how many gph needed per foot of height?

[krap101]

because i need to buy a pump for my waterfall and im wondering how much it has to be.

and will a normal pump work for a waterfall?

[skennelly]

Every manufacturer gives a maximum head height to their pumps and the [acronym:d85c54e5be="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:d85c54e5be] at the given head height. Measure how high your water fall is and find a pump that will pump that high. If you buy a pump that is too powerful you can throttle it down with ball valve.

[krap101]

wont that put to much pressure on the pump or the hose?

It will wear it out more, but put a ball valve on a T and have the exess going back to the pond somehwere and you wont have to worry about pressure...

Or just buy a pump that is the right [acronym:bbe70af28d="Gallons per hour"]GPH[/acronym:bbe70af28d]

i use a beckett 1600 and it is on a 4 foot waterfall. and i am pleased with it. just depends on the effect you are going for. and how big your waterfall is width wise.

[krap101]

i think its around 3 feet. and like 6 feet to get to the upper pond

[boroughmal]

when a manufacturer quotes a head height they mean straight up and not sideways.
To get the maximum that your pump denotes then place the pump somewhere that straight up water will work. I usually put the filters under the waterfall and pump from the last chamber on the filter. That ensures you get the maximum from your pump the maximum efficiency of electric use and when it only pumps clean water, the maximum life.
Allways plan before you buy, with a gravity filter you will need 1/3rd of your pond water per hour through the filter, so your waterfall will be this much.
regards
www.fishkeepingsupplies.com
Aquarium and Fish Supply Tropical

[ReefNooB]

To accuratly judge what size of pump you will need u need to get a rough estimate on what your head height will be. You start measuring your head hieght at water level from the pond surface that the pump is in. Head height does not just mean how far the pump has to pump verticly. For instance every 10ft of horizontal piping you have, that counts as 1ft of verticle head. Also fittings such as T's, 45 and 90 degree elbows also add to the head height.

To avoid pressure losses though fittings i would use flexible [acronym:9aff4ba41b="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:9aff4ba41b], and with the waterfall you are planning i would use at least 2". Using 2" [acronym:9aff4ba41b="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:9aff4ba41b] will allow your pump to work easily because it doesnt have to pump the water through very fast. It is the same effect as trying to drink something through a stir straw.....it doesnt really work.

Another advantage of using the 2" [acronym:9aff4ba41b="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:9aff4ba41b] is that you can take advantage of a lower pressure more energy efficent pumps such as Pondmaster(magdrive), Oase, etc. For instance Oase makes a pump that flows 2100gph and only uses 100watts of power....thats like a light bulb. So to answer your question yes you can use a regular pump, your dont need a waterfall pump for a waterfall. If you plan on having an actuall 3ft wide path that the water will be flowing over you will need a pretty good sized pump. When it comes to choosing a pump size, I would look at around the 3000-3600gph range for a waterfall that wide, and that would be 3000-3600gph at your head height. A good estimate is to get about 1000-1200gph for every 1ft of waterfall width.