A Guide to Choosing the Perfect Pond Pump for Your Water Feature

Are you planning to install a beautiful water feature in your backyard? One of the most crucial things to consider is choosing the right pond pump to go with it. At Aquascape Australia, we have a complete range of pond pumps to suit various water feature applications.

But with so many options available, how do you pick the perfect pond pump for your water feature? Here are our expert tips to help you make the right choice:

Consider Your Water Feature Type

The type of water feature you have will determine the type of pond pump you will need. Not all pumps are suitable for all water features. To begin, you will need to determine what application the pump will be used for. Is it a pond, pondless or Decorative feature?

Choosing a Pond Pump for Your Pond

The first thing you need to know when choosing a pump for your pond is – how many litres of water does your pond hold? Your pump should turn over the water in small to medium ponds at least once every hour.

Where will the pump be positioned?

If your pond has a skimmer or pump vaults in an intake bay, you want to select a pump from the AquaSurge, EcoWave or ASA20000 pump ranges. The mechanical skimmer protects the pump, reducing the maintenance and therefore helps to increase its lifespan.

If your pond does not have a box-type skimmer and the pump will be positioned on the floor of the pond, then we recommend using a dirty water pump such as the AquaForce range, which is the best suited pump for this application, although the AquaSurge, EcoWave or ASA6000 pond pumps are also suitable but will require more maintenance as their pre filters have smaller openings.

Another consideration will be the type of biological filtration you will be installing in your pond and what the recommended flow rates are for the filter.

If you plan on swimming in the pond, then we recommend using safer alternatives such as our ASA20000 Low Voltage or the external FlowFriend pumps.

Choosing a Pond Pump for Your Pondless Waterfall or Stream

A Pondless Waterfall pump will generally be installed and protected inside a Pump Vault. We recommend the EcoWave, AquaSurge or ASA60000 pumps for these applications.

The height and width of your waterfall, along with the length of pipe from your pump to the waterfall, also has an impact on how many litres per hour (lph) your pump needs to push to turn the water over. The pipe size also needs to be suitable for the flow rate selected. Larger pump flow rates require larger pipe size.

Choosing a Pond Pump for Your Decorative Water Feature

Aquascape Australia has a vast range of decorative water features, from Spheres and Urns to Patio Ponds and Spillway Bowls. Decorative water features will require a Fountain/Feature pump such as the Ultra pumps. These pumps are compact, designed to fit into smaller water features, come with a pre filter cover to protect the pump along with various fittings to suit a variety of features and pipe sizes. The Ultra pumps are not ideally suited for use in ponds as the small pre filters will continually block up and require regular maintenance.

If you're unsure which pump is best for your project, you can simply purchase one of our complete Pond, Pondless or Decorative kits to alleviate the guesswork or simply contact our team for any assistance.