The pump is in the deepest part of my pond, and sends water up to a savio filter full of media, and comes out of there to make a waterfall back down to the pond. I've ordered a new submersible pump (3600 GPH), but it will be several days till it arrives. From my aquariums I know that it's bad to let water sit in a filter for long, that when you start it up again the water can be toxic. What can I do to avoid problems? Should I remove the water from the filter now? I realize that will kill all the good bacteria in there on the media. But, they'll die anyway without any movement through the filter, as I understand it. Please let me know how I can minimize the impact on my pond when the new pump is installed. I have white clouds, tadpoles and a couple goldfish, and a number of plants.

Also, would it do any good to toss a smaller pump I've got lying around into the deep part of the pond to move the water around a little bit, in the meantime? I've always had a waterfall and am unsure if harm is going to come from the pond being completely still for a week or so. To complicate matters I'm leaving tomorrow for five days, and my husband will be in charge. So, any answers soon would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

I suggest the following. Get a kiddie pool or other non-toxic container. Fill it with pond water. Put the filter media in there until the pump comes. That way, the bacteria will stay alive. If you rinsed the media off well, you could put it into the actual pond which would provide some biological filtration even without much water movement. If the media is dirty though and hard to clean, that might be a bad idea. Once the new pump arrives, rinse off the media well with pond water by swishing it around. If the media dries out, and the bacteria dies, and the media is not cleaned, then it would not be good to have that pumped back into the pond. You want to keep the bacteria alive but also keep whatever gunk is in the filter from going into the pond. The bacteria will not all immediately die if there's no water movement or influx of additional ammonia. Some may die but some will remain viable. If you had the media in a kiddie pool, you could bail some of the water out each day and bail in fresh pond water so the bacteria could feed on any ammonia in that. Add fresh water to the pond. If the media is rinsed and put into the pond itself, the bacteria should get enough "food" to mostly stay alive for a few days. I do something similar with my aquariums. When the power goes out for a while, I pull the biowheels out of the filters and submerge them in the tank to keep the bacteria alive.

How big is your pond? I assumed it was large with a 3600 gph pump. All you have in there are white clouds, tadpoles, and a few goldfish? If so, they probably don't produce much ammonia.

If you have any sort of spare pump, certainly add it to keep the water moving. I suggest buying a spare pump. I keep a spare of my two kinds of pumps. I didn't have one for years because it's a $400 pump but I have one now. My pump is 10 years old and still going but the spare gives me piece of mind. Aside from the loss of biological filtration, the biggest problem without your waterfall going is aeration. Any pump or air stones you can add will help. I have battery air pumps (as well as regular ones). When the power goes out, they kick in automatically on my aquariums. If I want to, I can also run them in my ponds.

I hope things work out!

Thank you, Robyn. The media is this stringy green stuff that is packed pretty firmly into the filter. I'm afraid it would be a horrific mess to put it in the pond, then get it out again. It expands like you wouldn't believe when you take it out of the filter. I will check but I believe that there is still water in the filter, but no movement through. The pump is on the way. I'm going to see if we can repair the old one too, having a backup is an excellent idea (mine costs $180, so that hurts a little too).

That sounds like Springflo filter media. If it's still wet, then it should be ok. You can pour some fresh pond water in there to "feed" the bacteria.