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Koi Pond Pumps

Sometime in the spring of the mid-eighties in Baldwin Park, CA, MDM Pumps had a gentleman by the name of Frank Caswell come to the back door of the factory, begging the guys in the shop for a pump alternative that wouldn’t put his prize Japanese koi at risk. Frank was tired of oiled-filled bearings failing and poisoning his koi. Many times he found electrical shorts in the cord connection of the pump that would emit electrical current and shock the fish.

When the guys in the back told the executive staff of MDM there was a real marketing opportunity to help Frank solve his pump problems, as usual, Management took the time to understand the conditions of service and requirements before coming up with a solution that would meet Mr. Caswell’s needs. Here are those requirements:

Pump needed to be configured out of the pond
This was a slam dunk because MDM only produced horizontal end-suction centrifugals
Pump needed to be capable of producing High Flow rates
The term “High flow” can be a bit subjective. Since flow rate is very application-specific in the world of pumps, it cannot be vague or ambiguously defined. However, Koi ponds tend to require higher flow rates compared to standard water features without aquatic life. In this case, MDM checked the box here and defined the flow rates that satisfied the requirements for Frank’s Koi pond.
Pump could operate at Low Pressure
Most filtration and waterfall heights in Koi ponds do not require very high pressure. This application characteristic allowed MDM to configure a low RPM motor.
Aesthetically, it needed to operate Quietly
See the point above, a low RPM motor (1800) has significantly less noise compared to the high RPM (3500) motors utilized beforehand

The most important aspect of MDM’s pump sizing process for Frank was that it was targeted to properly size the pump at its best efficiency point, providing the least amount of shaft deflection, (due to unnecessary high pressure), in the motor and bearings. This promoted a significant increase to the pump service life not ever experienced by Frank with the submersibles he used before. Further, Frank was paying less in electrical costs every month due to the operational efficiency.

Frank was proud of the problem he solved for himself and quickly spread the word to other Koi keepers domestically and abroad.

Fast forward 36 years later and there is a massive install base and a brand name (Sequence®) that is uncompromised and undisputed internationally.

What Our Clients Say

“As a Koi breeder, downtime in a filtration system is a matter of profit and loss. When you install a pump in 1987, and now in 2016 it’s still running, one has to contemplate how profitable a simple pump can make an operation like ours. Sequence pumps are the only pumps for us!”

DENNIS RAYLE, KOI KO-OP