Home Made Garden Pond Filters Can Save You Money
Make Your Own DIY Pond Filter To Save Money
A biological pond filter, unlike a mechanical filter such as a pond skimmer doesn’t only remove pond debris such as grass, leaves and other organic matter. It is far more sophisticated than that! A biological pond filter, also known as a biofilter is responsible for purifying pond water by removing ammonia from your garden pond in a process known as the nitrification process or more commonly as the nitrogen cycle.
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In order to carry out its duties properly a biological pond filter will need a plentiful supply of oxygen rich pond water, biological pond filter media and a supply of ammonia. Ammonia is nearly always present in garden ponds as it is released into the pond water by aquatic life as part of their metabolism. It is also present as a by product of rotting organic matter such as leaves and uneaten fish food that have fallen onto the bottom of your pond. On a slightly different matter a pond skimmer will help to remove unwanted pond pollutants such as leaves, grass, pollen etc.
A garden pond filter is a definite MUST HAVE if you keep pond fish in your pond. There are a myriad of different pond filter models available, some for small garden ponds, whilst others are specialized pressurized systems designed to handle the tough environment of a large Koi pond … Click best biological pond filter models to review the leading USA & UK models on this site.
I remember several years ago when I was first introduced to pond keeping being surprised at the variety and shape of the various pond filter models available. I had always thought of a pond filter as a rectangular box with brushes and sponges and lots of plastic coils in it. Having said this black box type filters are still a popular choice for many pond keepers and have proved their worth over and over again throughout the world. This rectangular box type filter is also the pond filter type to serve as the basis for this article on using a homemade pond filter.
What Equipment Do I Need To Make A Home Made Pond Filter?
Before you start your project take a look inside a commercially sold box type pond filter to get some ideas. There are plenty of available pictures on the internet. Why not visit a local garden centre. Homemade pond filters are easy to make and will save you money. You will need the following pieces of equipment ...
Flat open cell foam or stiff bristle brushes or both.
Inlet pipe, outlet pipe and overflow pipes back into your garden pond.
You will need a pond filter media of some description for the beneficial bacteria colonies to live on. You will often see the following filter media in commercially sold pond filter boxes: plastic coils, plastic tubes and plastic balls.
A suitable filter box to store the components in. There are different sized black boxes to use as the container for your DIY pond filter. Please be aware that it is not the size of the filter box that determines the volume of pond water the pond filter can effectively filter; it is the choice of biological pond filter media used. In the majority of cases there are several sized filter boxes available because the larger the product choice the larger the sales potential.
How Do I Make A Home Made Pond Filter?
- Stage 1 involves trapping leaves and other organic matter from entering into the biological filter chamber by using flat open cell foam or stiff bristle brushes or both.
- Stage 2 involves ensuring that pond water flows or pours over the pond filter media (up or down the biofilter media). This pond filter media must be kept wet and oxygenated at all times by re-circulated pond water.
- Stage 3 involves you positioning the filter box, containing the brushes, pond filter media and open cell foam matting in the best location. A box type filter usually operates under gravity conditions and is generally placed at the highest point in the pond system. Box type filters are sometimes referred to as gravity fed pond filters or gravity discharge pond filters.
What Purpose Do The DIY Pond Filter Components Play?
Open Cell Foam Mats ... The vast majority of biological pond filters utilize open cell foam as a means to trap leaves, grass and other large pond solids before it has an opportunity to enter into the biological filter chamber (where the bio media lives). The foam itself also becomes, to a lesser extent home to beneficial nitrifying bacteria. Filter brushes tend to be found in larger pond filter boxes and have been designed to trap leaves and other vegetation, much like open cell foam mats.
Plastic Filter Media ... Plastic filter media is commonly used as the filter media in many commercially sold box filters and pressurized pond filter systems. Typical examples include plastic coils, plastic balls and other plastic shapes. The idea behind using this plastic bio media is for colonies of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria (they break down toxic ammonia into nitrites and nitrates) to colonize the surface so that the nitrogen cycle can take place.
Pond filter media is critical to pond keeping success and to be perfectly honest this relatively cheap plastic pond filter media isn’t great. It has what is known as a small SSA (specific surface area)! In simple terms this means that there isn’t a large surface on which the bacteria can live. There are other better alternatives that are low cost ... Supra Pond Filter Media, known as Alfagrog in the UK is a low cost porous pond filter media with a high SSA and is great for small to medium sized ponds using a box type pond filter or pressurized bio filter ...
Why Do I need Connecting Pipes and Overflow Pipes?
Always use a pond filter with large outlet pipes or 2 outlet pipes! The reason for this is to avoid the possibility of running your pond dry because more water is going into the pond filter than is coming out. Pond water must be able to be pumped into the system at a rate that is consistent with that coming out. It is also advisable when connecting the pond filter to a pond pump, whether that be a filter pump, fountain pump or some other variation that your choice of connecting tube is as wide and fat as possible. In pond keeping terms short fat pipes are best, as they prevent flow restrictions.
How Do I Prevent My Pond Water Turning Green?
Green pond water is caused by algae blooms. This is particularly noticeable in warm weather conditions when there is a lot of daylight sun and the level of nitrates in your pond is at its highest. The most efficient way of controlling this problem long term is to use a UV sterilizer, also known as a UV clarifier. Pond water is passed through the UV unit where UV light destroys the algae cells. The water containing the dead algae is then pumped into your pond filter where it is trapped in the open cell foam or filter brushes.
How Do I Choose A Pond Filter?
First and foremost you will need to calculate your pond volume before making any buying decision. Pond filters are generally specified as being able to handle biological filtration in ponds up to X gallons of water. This will take into account details such as the number of fish stocked, whether or not you have aquatic plants, how often you feed etc. It is always better to go slightly bigger than you need as this will allow for future increases and changes … Click best biological pond filter models to review the leading USA & UK models on this site.
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