selecting a pump
Choosing the proper pump for your water gardening needs can seem a bit overwhelming with the many brands, styles and sizes available today. Defining your needs and wants into two categories will start to narrow the field for you. First and foremost is circulation and filtration, second is what you want to see and hear aesthetically.
When choosing a pump, consider that two pumps often are better than one and can actually save you money in the long run. Your filtration system must run 24 hours/day but often features such as fountains, statues and waterfalls may be turned off when you are away, assuming they are not an integral part of your particular aeration system.
Pump Types
Magnetic Drive
- available in flow rates from 60gph to 3600gph
- very energy efficient, often saving more than the cost of the pump in one season as compared to running a less efficient gear driven pump
- best suited to running fountain heads, statuary, small waterfalls or stream beds and low volume filters
- not good for pushing water long distances or up high vertical rises such as a tall waterfall feature
- must be used with a pre-filter on the intake of the pump
Gear Drive
- available in flow rates up to thousands of gallons per hour
- use more electricity than mag drives with comparable flow rates
- suited to running anything from small fountains to large waterfalls, streambeds, filters and skimmers
- can push large volumes of water long distances and up high vertical rises
- best if used with a pre-filter to protect the impeller
- Solids Handling
- high volume gear driven pumps with impellers designed to handle fish waste and debris
- no pre-filter necessary
- excellent for running skimmers and biological filters
- Sump Pumps
- not intended for continuous running and should not be used for the water garden.
- very energy inefficient
Tips
- use only pumps made for continuous duty, not sump pumps
- choose the most energy efficient pump that will do the job
- use flexible no-kink tubing to minimize fittings and resistance
- increase tubing diameter size to decrease resistance on the pump, resulting in more water flow
- calculate your energy cost
Calculating Cost
- your power company bills you for kilowatt (kw) hours used
- divide the $ amount of your bill by the number of kw used, the result is your cost per kw
example: $128.93 / 955kw = .135 or 13.5 cents per kw
- 1 kilowatt (kw) = 1000 watts
- amps x volts = watts
- multiply the amp rating on the pump by the voltage of the pump
example: 3 amps x 115 volts = 345 watts, or .345 kw (345 / 1000)
- multiply the result by your electric cost per kw, the result is your cost per hour to run the pump
example: .345 x .135 = .046575 cents per hour
- calculate your daily or monthly cost using the result above
example: .046575 x 24hrs = $1.1178 per day
example: 1.1178 x 30days = $33.53 per month
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- 1 HP (horse power) = 746 watts