How about on a concrete block to elevate it off the ground. Get a large enough sturdy storage container with a sturdy tight fitting lid. Mount the pump to a 1 1/2" Wood or PVC board. Drill holes in the corners of the board and use concrete screws through the holes, the container lid and into the block. Cut holes to accept 1 or more soffit vents. Notch input and output holes in the sides of the container, neat and tight to the plumbing. Depending on how you are plumbed and plenty of other variables, make sure the holes or notches for your pump are reasonablely watertight by using some type of material that is water proof. One sugestion would be using something like "Great Stuff" that expanding foam in the insulation section of Home Depot. Just spray it in, when it dries trim it to what you need. Should only run you about $20 give or take.

In my small ponds I enclose the Pondmaster pumps inside two aquatic planting baskets zip tied together. The only modification needed is trimming a hole along the edge of one basket for the water line and electrical cord. This has relieved me from having to pull the pump bi weekly to clean off all the debris from the pump intake. Now its good for the whole year. I also have it elevated off the pond bottom where most of the junk settles. I have mine feeding a Skippy style filter.

I have a large plastic flower pot, dark purple color, at the bottom I have a brick to weigh it down. The pump goes in. and I stuff two dryer bags about 3/4 full with nylon scrubbies to seal the top opening. About once a month I pull it up and rinse the dryer bags and empty out the sludge under the pump.

The trick is to put a nylon rope loop on the lip of the pot so that you can pull the thing up and also to place it where you want using a 1x2 with a hook on it. I have a cork with the nylon rope going through it to keep the rope up so I can easily snag it.

Thanks for all the replies.

Wow, woeisme, quite a set up ya have there! Perchance are you an engineer by trade? :)

Frogman, I have almost exactly the same setup as you describe. Can't imagine a whole year going by without having to clean it tho. I have to ask, do you have fish?

Kalevi, good tip! Will keep that in mind. UNfortunately, my puddle(s) are small enough that I can reach the pump/filter box without additional aid. But someday!!!

Horton, thanks for the link. Have to chuckle here because that's the VERY link I used to DIY my filter box a few yrs ago. I have 2 black baskets, scrubbies & zip ties. It's worked great all this time but..

SUDDENLY it needs cleaning more often. MUCH more often. Cleaned it well Sun p.m. & came home from work yesterday to find it [apparently] clogged & the pump not running. Cleaned it again, popped it back in and all was well.

Obviously, SOMEthing if off but I'm scratchin my head here as to what. Neither my pond setup nor my fishload has changed. AND when I pulled the scrubbies out to clean them, while it was clear they had been serving their purpose, there was very little to clean - certainly not enough to clog the pump intake by my [obviously incorrect] estimation.

It is a PAIN to clean all those scrubbies! No that's not true - I actually ENJOY the pond maintenance WHEN IT'S ON MY SCHEdULE! *grin* But 2 days is ridiculous by anyone's standards. I have a tight schedule these days and this sudden problem is causing me no end of grief *sigh* I worry my pump will burn up while I'm at work. Been checking the pond(s) lately when I pull in the driveway before I even enter the house (baaad case of ponditis - or is it that I'm a cartifiable pondaholic?)

Anyhoo. Not sure where my brain was when I asked this question (which has been answered hundreds of times here, & yeah i know how to search old posts). Should have just posted about my problem & asked for advice. My apologies. My only excuse is that I am BEYOND frustrated here and just wasn't thinking straight...or at all *sheesh*

My initial thought was to use a/c filter in place of the scrubbies [which would take way less time to clean) but the appearance of the cut edges after a season in the skippy make me fear it might get caught in the impellar. And really, my question SHOULD have been...what is the root of my problem...NOT how to save time cleaning a filter.

Sorry for wasting your time with this *much answered* question. Crazy busy here the last few wks and I guess my brain just shut down. Hard to try to be 3 places at once and still *think*. I'm really hoping someone will say something here that will make me slap my head and go DUH!

