Choosing Pond Filters

Author: Pets Parade Team

Choosing Pond Filters for your pond is one of the most important projects you must undertake when designing or building your pond. Choosing unwisely could result in you having to pay more out in the long run.

First decide the size and type of pond you wish to build. Koi Carp and other large ornamental cold water fish produce a lot more waste than smaller fish i.e. goldfish. With this in mind you need to consider your pond filter choice carefully and choose the pond filter system that will best suit your requirements.

Goldfish Pond Filters

Goldfish being a smaller bodied fish produce a lot less waste and therefore lighten the load on a biological filter. The Hozelock filter range are ideal for this task. Hozelock have a vast range of filters designed for almost any situation that may present itself whilst designing a pond. The Bioforce filter units are ideal for small ponds with very little space available for filters. The Bioforce filter uses an enclosed vortex style unit to improve water quality. Oase also produce a more than capable pressure unit for goldfish ponds. However the Oase Filtroclear does have a added main feature that reduces pond maintenance to a bare minimum. The ability to turn a dial and have the filter clean itself featuring a unique back washing system to keep the filter in top quality condition. Both these units contain ultraviolet units to keep the pond crystal clear all year round, and are also available in complete kits supplied with the correct size pump to run with these units.

There is also a large range of Box filters available to suit almost any need. Hozelock produce many different type of box filter some including ultraviolet units to cut down on space. The green machine is one of hozelocks most popular box filters with a good design. Available in many different sizes this pond filter is sure to cater for most fish keepers needs.

Cut away of Hozelock Green Machine Filter System

Koi Pond Filters

In good conditions, koi will maintain and even improve their body shape, skin quality and colours. The role of filtration is quite simple:- to provide the correct healthy water conditions to ensure your koi carp survive and thrive. A pond filter acts as a sewage treatment plant for the Koi pond and is responsible for producing good quality water and healthy conditions for the fish to live in. To do this effectively the filter must first separate out the solid waste with some type of mechanical filtration such as brushes or a vortex unit.
The next step is to break down the dissolved waste products i.e. ammonia and nitrite, that are produced as a byproduct of the fishes metabolism. This is done by bacteria living in the filter system and is a natural process hence the reason why pond filters are often referred to as biological filters. In order to produce the maximum numbers of bacteria a filter media with a large surface area such as Japanese matting, Flocor, or Alfagrog is used. The water needs to be efficiently channeled through this media and sufficient oxygen supplied with the use of extra air stones in the filter if necessary. First you must decide what type of filter you wish to go for.

The pump fed filter is a favorite amongst many koi keepers. This involves the filter being above the water level and fed via a submersible pump located in the pond itself. This then returns to the pond in a number of ways, most popular being the waterfall. As well as being a good design feature the waterfall also adds extra oxygen into the pond, essential with warm weather and when using pond treatments. These type of systems have many advantages including being one of the cheapest to produce and in some cases maintain. However there are several disadvantages with this system. The filters are usually quite visible especially when trying to incorporate a waterfall in your pond, because the box filter system needs to be situated at the top of any flow of water. Another disadvantage is because the pump to power the filter system is actually located in the pond fish may damage themselves swimming around in the pond. Because you don't just have the pump in the pond you also need all the pipes connecting up to the filter. Also because the pump is situated in the pond any solids that may build up at the bottom will be chopped up by the pump and may just pass straight through the filter. Whereas with other setups the solids will usually get to the filter whole and are therefore a lot easier to remove. Other disadvantages surrounding the pump being located in the pond come from the pump sometimes being blocked by debris in the pond.

The other main type of filtration popular with koi keepers is the gravity fed filter system with in ground filters that are the same level as the pond itself. These filters come in many different shapes and forms but most common are the multi-chamber filters. This type of filter system usually involves splitting the chamber into seperate sections so as to force the water to flow evenly through all filter media. It is important to ensure the water flow is not too fast in your pond filter (Remember the longer the contact time in the filter the better the water quality will be) the usual recommendations is to circulate the water in your pond through your filter once every 1 - 2 hours. This allows sufficient time for the bacterial Colony to break down the fish waste.

This can also be produced using the new style compact filters. One of the best on the market being the Nexus system produced by the people at Evolution Aqua. This system allows you to get optimum filter capacity in small area. These filters come in two forms. The Nexus 300 and Nexus 200. The standard system for both consists of a primary settlement vortex which then up flows through an efficient filter block before entering the biological stage, which consists of the Kaldnes Moving Bed Process. Kaldnes has been proven to be many times more efficient than static media. It is by using this process that we have been able to achieve a smaller footprint.

The Nexus 300 will do a koi pond from 1,000 to 7,500 UK gallons. This can be improved by adding an extra 100 litres of Kaldnes Moving Bed. The slightly smaller Nexus 200 will do a koi pond from 500 to 4,500 UK gallons. Some of the benefits from using the Nexus filter unit will be, Superb water quality and clarity - which equals healthier fish. Uses scientifically and time proven fish farming and waste water treatment technology for bio-filtration -which again equals healthier fish, Zero maintenance at biological stage resulting in no loss of bio-mass, giving consistent performance, A biological capacity that can grow with your fish, just add more Kaldnes media - healthier fish. Can be upgraded to accept the revolutionary Answer mechanical filter - healthier fish Massive performance from a small footprint, easy to install, includes all valves and fittings, Comes complete with adjustable connectors on both inlet and outlet valves, Sculptured and robust 1 piece moulding and unparalleled value for money.

Once you have considered the biological aspects of filtration you may like to consider investing in a mechanical filtration unit. Whilst there are many forms of the same idea in the koi world non stands out more than the Answer produced by Evolution Aqua. This is a must for any koi keeper. Through a quite revolutionary piece of engineering Evolution Aqua have produced a self cleaning mechanical filter that can be quite easily adapted to a existing pond or incorporated into a new one.

The 'Answer' is designed to fit to exit pipe work within the primary settlement stage or prime mechanical filtration chambers, whether pump or gravity fed, from the pond. The water entering 'The Answer' generally comes from the bottom of the pond and contains dust, leaves and fish faeces, amongst other solids. At this stage, it is important to stop all 'mechanical' solids from entering the biological stage, the more mechanically clean the water, the more effectively the biological stage will work.

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