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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

Pre-filter media for pump?

14 years ago

I bought a giant mesh pump bag for my pump. Is there a kind of media I should fill it with, around the pump (Hy-Drive from Pondmaster)?

Should I do the scrubbies? How do you make them so dense that the water goes through them and not around them, just by overstuffing the bag?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

horton
14 years ago
hawkiefriend, What are you pumping to?
Do you have a filter set up outside of your pond that you are pumping to or is the mesh bag and whatever is put in it, going to be the only means of filtration.

If it is just a pre-filter requirement, then you don't really need anything inside the bag, as this is a mechanical filter. But you don't want the bag to collapse around the pump and possibly cause a plug up.
Was this "bag" actually designed to be used as a pre-filter, or is it one of those laundry bags with the wire frame?

If it is the only means of filtration, then filling the mesh bag with pot scrubbers, will do the job of providing surfaces for the bacteria to colonize. The "scrubbies" [nylon bun shaped type] will act as the bio-filter material,just pack them into the bag, as many as you can.

Be sure you do not block the pump's intake with anything. A "scrubbie" placed in front of the intake, may plug up with gunk, but the "scrubbie" it's self, should not be sucked into the pump, unless it completely unravels, which is highly unlikely.

All that a pre-filter is there for, is mechanical filtration, to stop hard objects, like pea gravel, bits of twigs, etc, from being sucked into the pump's impeller and doing damage.
Hope this helps,
"Horton"
hawkiefriend
Original Author
14 years ago
Yes, we will be pumping TO a Savio biofilter. So this is just a pre-filter, for whatever could affect the pump or pipes. (the pump is in its own cage but a lot of smaller stuff could get in there).

The bag is a pondmaster mesh pump bag. I thought I could add to the filtration by putting something in the bag. No?
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LOL! lsst is right. The reason they use the spongy foam insert is it has a fairly rigid shape that won't get sucked into the impeller unless it has been subjected to lots of wear and tear that softens it up, a lot. Just goes to show different people think differently. I'll give some examples of what I have done from time to time. I use a rigid well head pre-filter that attaches to the intake of the pump with 3 or four feet of 1 1/2 inch flexible tubing. The water is pushed through 8 feet of 1 1/2 inch flexible tubing to a 100 gallon Skippy Filter which contains lots of scrubbies, old torn up netting and some other odds and ends for bio activity, a container of Activated Charcoal for tannins and in another layer, quilt batting for a final polishing of the water. The water leaves the Skippy through a 4 inch pipe that feeds a waterfall. Some people use a catch basket in a skimmer as a pre-filter. My next pond will have a skimmer but the Skippy stays. I want the skimmer because there are lots of twigs and acorns that work their way into my pond. A smaller pond I built had a pre-filter that was a series of perforated boxes that each contained a foam filter that acted like a bio filter and a mechanical filter. Water passed through the filter boxes and through the intake, then out to a fountain. At other times the water went to a tank that had a rock settlement chamber before it went over a waterfall. The rocks worked but it was a pain to clean even if it was only once a season, so I switched to quilt batting. The boxes of the main pre-filter had to be cleaned weekly which was too much like work. I used the same boxy filters for a smaller pump that fed a small Laguna UV light. That worked very well since it was not the main filtering system. The box filters attached to the intake with a foot of tubing and the output took 2 1/2 feet of tubing to get to the UV box that sat on the side of the pond. there was a small filter pad inside the UV box to catch dead algae. That was probably more filter than needed but the fish loved the super clean water coming out of the UV. As you can see there are many combinations that work. The idea of the pre-filter is to protect the impeller. Some people attach hoses directly to filter and pumps, etc. with hose clamps. I have physical problems that make it difficult to stretch to loosen those hose clamps so I add those handy dandy screw on and off adapters for PVC.They still require hose clamps but I don't need to use a screwdriver to retrieve a filter or pump. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Laguna bio/mechanical filter box
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I'm not sure if you're asking a question but earthworms getting into filters and ponds isn't unusual, not super common, but not unheard of. I've only seen in filters mounded in the ground so the worms can travel along the ground and fall into the filter under the lid. If you're asking for suggestions on how often to clean the media...you're not going to like this but here goes... Activated carbon does indeed remove small bits of stuff. Used in drinking water filters. Just like drinking water filters the activated carbon only lasts so long because it becomes clogged with trapped particles. In drinking water systems the activated carbon is placed as the very last stage, after reverse osmosis. That's because they want the activated carbon to only get super clean water so it doesn't clog as fast. In a pond environment activated carbon would clog in seconds, maybe minutes. You won't notice any change because stuff that clogs activated carbon is too small to see, sub-micron, smaller than bacteria. So I wouldn't worry about cleaning the activated carbon. I'd throw it out. The mesh and scrubbies are called static submerged media...at least I assume they're below water. These are OK as a pre-filter to protect a pump, catch leaves and large stuff. In that case you just clean them when clogged. It's fine to rinse with chlorinated water if you like. However, if these media is intended as bio filter media there is a problem. Any bio media that ever has to be cleaned is not actually bio media at least for growing bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrite. These bacteria need media that stay clean otherwise they can get to the ammonia, O2, carbon and stuff they need. Here's a picture of what the bacteria look like: The black dots are the bacteria and the gray structures are the bio film (jelly like stuff) the bacteria produce to anchor themselves and get up into moving water. In static submerged media that has to be cleaned means dirt can collect on the media. The fins are very small as you can imagine. It takes almost no dirt to clog those structures. There will be some areas that stay clear, so this media can grow some of these kinds of bacteria, but not much. A lot more will being growing on the inside of the pump pipe/hose because the flow is so intense it helps keep the bio film clean. So there's no good answer for how often this kind of media has to be clean to function as a good bio filter. If you wanted it to perform more like a Trickle Tower, Moving Bed or Bakki Shower you'd have to clean the media every hour maybe. Those filters are self cleaning which is why they perform so much better. But no one of course is going to clean media every hour, that's crazy. Beyond that you're into a Catch-22. As dirt clogs the bio film the ammonia converters die or never set up house in the media. So really the media is so poor it doesn't really matter how often it's cleaned. Not trying to bum you out.
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horton
14 years ago
hawkiefriend , I guess you could if you wanted to, but it is only something else to to plug up and have to be taken out and cleaned every now and again.
Your Savio Bio-filter, will handle the filtration very well, without the extra nylon scrubbies or the pump bag for that matter.
The cage on the pump will stop anything like pea gravel from being sucked in.
The final decision is yours and what you are happy with/
Either way will be just fine.

"Horton"
mybusyfamily6
14 years ago
I have two mesh bags that I stuff with quilt batting. I then stuff them around my pump which is inside my skimmer. then about once a week or so I change the batting, more often if the water is dirty, or getting algea.
horton
14 years ago
mybusyfamily6,Please be careful, you are taking a chance in doing that.
If the batting becomes plugged up regularly, it will starve the pump of water flow through the impeller chamber.

Plugged up filter material or just a plugged up filter cage, can cause the pump to run hotter than it is meant to and shorten it's life span.
Even though you clean out the batting once a week or more often can, if it is being plugged up at all, it can still be detrimental to your pump.

You should never allow the flow into the pump, to be decreased by having dense/plugged up filter material [or for that matter, ever installing a control valve] on the intake side of the pump.

The water should slowly pass through the filter material, after going through the pump, then be return to the pond, for effective filtration.
Keep your eye on that batting. ;-)
"Horton"

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