Types of Pond Pumps and Reasons Why You Need Them
A submersible pond pump is a must-have for any water feature or pond, small or large. At the simplest level pond pumps are about circulating water around your feature but they do a lot more than that. They help to keep the water clean and clear and, through circulation and adding oxygen, they keep it healthy too. PondMAX have a huge selection of submersible pond pumps in their range, there’s one for just about every need, but how do you select the right one? Easy! Here’s our cheat sheet to help you understand the different pump ‘families’ and select the perfect one for your pond.
Submersible pumps.
This is, in fact, a general catch-all expression which covers any pump that is positioned underwater, in the pond or feature base itself. Sizes range from tiny, not much bigger than a couple of matchboxes side-by-side, to powerful shoebox-sized models designed to run cascades and large fountains. The clever part of their design is that they are water-cooled making them ideal for 24/7 operation.
We’ll break a few of the different families out below:
Pond filter pumps.
The majority of pumps in the PondMAX range have small onboard pre-filters, they are the coarse textured sponges in the cage covering the water intake port. Filter pumps, however, don’t have any sort of built-in filtration. They are designed to be able to pass through larger soft-solids without clogging up and are generally used connected to an external pressure filter. They are designed to move large volumes of water through these external filters to run cascades, big fountains and rills.
Solar pond pumps.
These are one of the most wonderfully useful pump ranges you’ll find. An issue many people confront is trying to safely get power to their water features, solar powered pumps fix that problem. The range of PondMAX solar pump kits is designed for small to medium sized ponds. The solar panels can be positioned well away from the pond or feature itself, all models have a standard 5m lead, and extension leads are available for the larger models. Every model in the solar family is a full kit – panels, leads and pump – so they are totally plug-and-play right out of the box. Naturally, the pumps won’t run after dark or on very cloudy days but you can get around this by adding an optional battery back-up box.
Aeration pumps.
When we talk about pumps we always think about moving or filtering water but there is a range of PondMAX pumps designed to improve water quality another way – adding more oxygen to the water. Oxygen is essential for keeping fish and other animals and plants happy and healthy. It also reduces the likelihood of algae outbreaks! Aeration pumps sit outside your ponds, take in air from around them, compress it and push it back out through diffusers positioned underwater, increasing oxygen levels. They are an absolute must-have for water health if you keep a lot of fish or have a plant-filled pond.
Hydroponic pumps and aquaponic pumps.
Hydroponic and aquaponic growing systems have special requirements, the main one being pumps need to have a higher level of resistance to liquid nutrients and waste in water. The PondMAX pumps recommended for these systems are all robust designs suitable for systems of varying sizes. They are of course suitable for any other pond or water feature too.
The right pump, for any need.
Once you understand the simple family groups you’ll see how easy it is to find the right pump from the PondMAX range to suit virtually any possible pond or water feature requirement. Whichever one you choose you can trust PondMAX pumps for their performance and reliability, year in, year out.
