# My ugly pond- advice needed in choosing filter



## dawidmNS (31 Jul 2011)

Hi guys

In my gardner there was already a little ugly pond with green water, after very long time i decided to do something with this. These are the pictures:









So firstly, I will need a pump, which pump should I look for that will suit this size pond? it isnt big, i just want to keep water clear and keep some fish. Any advices? What I will need extra? 

Thanks for all suggestions!

Regards
Dawid


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## Ed Seeley (1 Aug 2011)

First thing you'll need to do is work out the volume of your pond and then decide what fish and how many you want to keep.  Looking at the pictures it looks fairly small so I'd recommend you stick with 4 or so goldfish at least to start with and please don't stock koi or goldfish in there as you will find they will produce lots of waste and grow fast and just cause you problems.

For filters you have two choices really.  Either go with a small commercial filter (get one rated for at least twice the size of pond you have - it will cope better when you over-stock which almost everyone does sooner or later!) or DIY one.  In this section there's a post by me about a DIY K1 filter that will cope with a pond much larger than yours.

Simply match the pump to the filter you end up buying rather than worrying about pond size and turnover rates.  For a small pond you want to be turning the pond over much more than once every two hours as books may advise.  Get a low wattage solids handling pump though like and Oase Ecomax (or one of the cheaper makes - but check the wattage!) as you want the waste pumped into the filter, not trapped in a sponge in the pond.


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## dawidmNS (1 Aug 2011)

Thanks Ed

I will have a look on your DIY filter, but I think Im more likely to buy just a pump from a classifield or ebay. I dont want to keep many fish just few small ones as like you said koi etc will produce lots of waste and cause problems, and also this pond is not big enough to keep koi which are growing quite big.

I was looking for oase pumps in the past, and they look quite intresting. Also Ed, will just pump be enough to keep water clear? i mean in the clear condition not like now, green colour. And of course plants will be added, but firstly I want to collect all equipment.

Regards
Dawid


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## Ed Seeley (1 Aug 2011)

The pump in your pond is just a pump to move water, like a powerhead in a planted tank.

Filtration in a pond is broken down into three areas.  An ultraviolet unit will kill the free-floating green algae and flocculate it together where it can be filtered out of the water.

Mechanical filtration will then remove this.  Whatever form that takes doesn't really matter but this is the part of your filtration that needs most of the work.  You want your mechanical filtration to be as easy to clean as possible.  This is where something like static K1 comes in as to clean it all you do is agitate it with air and then drain the dirty water away.  Something like foam is very maintenance heavy as you have to remove it, squeeze it out, rinse it etc.  Mechanical filtration also needs cleaning as often as possible as this removes the waste from the water column.

Finally biological filtration is there to turn the ammonia produced in the pond into relatively safe nitrate.


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## dawidmNS (5 Aug 2011)

Many thanks Ed, it doesnt look that easy as I thought, I thouth water movment and thats all add some plants and water will be clear 

Will check your DIY and try to find some good ideas. 

Thank once again.

Dawid


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## martin-green (9 Aug 2011)

My 2p worth.   

I tried  on more than one occasion to make my own bio filter, please allow me to share.

The best box was the black water storage tank, with optional lid, but alas you can't easily buy them any more, so people go for "storage boxes" but often these are not UV stabalised for outside use (They have no need to be) and they split and or crack very easily and do not weather well. 
Then you have to buy some pipework even if you are just making a simple spray bar, the pipework is not cheap, and you also need a hole cutter for the pipes (more expense) You can always choose to drill a series of small holes, but get one wrong....... 
Once you have the pipework in (not much really) you then have to buy bio media and filter sponges, I was able to take mine from another filter, but if you have none, it is something else to add to the cost.

You may also wish to consider building a larger biofilter with dividers, I have seen this done on the www. It looked the bees knees, but as soon as water went in the walls bowed and de-stabilised all the dividers, the only solution was to add a couple of luggage straps around the outside of the filter, it ruined the whole look, and luggage straps are not known for their durability. 

I like what Ed has made   , but in this case, (small pond)  it will be cheaper to buy a bio-filter than to make one, I have seen bio filters for less than £30

 :arrow: TIP:
If you do want to build your own filter, do use "tank connectors" for inlet and outlet pipes, but remember they do have lock nuts, so they can not be mounted near an edge as the lock nuts need about 2cm clearance.


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