I am going to start construction on a new pond next month to replace the one I have that is too small and is there a way I can build my own pond filter that is inexpensive and can be built with basic materials?
Pond Filter
- Thread starter FishKeeper-16
- Start date
http://www.mikebentley.com/ponds/homemadefilters.htm
some of the links are dead but some are still alive. Search through there and see if you see anything you like.
some of the links are dead but some are still alive. Search through there and see if you see anything you like.
A local store uses pond filters on his huge tank. They look like thos Laguna filters, a big plastic box and the pump is in the pond. They were pretty cheap so I don't know how much $$ you can save with DIY.
I would like to have a big box type filter that can accomidate several different types of media such as phosphate absorbing media, activated carbon, polyester fiber, bio balls, and ammonia chips, ect. and my other pond has no filter and the closest thing to a filter in that pond is a pump that has foam over the end to keep dirt for entering the motor and also bacteria can grow on that foam.
boroughmal
wwww.fishkeepingsupplies.com.
filters the DIY way
Nice car mate!
You can build an inexpensive filter, I have experimented over the years after moving somewhat 5 times, I could never take my ponds with me, Or my fish when I moved abroad.
My last effort was the bees knees. I went skint a few years ago and the only commodity I had was Time.
So I dug my pond & allowed 30percent of the pond area for a filter.
Its a gravity filter. Essentially 2x 4" pipes with 2 ends & a tee on each. One end at tha bottom of the pond preferably in the middle or in my case slightly to one side as I have 2. put a bend on the pipes & take them up to 1/4" below the surface of the water in the pond. Put a tee in where the bottom of your filter will be preferably 5" up from the base & take your pipe or pipes into the filter. This will give you bottom drains & skimming facilities at the same time.
My filter is a concrete come render come circular settlement chamber followed by a brush filter followed by a coke filter followed by a sump in which the pump is housed.
Old bricks old broken blocks I used anything I could get my hands on & bought only bags of cement to render with.The first filter is centrifugal it has the two pipes from the pond going in at an angle and that starts the flow. Round in a circle up to the top where I have my take off for the brush filter.
At the bottom of the chamber I have a 6" water main stopcock, borrowed from the roadbuilders that dug up our road, never to be returned(Ididnt nick it I borrowed it long term). That flushes into the main drainage.
The second filter is a brush filter made from an old chimney sweeps spiral brushes. this was in use for years, Chopped it up & wired it together to make a complete chamber filter for large waste.two pipes coming from the centrifugal at the top & a takeoff from the bottom to make sure all the water flows through the brushes. The third chamber is coke(Superheated coal from a furnace nearby) has a massive area for bacteria to colonize. Just thrown in at the bottom to cover the brush filter holes and an outlet in the top which tumbles into the pump chamber. The pump chamber never gets dirty & I havent cleaned it for two years. It has snails larvae of all types beetles & slime slugs the clear ones They eat all the muck & keep my water crystal clear.
Well I did have one trick up my sleeve. "Rein fibres" mix a handfull in the cement & make it strong 2 to 1. it forms a waterproof barrier to the pond & stops the hard cement from cracking. 3 coats of G8 pondseal at a cost of 90 euro a gallon was the finishing touch to my masterpeice. My koi grow at a fantastic rate & I am able to retreive some of the cost of keeping them by selling the fish.
Perfect water-perfect fish.
Recycle the water properly & you wont have to change it.
Do the job properly to start with and you wont have to hide your efforts.
Regards
Nice car mate!
You can build an inexpensive filter, I have experimented over the years after moving somewhat 5 times, I could never take my ponds with me, Or my fish when I moved abroad.
My last effort was the bees knees. I went skint a few years ago and the only commodity I had was Time.
So I dug my pond & allowed 30percent of the pond area for a filter.
Its a gravity filter. Essentially 2x 4" pipes with 2 ends & a tee on each. One end at tha bottom of the pond preferably in the middle or in my case slightly to one side as I have 2. put a bend on the pipes & take them up to 1/4" below the surface of the water in the pond. Put a tee in where the bottom of your filter will be preferably 5" up from the base & take your pipe or pipes into the filter. This will give you bottom drains & skimming facilities at the same time.
My filter is a concrete come render come circular settlement chamber followed by a brush filter followed by a coke filter followed by a sump in which the pump is housed.
Old bricks old broken blocks I used anything I could get my hands on & bought only bags of cement to render with.The first filter is centrifugal it has the two pipes from the pond going in at an angle and that starts the flow. Round in a circle up to the top where I have my take off for the brush filter.
At the bottom of the chamber I have a 6" water main stopcock, borrowed from the roadbuilders that dug up our road, never to be returned(Ididnt nick it I borrowed it long term). That flushes into the main drainage.
The second filter is a brush filter made from an old chimney sweeps spiral brushes. this was in use for years, Chopped it up & wired it together to make a complete chamber filter for large waste.two pipes coming from the centrifugal at the top & a takeoff from the bottom to make sure all the water flows through the brushes. The third chamber is coke(Superheated coal from a furnace nearby) has a massive area for bacteria to colonize. Just thrown in at the bottom to cover the brush filter holes and an outlet in the top which tumbles into the pump chamber. The pump chamber never gets dirty & I havent cleaned it for two years. It has snails larvae of all types beetles & slime slugs the clear ones They eat all the muck & keep my water crystal clear.
Well I did have one trick up my sleeve. "Rein fibres" mix a handfull in the cement & make it strong 2 to 1. it forms a waterproof barrier to the pond & stops the hard cement from cracking. 3 coats of G8 pondseal at a cost of 90 euro a gallon was the finishing touch to my masterpeice. My koi grow at a fantastic rate & I am able to retreive some of the cost of keeping them by selling the fish.
Perfect water-perfect fish.
Recycle the water properly & you wont have to change it.
Do the job properly to start with and you wont have to hide your efforts.
Regards