Dollar Store Pre-Filter

[Aiden Thorn]

Items I Used :

4 green nylon scratch pads (rectangle shaped)
1 plastic organizing crate with holes
8 zip ties

I took the crate, and drilled a hole for the outlet hose to exit, I then lined the four inside walls with the scratch pads held in place with zip ties. I turn the whole thing upside down over an ordinary pond pump.

This works rather well for me in both of my ponds. With the space around the pump, it doesn't have enough suction to pull leaves to the sides (or tadpoles into the pump!). The one in the picture below is in my above ground pond. I rest an airstone on the top to aerate the pond, with another in the shallow end under some rocks.

If anyone wants more detailed pics, I have to make one for a friend in the next day or so, just let me know and I'll take pics as I go.

 

[SouthernCross]

Yes more pictures would be great. My pre filter is on its last leg so I need to see some options.

 

[Dave 54]

Half the equipment that we use nowadays was first thought up by an amature Aquarist prior to the idea being taken up by the Aquatic business congratulations on your inventiveness looking forwards to Photo's of how its made and put together rather than it being in action undr water

Dave

 

[Aiden Thorn]

will have pictures hopefully tomorrow, weather here has been rainy and cold, haven't been out to the shed yet!

 

[SouthernCross]

Sounds great. As Dave said, a lot of great ideas come from people like yourself, so we cannot wait to see what you have designed.

 

[Aiden Thorn]

Pics of my Dollar Store Prefilter.

It's just a little white organizer basket... I drilled a hole for hose from filter to escape, lined the inside with scratch pads held in place with zip ties, and place it upside down on bottom of my pond. It keeps fish and bigger debris from getting sucked into filter, and gives me a nice place to rest one of my airstones.

 

[Catfishnut]

Aiden,

That is a slick idea!

Hope you won't mind if I elaborate on it and make some suggestions because your idea has given me an idea.

I notice how that "organizer" has somewhat sloped sidewalls. You could use that to an advantage by buying two of these organizers and "stacking" them together. Then, instead of the Scotch-Brite scratch pads, you could sandwich a sheet of furnace filter media, cut to length and width, in-between the two organizers. If the media gets dirty, pull the organizers apart and clean or replace the furnace filter media. You could eliminate the zip ties and make it more maintenance friendly while also ensuring that all the holes are covered and secure. The furnace filter media wouldn't be able to move around if sandwiched in between the walls of the two organizers.

You could also add a lid (or bottom) to the one open side of the organizer, too. Maybe cut a sheet of thin plastic to fit and drill some holes through the outer edges and some holes through the rim of the organizer and run zip ties through the holes to hold them together. This way, if the hole thing got tipped over somehow, there would be no wide open side to suck in any debris.

As inexpensive as the items are, you actually have a real asset with this design!

Gordy

 

[ididntdoit99]

I did almost this exact same thing with one of my old pumps about that size. except i ziptied 2 of those baskets together that way i didnt have to worry about how it sat when i tossed it back into the pond, you do have to make sure you have lots of zipties handy becausei cut them apart every time i cleaned it. It was actually those exact baskets from dollar general too.

 

[Aiden Thorn]

I never thought of sandwiching them that way. but would be nice towards fall to put a sheet of window screen in there. I never knew about the furnace filters when I crafted this tho (altho I did try coffee filters in a smaller setup for an aquarium I kept bait in, not enough flow, so I never gave furnace filters a thought)

I don't clean those scrubbies tho, maybe I should? I was kind of afraid of killing off good bacteria that might have grown on them. I'm one of those people who was blessed with sparkling clear ponds on their first attempts. So I didn't want to jinx it.

Aiden

 

[27goldfish]

Depending on the size of your pond, you could also do the same thing with a hamper. Great idea and nice pics.

 

[timvz]

Clean your scrubbies by dunking/shaking them in a bucket of pond water. You won't kill as much good bacteria that way.

 

[Lisaebetten]

Items I Used :

4 green nylon scratch pads (rectangle shaped)
1 plastic organizing crate with holes
8 zip ties

I took the crate, and drilled a hole for the outlet hose to exit, I then lined the four inside walls with the scratch pads held in place with zip ties. I turn the whole thing upside down over an ordinary pond pump.

This works rather well for me in both of my ponds. With the space around the pump, it doesn't have enough suction to pull leaves to the sides (or tadpoles into the pump!). The one in the picture below is in my above ground pond. I rest an airstone on the top to aerate the pond, with another in the shallow end under some rocks.

If anyone wants more detailed pics, I have to make one for a friend in the next day or so, just let me know and I'll take pics as I go.

What do you do with this pump? Is it for a spitter? I am putting my pond together now. We went on a pond tour and won a super cool frog spitter made out of granite, it came with a pump and 10' of tubing. I was wondering about where I should put this little pump and concerned about it getting clogged. Should I put it in the skimmer box or the bio falls box?

 

[Nepen]

I made something similar but with a tub with lid, then I drilled holes in them. I have 3 layers lining on all sides, first I put the blue furnace filter in, next with white quilt batting, then scrubbies. I also used a little cut up chicken wire cage to make a 'cage' area for my pump so that the pump is separate to the scrubbies. It's been very good and keep the debris from clogging my pump intake.