I've checked & re-checked everything I can think of. Flushed the lines to & from the pump and all are clear of obstruction. Water has been & remains gin clear. Have I overlooked something obvious in my haste? Just got this gut feelin that if it was a snake it woulda bit me by now!!

frustrated,

~digger

Digger, Sure I have goldfish,frogs,tadpoles and lots of plants. I have been using this method for the last two years which after looking at Horton's link is very simular except I don't have any scrubbies inside. I have opened it up several times but there was nothing to clean out. The key is having sufficiennt surface area to draw water through plus it might help that I have it located in the shade so the surface does not grow algae.

Thanks, frogman. It escaped my notice the first time that you don't have anything in the planting baskets except the pump (told ya i was beyond frustrated). I have a couple of aquatic baskets laying around I could use. The openings in those are MUCH smaller than the dollar store ones and provide more protection for the pump.

Maybe I should just remove the scrubbies, switch to the aquatic baskets and let the skippy handle the minuscule stuff. I don't have problems w/algae and have never removed anything of any size from the scrubbies/prefilter.

Think I'll try that this weekend while I have time to keep watch. STILL my *enquiring mind* NEEDS to know...what caused the sudden change? It's nothing I can see. LOL, maybe I'm just overly cautious & worried about nothing. I'll let you know how it goes after my trial run this weekend.

Thanks so much for your help.

~digger

Digger, I'm thinking that if the baskets and scrubbies were doing the job before but they are not doing it now, then something has changed in the make up of the water to cause the filter to plug up so quickly.
There must be a greater amount of debris/particles in the water than there was at the start.

I don't know just how much water (Volume of pond) you are filtering through this pre-filter or if it is your only method of filtration?

Really you don't need the scrubbies in there, as long as the baskets can keep anything hard, such as a bits of pea gravel, from entering the pump and damaging the impeller.
The scrubbies or any similar material (with the same open weave) will allow more time between cleaning than sponge or lava rock materials, both of which plug up too quickly and can starve the pump of water and possibly doing damage to the pump's motor.

The scrubbies or just the basket cage alone, will of course let smaller particles through, i.e. soil, sand,fish and plant waste. This debris is then recycled through the system and back into the pond, unless there is another filter with finer material, such as polyester quilt batting to trap the finer debris.
Just as a side note, keep in mind that any soil/sand being pulled into the pump, will act as an abrasive and over time it will have an adverse effect on the pump's impeller.

Fine debris of that type can be expected to be picked up by the pump, relative to how clean the water is, taking into account, where the pump is situated within the pond. Is it up off the bottom or not, have any plant pots have been spilled into the pond, is there run off from the surrounding soil entering the pond, soil/gravel from the fish "rooting" in the pots etc?

This would lead to thinking that a finer filtering material should be located at the input side of the pump? This however, is not a good idea, as we would then be back to the sponge/lava rock, easily plugging material, that could lead to possible damage to the pump motor and is a chore to keep clean.

The conclusion is I would suggest, to have some means of filtration, outside of the pond, (behind a waterfall is one idea) where the fine debris can be caught before the water is returned to the pond.

I realize this may not be a viable solution for everyone, for a variety of reasons, but it is well worth considering if your in pond filtering method is not sufficient or is becoming a pain in the puhtooty to keep clean.
"Horton"

Grrrr!! This is the second time in as many days that IE has closed this site to *protect my computer* AND the 2nd time I've lost my entire post :( Norton says I'm clean so not sure what's up.

Gotta go check my pond before dark-thirty & no time to repost so for now I'll just say, I thank you and....
{{gwi:212520}}
Hablar thanks you...she's a very happy girl, thanks to y'all.

~digger

Digger,
This may or may not address your problem and, keep in mind that I am always just guessing at things because I don't have training with anything pondwise except "learning from experience" - some of that experience has been very sad :-(

Sometimes my pump stops working well. I have a Pondmaster pump which has a magnetic drive. I have found that if the pre-filter isn't clogged then it means that gunk has built up in the well where the impeller sits. I take the base cover off the pump and clean out the well and the pump performs like new again.
Anne