Filter for an overstocked 300 gallon pond?

7 years ago

Hi, I have a 300 gallon pond with fantail goldfish, and would like to buy a bigger filter than can handle the realities that it's likely going to be overstocked in the future. Maybe enough for a 500-600g?

Any suggestions?

I've been looking on eBay and there are just so many to choose from and I think the sellers aren't incredibly truthful about how many gallons the filters can actually handle.

Thanks!

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Comments (2)

Debbie Downer
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Forget about what sellers tell you re # of gallons - that's next to useless. Too many of them vastly overstate the capabilities of the stuff they are trying to sell Most people want to spend as little money as possible and the sellers want to sell you stuff - whether or not its ideal for your situation is not really important to them. Now there are sellers who will give good advice - look for ones who also professional pond installers/maintainers - their advice is less likely to result in fish deaths. Theres also another category of seller to avoid - people in garden centers who don't really know the answer to your question, and just read off the box and try to pretend they know what ttheyre talking about.

If you haven't already done so I would suggest doing the research to understand the nitrification cycle and various type of filtration systems out there (generally some combination of mechanical and biological filtration is necessary) and how pump size correlates to the filtration. A rule of thumb is that the water should turn over 1-2x per hour, but then you would also need to understand how the height of the tubing (aka head height) and other factors play into the capacity of the pump. Biofilter - s/b 10% of pond volume or be able to provide equivalent surface area for beneficial bacteria to live on - I have had GREAT success with a matala biosteps filter for my 600 gal pond.

That said... an overstocked situation is really something else entirely. Not sure why anyone would want to do that unless they are fish sellers - look into systems that remove/replace with fresh water because filtration alone may not be enough to handle large quantities of fish poop & the resulting ammonia. Generally, you should stock only 1 goldfish per 50 gals maximum - they will grow within 2-3 yrs. Generally if you stock appropriately you shouldn't have massive overcrowding because the fish will eat the eggs during spawning - I know it sounds kinda gross, but only until you realize its nature's birth control and the alternative is not good!
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moico inc.
7 years ago
Goldfish need a lot of oxygen - an irrigator to pump O2 into water is essential especially if you have more fish then you should in that size of pond.
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It will be a lot, as you face several issues. First issue: This is a very large pond you are looking at, in the range of 11,000 gallons (using the calculations you provided). It sounds as if someone had a very serious koi pond at one time. Although you state you are leaning toward not keeping fish, I would want bottom drains installed in a pond of this size, or you will end up with a mucky mess in a couple of years. If this was a properly designed koi pond, some of that plumbing may still be in place. So the first consideration is that you will need a pump that will filter something on the order of 5,500 to 10,000 gallons per hour, 24 hours a day. A Dolphin Ampmaster ES5500 external pump would perform this function relatively inexpensively, at about 286 watts per hour. I've seen that pump listed for around $400. The second issue is that a pump like the Dolphin will not push water to the heights you are considering for your waterfall. You need a pump that will push 40 feet or greater "well head" height -- the vertical distance that a pump will raise a column of water. For this, you will need a powerful unit like a Sequence Primer which draws around 1500 watts per hour. That is about the same as a large window air conditioner. Where I live in Virginia, the math works out like this: 1500 watts = 1.5 kWh x 7 cents = $1.05 per hour. (I think the national average cost is more like 10 cents per kWh.) Therefore, since you must run filtration 24 hours a day, you are probably looking at two pump systems. The filtration could be accomplished with a low-cost unit like the Dolphin. Your waterfall would be fed by a second very powerful pump that you'd run only for those hours each day when you want to operate the waterfall. You could reduce your cost somewhat by lowering the height of the waterfall. If you are serious about this project, I would recommend first reading up on koi pond design and construction. (There are several websites which specialize in this subject.) Also, some of the experts around here will hopefully chime in. This is not a "garden-variety" pond project that you are considering!
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Filter for an overstocked 300 gallon pond?

Comments (2)

Debbie Downer

moico inc.

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