FishMate Pond Filters
Pond Supplies Product Review ... Fish Mate Compact UV + Bio Pond Filter for garden fish ponds specified for up to 5,000 gallons volume Unit contains 25 Watts UV lamp for excellent suspended algae control ... not string algae
These Fish Mate UV + Bio Pond Filters do 2 jobs at the same time ..... the bio filter cleans the pond water (biologically converts toxic ammonia and nitrites to nitrates which act as fertilizers for pond plants) while the UV lamp clears the pond water ... fish ponds almost always tend to go cloudy and green if no UV is used because the nutrients in the pond cause excessive algae growth and this prevents you seeing your fish. If the UV unit is correctly sized it works every time all the time in removing suspended algae. I call it the Blue LIght Miracle Worker.
Bio filters alone DO NOT prevent green water ... do not believe anybody who tells you this is the case. You need an UV to be certain of removing suspended algae problems and correct wattage for your pond is important.
This Fish Mate UV + pond biofilter is still very small in size despite being capable of handling the biological load from a pond of up to 5,000 US gallons.... it is one of the very few types of pond filters (maybe the only type in the USA) to contain the world class highly effective and efficient pond filter biomedia called Alfagrog. This is what creates the huge bio degradation capacity of this Fish Mate Pond Filter.
Products in this section are available at a discount
Until very recently I was not aware that Alfagrog was used in any American pond filter and was very pleasantly surprised when is stumbled across the Fish Mate pond filters and especially when I saw the low price of Fish Mate pond filters. The reason I was not aware is that Alfagrog goes by another name in the USA ... here's a picture of Alfagrog which I have sold for 10 years here in South Africa.
This is what you will find in this filter ... this is what really counts. Don't worry too much about the sponges and other blurb. The secret to this little marvel's success is the Alfagrog. It is a highly porous ceramic filter media specially created for bio filters in the fish farming industries. Depending upon the size of the Alfagrog particles the area for bacteria colonization can be up 100 times that for most types of plastic filter media ... whether they be tubes, balls, or other fancy shapes.
This Fish Mate UV + bio pond filter data ...
Pond's volume .... claimed up to 5,000 US gallons
Discharge by gravity, needs to be above ground. Can handle a maximum flow rate through pond filter of 2000 galls per hour ... you can by-pass some water if necessary and I would suggest you do not pump this amount of water through this pond filter. If you try to pump too much through this Fish Mate Pond Filter you risk overflowing the filter and draining your pond (this applies to any gravity fed filter) .... here's another tip. Always position your filter so that if it does happen to overflow then the water can run back into the pond.
Dimensions ... 24*17*21 inches (yes that small so easy to hide)
Wattage ... 25 watts change lamp every year without fail
Read this important section about garden or fish pond biofilters in general ......
Pond filter biomedia choice inside a fish pond filter is critically important. A fish pond filter purifies pond water at the interface with the biomedia. This is where the bacteria colonies reside and do their bio filter work. The better the biomedia the smaller the diy pond filter needs to be. Building a pond filter is easy.
SSA (specific surface area) in sq.m. per litre of different pond filter biomedia for a home made pond filter is shown below. A high number is best! If an SSA is 1 then theoretically an SSA of 8 will provide surface to hold 8 times as many bacteria inside a pond filter. The same relationship applies to gallons of biomedia.
| Alfagrog | Ceramic Rings | Lava Rock | Plastic Foam | Plastic Coils |
|
45 to 100 depending on particle size |
8 | 8 | 2.5 | 1 |
Pond filter biomedia
All biomedia in fish pond filters or bio filters of any type can be classified according to its specific surface area (SSA). The higher the SSA the more probable is it that the biomedia will be more effective in a fish pond filter. SSA refers to how much surface area per unit volume of a type of media is available for colonisation by bacteria inside fish pond filters. You can now see how you can easily choose biomedia for your diy pond filter.
For products like simple plastic tubes inside a diy pond filter SSA can be calculated easily because it is a smooth surface and a simple shape. In fact if you do the calculation the SSA is about 1 sq metre per litre of biomedia. In other words if a fish pond filter is filled with plastic tubes then for every litre used about 1 sq. metre of surface is provided for colonisation by the bacteria. Alfagrog will provide between 40 and 100 time MORE area than this in the SAME volume space
PLEASE NOTEI have done my best to provide up to date information but I cannot be responsible for changes made by the relevant pond supplies merchant. I only recommend high calibre pond supplies merchants.
Interesting Articles
FishMate Pond Filters and UV Filter Combos
Garden pond filter Biofilter mantenance clean healthy ponds
How Biological Filtration and Pond Biofilters Work
How to Select a Fish Pond Filter
How to select a pond biofilter the basics
Let me try hard to debunk this myth of Pond Filter size
