Pressurized Garden Pond Filters Are Best For Majority of Fish Ponds
Pressurized Pond Filters Are The Pond Keepers Favorite
Are you the owner of a medium sized fish pond up to about 1000 gallons and are looking for a replacement biological pond filter? If so then I would recommend that you use a pressurized garden pond filter with Supra pond bio media. Pressurized pond filters, over the last 10 years or so have become the small to medium sized pond keepers favorite. This is mainly due to the low cost, reliability, ease of maintenance and compact size.
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Before I explain why I believe that a compact pressurized pond filter is the best choice for the majority of pond owners with ponds up to 1000 gallons let me quickly give an overview of the categories of garden filter.
Gravity Return Filter
The traditional box type filter shown on the left is the world famous Fishmate gravity discharge filter (gravity return filter). Gravity return filters are pump fed systems which use a submersible pond pump to power water to the inlet of the filter. The water flows through the filter and is returned back to the pond under the influence of gravity. This type of filter needs to be positioned at the highest point of the pond.
Pressurized Pond Filter
A pressurized pond filter also requires the use of a pond pump to power water into it. The major difference however, due to the sealed design is that the pond water leaving the filter is still under pressure. This provides greater flexibility in the placement of the filter. As gravity is no longer involved the filter can be hidden below ground, up to its lid at a distance from the pond. The model shown is the Fishmate Powerclenz pressurized filter with automatic self cleaning.
Fluidized Bed Filter
A fluidized bed filter, more commonly known as a bead filter is commonly used in the USA, by pond keepers with large Koi ponds. This pressurized biofilter system is pump fed and also returns water back into the pond system under pressure. The biological chamber is full of suspended bead biomedia, up to 600,000 in some models. The violent thrashing together of fresh water, oxygen, beads and ammonia (NH3) ensures that ammonia and nitrite is quickly and efficiently converted to nitrate. The model shown is the GC Tek Aquabead Koi Filter.
Gravity
Fed Pond Filters
Gravity fed pond filters are situated adjacent to the pond, and at the same level. They are fed by a bottom drain and usually have multiple chambers. The final chamber is host to a pump that forces water back into the pond under pressure, often via a venturi. As a result the pond surface will always be slightly higher than that in the filter, causing water to pass through to the filter via the bottom drain under gravity. This type of filtration method is tricky to install and is usually used in large Koi ponds. A vortex Koi filter is an example of such a system.
Why Is A Pressurized Pond Filter The Best Option For Most Garden Ponds?
In the past pond keepers with small to medium sized garden ponds used a box type gravity discharge filter, as this was the only real option available to them! For anyone who has used one of these filtration systems you will remember that one of the most annoying aspects was trying to hide the filter box from view, so as to not ruin the look and feel of the pond. Now that pressurized pond filters are commonly available the issue of disguizing the pond filter from view is no longer an issue. Pressure pond filters offer the following advantages ...
They are much more compact than gravity return box type filters and are ideal for situations where space is tight.
The pressurized operation allows expelled water, which is still under pressure to feed a waterfall or water feature.
The pressurized design means that this system doesn’t have to be placed at the highest point of the pond system, as it no longer requires gravity to feed water back to the pond.
The pressurized operation allows it to be located away from the pond edge. In fact it can be buried underground, up to the lid at a distance from the pond.
Some pressurized filter models incorporate a back flush system which facilitates cleaning by allowing the user to expel waste matter, under pressure, simply by turning a valve. This makes routine cleaning easier.
The original pressurized pond filter was the Hozelock Bioforce pressurized pond filter, which due to its reliability and competitive price is still in production, some 10 years later. It wasn’t long before two of Hozelock's major competitors, Oase and Fishmate (Animate) produced their own pressurized models.
The Oase Filtoclear is an excellent product and comes with a 5 year guarantee and the Fishmate Powerclenz pressurized filter is in my opinion the best of the three for one reason. It is supplied as standard with a superior low cost biological filter media known as Supra (Alfagrog in the UK). This revolutionary, light weight biomedia is so porous that it offers an extremely large surface area on which nitrifying bacteria can colonize. It beats the competition hands down ... see the diagram below ...
Please note that Alfagrog is known as Supra in the USA.
The image above shows the SSA (specific surface area) of different bio filter media, commonly used in small to medium sized gravity return filters and pressurized pond filters. The higher the SSA the better, as this means that there is a larger surface area available for nitrifying bacteria to colonize. You will notice that Supra (Alfagrog 40) has a SSA of 45. Compare this with plastic coils, which have a SSA of 1.
In simple terms this means that Supra has 45 times more surface area than plastic coils. From a practical perspective your pond filter would need 45 times more space to accommodate the plastic coils than it would to hold the Supra biomedia.
How Much Nitrifying Bacteria Do I Need To Keep My Pond Water Clean?
The simple answer is as many as possible. You can never have too large a colony of beneficial nitrifying bacteria in your pond filter. In fact a large colony of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria is better, as this will reduce the time it takes to breakdown X amount of ammonia. The following is a list of factors that will influence the number of bacteria needed to remove ammonia and maintain healthy pond water quality ...
The number of fish stocked and the amount of fish food they are fed will be the major contributor to the ammonia levels within any pond. The quality of food will also have an influence. Fish food with high ash content will result in increased waste, simply because less of the food is used by the fish for growth and development. Always use a branded fish food with a low ash content, high protein content and with added minerals and trace elements.
The level of oxygenated pond water will influence the ammonia conversion rate. Nitrifying bacteria need lots of oxygen to oxidize ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate.
The level of organic matter allowed to settle on the pond floor will increase ammonia levels. Remove uneaten fish food, floating leaves and other floating debris from the pond surface. If you don’t it will end up at the bottom of your pond, where it starts rot and produce ammonia.
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