The heart of a pond fountain or aerator is its pump, which ensures that your pond is clean, clear and healthy for any fish in it. The filter is also another important part of the pond, which serves the purpose of cleaning the pond. However, you need to ensure that your pond pump and filter are in good condition. This can be done by performing seasonal maintenance. Here are some useful tips for your fountain pumps submersible and filter maintenance that will help the equipment to function smoothly and efficiently.
Pond Pump Maintenance
The pump should circulate all of I the pond’s water within an hour, but the debris in the skimmer can restrict water flowing through the pump. Fountain pumps’ submersible nature makes it important for you to maintain your pump to keep it clean. Remember that you should turn the system off before performing pump pond maintenance and remove the pump from the pond and its outer coverage. You can take a photo of the pump to know where the parts go in order to ensure that you put together the pump correctly. Ensure that you do not tamper with the anti-tamper screws, and check for pump damage or excessive wear. After this, you can clean with water to remove silt, algae, sediment and other debris and check for limescale. Often with many pumps you must open the impeller case and remove the impeller to inspect for damage or a buildup of muck. Your pump is now clean, and you can put it back into the pond.
Pond Filter Maintenance
The pond’s filter should match the size of the pond. Remember that most pond filters are based on ideal conditions, and your filter will be less effective if you exceed them. Hence, always upsize your filter so that it can handle more of your pond’s capacity, and also remember to clean it as per the instructions. When cleaning the filter, make sure that you remove everything in the filter, clean the harder parts with a power washer, and clean any debris from the bottom, after which you can take the filter apart. Then wash the media with a hose using the pond’s water and put the filter back together.
Keep The Pump Running
Though some pond owners periodically switch off their pond pumps to save on energy bills, it can be more costly in terms of time and manpower in the long run. Switching a pump on and off frequently can cause more debris to settle on the pond floor or get backed up in the pump, eventually clogging it up. So clean the pump and the pond and inspect its intake valves. Also, remove any trapped materials and make sure that you fully skim its chambers if you have time to dismantle the pump.
Remove The Sludge
Eliminating the foul-smelling mass of waste which is often found at the bottom of high-density ponds can keep your pond pumps cleaner. This sludge can be too heavy for a strong current of water to carry towards a filter. If it is left behind and becomes disturbed, chunks of the sludge can float to the surface and enter the pond pump. Since they are too large and too dense to be sucked through the filter, they can get clogged.
Summing Up
So follow these steps to keep your pond pump and filter well-maintained. You can also take some extra preventive measures to keep them working in their best conditions.
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