Water pumps?

[BeautMonster]

I was considering building a filtered waterfall in my tank to help cool off the tank during the hot summer we have coming. I have some water pumps in storage somewhere and I was wondering if there is such a thing as too much power?
Everything I’ve read online speaks more to not getting an underpowered water pump, but nothing I can find says any warnings about the water flow being too much. Anyone have any advice/experience with this?

 

[coralbandit]

If the pump is too powerful you can install a ball valve to control the flow after the pump.

 

[BeautMonster]

So I dug the pump out of storage and tested it in a bucket. Seems like it will be fine and won’t create any white water rapids. Still going to get a ball valve for it just in case.
I really want to set this up to be a filtering point for my aquarium instead of the HOB. I was thinking of attaching some PVC to the intake and stuff in the PVC with some filter floss or coarse foam blocks cut to fit. I mostly want to lessen the amount of debris that has to flow through the pump itself. I’ll most def be adding some bio media to the inside of the waterfall before the water returns to the tank.
I’ve read on a few places that blocking the intake is bad new bears, but I’m thinking that a coarse sponge isn’t going to be that detrimental. Besides wouldn’t keeping big debris from the pump itself be a good thing?
My logic has failed me before, so I’m hoping someone else has had some experience with this.

 

[coralbandit]

A sponge should be fine ,just make sure you can get to it to clean it..

 

[Fresh2o]

You could attach the pump to a small pond filter (to house the sponge, floss, and other media) using PVC or vinyl tubing. You’ll want to service it regularly to prevent negative pressure on the pump.
Another thing you might have to factor in is heat released by the pump itself. Hopefully this will be offset by surface movement.

 

[BeautMonster]

Just an update. I built it. Seems to work well. The water does create a lot of bubbles (yay!) and doesn’t seem to be too much. Just have to wait for the tank to cycle and add some fish!

Prototype #1