Is it possible to run a pond filter using a solar panel?

[triley]

Hey is it possible to run a normal pond filter of a solar panel my pond is placed at the top of my garden and there's lots of sun around the pond i already have solar panel water fountain in there running with solar lighting to.
The pond is to far away from the house to run cables down and I am really thinking about safety with my two young children and obviously costs aswell.

Any advice would be great

 

[Baluncore]

You will need a solar panel and a pump to move water through the filter.
I would expect you could use a 12 V or 24 V system.
What is the minimum amount of water you need to circulate ?

 

[triley]

You will need a solar panel and a pump to move water through the filter.
I would expect you could use a 12 V or 24 V system.
What is the minimum amount of water you need to circulate buy a Tesla powerwall? https://powerproductionmanagement.com/tesla-powerwall

I don't know much about water circulation so you can also suggest me.

 

[berkeman]

my pond is placed at the top of my garden and there's lots of sun around the pond i already have solar panel water fountain in there running with solar lighting to.
The pond is to far away from the house

Is it a natural pond, or did you build and fill it? Why do you want to filter it?

I ask because if it is a natural pond and you start filtering it, you can mess up the natural balance of the pond and potentially kill off some of the critters that inhabit it. If you built it and are just trying to keep the water clean, then you can disregard my question. @BillTre could offer more details if it is a natural pond...

 

[BillTre]

A natural pond will already have an amount of "filtering" already, since it is naturally supporting what is living there (unless everything is dying). Adding filtration or other processes can "enhance" the ability of the pond to support life.
Taking care of the water quality can involve, filtration or water exchange. Either or both could work.
Filtration comes in various forms; usually mechanical or biological for water systems. Mechanical removes particles, biological uses bacteria or other microbes to process chemicals.

In addition, moving around the water in various ways can increase aeration which can result in more stuff being able to live there. Aeration is also important to biological filtration processes, since bacteria oxidize unwanted chemicals to "detoxify" them.

Overall, you want the total biological filtration (in addition to natural processes) to support the amount of life n the pond. If your feeding is the only input of food to the pond, then your filtration should be sized to handle the amount of food you throw into the pond.
There are lots of aquacultural engineering books and articles on this and how to approximate your needs.
Same applies to aquariums, but there are also rules of thumb which you can also look up.

If you are using a solar source of power to drive a pump for a biological filter, you might need a battery to charge and use at night to keep the battery going. The bacteria in some biological filters can die without water flow (need O₂). This can be worse for the water chemistry than have no filtration.

 

[anorlunda]

Swimming pool filters seem to use 1/4 or 1/2 HP motors to drive their pumps. That sounds like a big demand for a typical PV solar panel, but not impossible.

Be sure to match your panel capacity with the demand of your pump.

 

[Baluncore]

Any advice would be great

I would advise you to specify the volume of water in the pond.

 

[Lnewqban]

Please, see:
https://cleanenergysummit.org/best-solar-pond-pumps/

 

[sophiecentaur]

Swimming pool filters seem to use 1/4 or 1/2 HP motors to drive their pumps. That sounds like a big demand for a typical PV solar panel, but not impossible.

Be sure to match your panel capacity with the demand of your pump.

Engineering equals 'define the problem numerically'.

The requirements for a swimming pool filter are a lot higher than for your regular pond. Firstly, the volume of water is almost certainly a lot less and secondly the level of filtering will less. The only exception will be if you are actually keeping vast numbers of large fish (like Koi) in surgically clean water to avoid infections.

Most of the on-line discussions talk in terms of 'fish enthusiasts' ponds and, imo, miss the point of having a nice feature in the garden. If you want that sort of installation then the ball park requirement is that all the water should be filtered every hour! Any mains electrical supply for that would be expensive but only commensurate with the whole cost - plus fish plus food plus chemicals etc. etc. Kids' safety would not be an issue if the installation satisfies the regs. It would be much cheaper than a full PV solution and wouldn't look so ridiculous (personal view).

Let's face it, your average small lake or pond exists perfectly well with a natural balance of flora and fauna without any pumping and filtering. It's only a problem when you want to unbalance the system by adding too many fish. (And fish don't need to be fed anything like as much as the food suppliers will suggest. It's rotting food that spoils most ponds,)

For a regular ornamental pond with just a few fish, the main need is for clear looking water. If the pond has enough litres per fish then a PV supply that only works during sunshine hours would not need charging and storage in batteries. The 'storage' would be in the pond water itself; only enough fish that a 'natural' pond can sustain plus a bit of help to keep down the algae level.

For a simple DIY project. something like this 35W pump would easily be kept running by a 100w PV panel for most of the day (when the algae are actually growing). A home made gravity filter would work fine; all the parts can be made from simple plumbing and DIY materials and not high priced stuff from pond specialists.

 

[anorlunda]

The OP needs to tell us the size of the pond. My neighbor's pond looks like this.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Pool? Lake?

 

[anorlunda]

Pool? Lake?

He made it himself using a backhoe and a bulldozer. Farm ponds are common in rural areas.

Its just a reminder that on PF, we can't assume that everyone is using the same definitions of common words.

 

[sophiecentaur]

OP responses can be valuable.

 

[Baluncore]

OP responses can be valuable.

But not when I unwatch the thread.