twice per month. I
opened my main filter for the first time this year, and after 18 months of near
continuous operation, it was essentially clean as a whistle, no serious grunge,
no sludge build up, and the gravel was not compacted at all. Water in the pond
is crystal clear all the way to the bottom (45").

An alternative would be to get buy a utility pump like I did. I have a flotec
utility pump that pumps about 1,400 gph. It will practically pump pure sand
with no damage or clogging of the pump. I've never had to clean my pump. Of
course, unless you retrofit your filtration system to be a suction type, this
kind of pump may not be what you need. But there are positive pressure pumps
out there that should work for you that aren't too susceptible to clogging.

David Johnston Wrote:
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the
pond and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that
its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much
debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter
- to
keep the pump clear?

Thanks!

Dave in Des Moines
takeout any prefilters which look like pan scourers and chuck them
away.
Buy two plastic kitchen culinders place them facing each other, will
look like a football with a handle on.Cut a hole in the bottom of one
half, insert pump inlet,tight fit and secure on inner edge. Next attach
other half using nylon ties. Any debris that manages to go through the
small holes will not damage your pump. My system has been running for
several years and has never needed cleaning. Hope this helps jules.


--
julian doherty

You really should not be getting much inside of a skimmer, there should be a
few layers of filter materials to catch the diff sizes of crap. I would go
back to where u got the skimmer and ask them why it is happening.



"George" wrote in message
. ..

"David Johnston" wrote in message
news:FN25d.17223$He1.14947@attbi_s01...
I have a Danner 1800 gal pump in my 500 gallon pond. It draws from a
skimmer and pushes out to a waterfall w/biofalls. The pump is forever
clogging up and it is getting old having to get the pump out of the pond
and
remove the hoses every other week to clear it. (My 'barometer' that its
time to clean is when the waterfall slows to a trickle).

The skimmer has a cheesy basket in it which obviously allows too much
debris
to pass. Any suggestions on what I can add - perhaps an inline filter -
to
keep the pump clear?

Thanks!

Dave in Des Moines


You should put an inline pre-filter between your skimmer and the pump. I
have a five gallon Tetra brand pre-filter that works great for my
purposes, but you can build one that is cheaper and probably works better
for your needs (my pond holds about 1,500 gallons). You need inflow from
your skimmer to the pre-filter, then a course filter media, followed by
biologic filtration, such as lava rock in nylon netting. Then, of course,
outflow from the pre-filter to your pump. That should keep most debris out
of your pump, and will allow the microbes in the main filter to do their
job more efficiently without getting overwhelmed. Then once every 2-4
weeks, you just clean out the pre-filter (make sure that you design it, or
buy one that is designed to be easy to clean). I have no skimmer in my
pond, so I just use a coat hanger wire to grab the pre-filter, and pull it
to the surface, where I drain the crud out and rinse the filter pad (I use
pond water to rinse out the pad), then put it back together and drop it
back in the pond. It takes about five minutes, twice per month. I opened
my main filter for the first time this year, and after 18 months of near
continuous operation, it was essentially clean as a whistle, no serious
grunge, no sludge build up, and the gravel was not compacted at all.
Water in the pond is crystal clear all the way to the bottom (45").

An alternative would be to get buy a utility pump like I did. I have a
flotec utility pump that pumps about 1,400 gph. It will practically pump
pure sand with no damage or clogging of the pump. I've never had to clean
my pump. Of course, unless you retrofit your filtration system to be a
suction type, this kind of pump may not be what you need. But there are
positive pressure pumps out there that should work for you that aren't too
susceptible to clogging.