Anyone with experience of pump cage?

Hi, new here, my first post and I'm looking for a bit of advice with
something we're unfamiliar with. We've had a 1000 gallon pond with
orfe, GF, etc since we moved here 9 years ago. We have a Blagdon pump
(operating waterfall and small fountain, filter box, and UV.

A couple of weeks ago our pump packed up, so we bought a new one direct
from Blagdon. It came with a free plastic "pump cage" which the pump
fits inside and is supposed to reduce maintenance. Our old pump slotted
inside a large square sponge filter, which caught lots of sludge and had
to be cleaned out weekly/fortnightly depending on the time of year.

We have not had very clear water yet this year (usually it's really
clear) and assume it's because the old pump wasn't working properly
before it packed up. We installed the new pump, put a new bulb in the
UV and thought we would be clear within days.

However about 5 days later, we are no clearer. There seems to be gunge
in a suspension in the water, which is not clearing. The filter box,
which hardly ever needed cleaning got so gunged up it pushed the lid
off and started leaking.

Is this a sort of run-in period for the pump with the cage? Does the
cage mean that the silt/waste etc is pumped into and trapped in the
filter box, instead of being trapped in the square sponge filter as it
was previously. Will the water, does anyone think, clear, or does
using the cage instead of the old sponge filter mean less maintenance,
but murkier water? Is the muck being pumped back into the pond at the
other end - is that why it's not clearing? If so, we still have the
option to ditch the cage and go back to using the sponge filter. But I
note that the newest Blagdon pumps (we bought an old model as it was
what we were familiar with) are actually encased in cages - I can't see
a new product giving an inferior performance as far as water clarity is
concerned - even if it does mean less cleaning.

I don't know whether to persevere longer (how long?) with the cage, or
revert to the sponge filter. I'd be grateful for advice from anyone
with similar experiences.


--
Jan-I

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:01:39 +0000, Jan-I wrote:

However about 5 days later, we are no clearer. There seems to be gunge
in a suspension in the water, which is not clearing. The filter box,
which hardly ever needed cleaning got so gunged up it pushed the lid
off and started leaking.

That is the key to what is happening. With the old pump the filter was
catching al of the gunge and you got rid of it by cleaning the sponge.
It's all passing through now to the filter and if it's overflowing it
needs cleaning out. How often do you clean it?

You will have to clean the filter much more often since that's where
the gunge is being collected. I don't know what type of filter box you
have but when they gunge up the water usually exits by the overflow and
the gunge just gets circulated around again.

You have three options as I see it:

Put the sponge onto the pump instead of the cage and clean it
regularly.

Clean the filter much more often.

Change the filter to one that is easier to clean, possibly one with a
settlement chamber or prefilter brushes so that you only have this to
drain regularly to clean things and then only do the matting once in a
while.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

Thanks. I began to think something like this was happening when we
investigated the filter box yesterday and found it so gunged up. We
cleaned it, and it might be just my imagination, but I think it might
be a bit clearer this morning. The filter in the past has needed very
little attention. We've inspected it once every couple of weeks, but it
hasn't usually needed any attention at all. It's been like this for
nine years or so. The sponge filter on the other hand has needed very
frequent cleaning. Weekly, or more in the summer.

Obviously the pump cage has changed the system somewhat. So the so
called "lower maintenance" that the pump cage offers merely swaps
cleaning out the sponge filter frequently for cleaning out the filter
box frequently. Well, there you go!

I think we'll persevere with it a bit longer and see what happens. See
if it is a better system. The main advantage I can see is that you
don't release half of the muck back into the pond when you try to
remove it for cleaning, as you do with the sponge filter. I think
there's a bit of a backlog of gunge from when the old pump was on a
go-slow without our realising, see what happens when that clears.

Thanks again.


--
Jan-I

You already posted this, or do you stutter as well as double post?
Seems to be an atribute of most brits anyhow.

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:01:39 +0000, Jan-I
wrote:


Hi, new here, my first post and I'm looking for a bit of advice with
something we're unfamiliar with. We've had a 1000 gallon pond with
orfe, GF, etc since we moved here 9 years ago. We have a Blagdon pump
(operating waterfall and small fountain, filter box, and UV.

A couple of weeks ago our pump packed up, so we bought a new one direct
from Blagdon. It came with a free plastic "pump cage" which the pump
fits inside and is supposed to reduce maintenance. Our old pump slotted
inside a large square sponge filter, which caught lots of sludge and had
to be cleaned out weekly/fortnightly depending on the time of year.

We have not had very clear water yet this year (usually it's really
clear) and assume it's because the old pump wasn't working properly
before it packed up. We installed the new pump, put a new bulb in the
UV and thought we would be clear within days.

However about 5 days later, we are no clearer. There seems to be gunge
in a suspension in the water, which is not clearing. The filter box,
which hardly ever needed cleaning got so gunged up it pushed the lid
off and started leaking.

Is this a sort of run-in period for the pump with the cage? Does the
cage mean that the silt/waste etc is pumped into and trapped in the
filter box, instead of being trapped in the square sponge filter as it
was previously. Will the water, does anyone think, clear, or does
using the cage instead of the old sponge filter mean less maintenance,
but murkier water? Is the muck being pumped back into the pond at the
other end - is that why it's not clearing? If so, we still have the
option to ditch the cage and go back to using the sponge filter. But I
note that the newest Blagdon pumps (we bought an old model as it was
what we were familiar with) are actually encased in cages - I can't see
a new product giving an inferior performance as far as water clarity is
concerned - even if it does mean less cleaning.

I don't know whether to persevere longer (how long?) with the cage, or
revert to the sponge filter. I'd be grateful for advice from anyone
with similar experiences.

You can reach -Ed Alston at

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Not true by any means or at least not how yur describing whats
happneing.

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:07:19 +0100 (BST), "Rodney Pont"
wrote:

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:01:39 +0000, Jan-I wrote:

However about 5 days later, we are no clearer. There seems to be gunge
in a suspension in the water, which is not clearing. The filter box,
which hardly ever needed cleaning got so gunged up it pushed the lid
off and started leaking.

That is the key to what is happening. With the old pump the filter was
catching al of the gunge and you got rid of it by cleaning the sponge.
It's all passing through now to the filter and if it's overflowing it
needs cleaning out. How often do you clean it?

You will have to clean the filter much more often since that's where
the gunge is being collected. I don't know what type of filter box you
have but when they gunge up the water usually exits by the overflow and
the gunge just gets circulated around again.

You have three options as I see it:

Put the sponge onto the pump instead of the cage and clean it
regularly.

Clean the filter much more often.

Change the filter to one that is easier to clean, possibly one with a
settlement chamber or prefilter brushes so that you only have this to
drain regularly to clean things and then only do the matting once in a
while.

You can reach -Ed Alston at

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com