Need pond filter advice

15 years ago

I have a roughly 1500 gallon pond which was built with no real filtration. The guy who built it felt I only needed a UV, which obviously does not clean the pond. I have a 4800 gph pump, which sends the water through the UV and over the waterfall.

It seemed too much of a hassle to start doing construction, and major overhaul, to put in a skimmer, so for the time being, I have been using a submersible Pondmaster filter, which has done an amazing job of collecting debris and clearing the pond. However, it is a pain in the neck to pull it, clean it, and then get the pump with its water feature to stand erect!

The guy who is taking care of the pond right now has suggested an external filter, such as a Tetra Pond, or the equivalent. I do not want to take apart all the plumbing and add the filter to the current pump, since it would cut down on the waterfall immensely, so we are talking about either a pressurized or gravity filter, which we would half bury outside the perimeter of the pond, and then camouflage the tubing as well as we can. Right now, everything is hidden; you don't see any tubing, or wiring, or even the present pump, which is under a large rock at the bottom of the pond.

I am a little leery of pressurized filters. Do they need priming? I am just getting rid of an Eheim pressurized filter on my aquarium, which even the people who service the tank have problems with when it comes to priming, so I have stayed away from it. I need a filter which I can clean without worrying about getting it going again. I was also told by one tech that you don't get real biological filtration with a pressurized filer, since you need air to accomplish that.

Can anyone suggest a good filter for this pond, and the right pump for it? Also, do I add this now, since I keep my pond going all winter, unless we start to ice up, at which time, I use an external pump and tubing for aeration, and a pond deicer. Somewhere I read that filters should not be used in the winter.

I need to decide rather quickly, since once the pond is netted, I can't even use the Pondmaster without pulling off part of the netting, and that will be a major job.

Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

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Comments (3)

nkm56
15 years ago
I don't know anything at all about the pressurized filters, but you could maybe build a homemade filter out of a small rubbermade tub or a trash can.
dazyjune
15 years ago
I don't know a thing about pressurized filters for ponds, but here is a link to get you some great ideas !

We made one similar to the flowerpot one towards the bottom of the list with plants covering the top! Minus the trays~ just using layers of scrubbies and nylon mesh, curlers, etc! Also pvc with holes drilled and elbows for the legs!

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: homemade filters
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Back in the day I owned a fishmate pond filter close to what you are describing. It actually worked quite well. The only thing is it will accumalate a lot of gunk and you will have to be careful when you clean it. Use pond water and be VERY gently or it will set you back quite a bit. I am so over pressurized filters. To me they take too much water to backflush and they don't work as well as my DIY filters. Sounds to me like your biggest challange will be removing the leaves and gunk from the bottom every year. A pond net will take care of the leaves but the gunk will still be a problem. When you do your water changes try to remove the water from the bottom of the pond to get out some of that sludge.
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Vicki, There are many filter systems used by ponders but keep in mind it is a system. Since it is a run off pond with rocks on the bottom I don't think you have a bottom drain. So that in itself means eventually you will have to vaccuum the pond or drain and pump out the mulm and clay that accumulates under the rocks. Most people with rock lined ponds do that yearly. Pond skimmers will help keep the surface debris from eventually ending up in those rocks. Bead filters and pressure filters usually require a prefilter before them, and you must frequently flush them wich requires a lot of water. May not be a bad option if you install a skimmer and use it after the skimmer. But you must commit to those flushes. Your pond is twice the size of mine. How deep is it? What are the dimensions. If it was my pond and the theme was more natural vs crystal clear here is what I might do. I might just use two large skimmers and take them to skippy filters. I don't think I would retrofit a bottom drain due to the clay. So I would do a yearly clean out. If the clay was not that big of a deal I would retrofit a BD to a settling pond or chamber and take that to a skippy. Others with better ideas will chime in soon. Regards, Lisa
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After hours of searching and making phone calls, I found the answers I needed. koifishponds.com actually has an article on using a pool filter for pond use. I also found 3 others who use the hayward filter with success. http://www.koifishponds.com/state_of_the_art_filters.htm Here is a link that might be useful: kio fish ponds
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donna1442
15 years ago
lesliew
I have a pond that is about the same size as yours. I have a gravity filter that keeps my pond clear all year round. This filter is outside of the pond and it looks like a large utility tub. I have it sitting right next to my pond so I put a small fence in front of it to cover the front of it. This is how my system is set up: my water comes in from a garden size hose into a tube that is about 5 in diamiter ( I have a rock that holds the hose in place). The water then falls into the very bottom of the filter in comes up through a small grate,furnace filter, lava rock in bags, then roots of iris, water celery, anacharis, horn wort and out a 3 in tube that feeds back into the pond. I have a bottom drain that allows me to clean this filter out every spring. When I clean it in the spring I take out all the iris, chop them to pieces and give to any fellow ponder that will take them, hang on to a clump about 6 in in diamiter. throw away all water celery, it comes back anyway, replace lava rock. I buy the landscaping type just make sure you rinse them throughally before you put them in. Buy a new furnace filter at hd they are about 5.00 and worth every penny. The grate sits up about 4-5 in off the bottom so that allows all the fish poop and rotted stuff to settle in that area. When you go to clean out the filter you will want to save this sludge...it is black gold, my plants love it in the spring its like a energy drink for them. Once you put it back together you are done until next year. I do have to clean my pump about every 4-5 weeks but that is easy and takes about 10 min. I have pictures of my filter all taken apart that I can mail to you, they were not done on a dig camera, just let me know.

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Need pond filter advice

Comments (3)

nkm56

dazyjune

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donna1442

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