Filter idea...

[JohnHuff]

I have a simple and respectful question.

"Why create a filter unit(s) when there are so many on the market? Is it pure economics?"

They are too expensive for what they are, since it costs a lot of money to make the product. They have to make a profit, and the dealers who sell them have to make a profit too.

And many of the all-in-ones are just terrible. Clogs up too easily and difficult to maintain.

I think you'd need to spend $1000 or so for a decent one, and you can probably build one as good for $100.

Plus like another poster said, it's fun. If I could make a living out of this, I'd go out and build customs filters for everyone.

 

[JohnHuff]

Good idea.
I think I'm going to edit my original plan and forget the inner pvc, and just attempt to have water enter on the bottom and exit on the top. I see people use scrubby pads too so I might add them aswell.

Then it becomes a Skippy. The filter that I started one whole thread just to rail against, one of the inefficient filters I can think of. You're better off using your initial picture. Just delete the whole thread and pretend you didn't read anything!

Or you can read this thread:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/whats-the-obsession-with-skippys.13732/

 

[JBtheExplorer]

For the rest of the space, buy a bunch of drinking straws, cut them up into 1/2" lengths and throw them in.
The straws are pretty neutrally buoyant and will act as moving media and you still have the lava rocks. It will be cheap and good.

Ok now, for the straws, do I put them under the lava rock or on top? If on top I'd have to put a screen or something on the exit so they don't go through right, or am I just thinking it wrong?

 

[JohnHuff]

Ok now, for the straws, do I put them under the lava rock or on top? If on top I'd have to put a screen or something on the exit so they don't go through right, or am I just thinking it wrong?

Since your water intake is at the bottom under the lava rock, you won't need a grate or screen.

Like I said, use your initial pic. Just remove 1/2 the lava rock and throw some cut up straws in. After a while, you will find that the straws will have developed a brown coating. That is the beneficial bacteria.

 

[morewater]

I'll have a look come Spring. Might add it just to do it.

I'd spell my name through the periodic table if I could, unfortunately there isn't an element "M".

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I'd spell my name through the periodic table if I could, unfortunately there isn't an element "M".

If there isn't an M, make an M. DIY.

 

[sissy]

the bigger the filter the bigger your money you may need to buy it .Thing is big dollars for just the plastic part that makes the tank up and then you have to buy the filter material .

 

[davepratt]

just continue your inlet hose all the way to bottom of the filter if your pump can get the water to the top of the top where you are currently showing in your pick gravity will take over and it will circulate thru the bottom. lose that up pipe and just let the water rise thru the lava rock and just put yourself an outlet on the top for the water to flow back to pond i used this design to make myself a mini bog last summer and it worked just fine. heres a pic.

 

[davepratt]

oops sorry pci is so small but if you look under my content mini bog in a barrel you can see the pic in normal size im not sure how to fix it here

 

[davepratt]

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Since your water intake is at the bottom under the lava rock, you won't need a grate or screen.

Like I said, use your initial pic. Just remove 1/2 the lava rock and throw some cut up straws in. After a while, you will find that the straws will have developed a brown coating. That is the beneficial bacteria.

Ok, thanks. Out of curiosity, what are other types of moving media that would be cheap but get the job done? As I do more research I'm understanding the reason for moving media better.

 

[JohnHuff]

I think the ones most widely available and the first ones developed were K1, K2 and K3, all made by the same company.

I did a Google search and found a whole bunch of K2 lookalikes made in China but not sold here (not that I could find). Best deal I can find just now is $31 for 2g on ebay, which is pretty cheap.

K2 is the small one. They are expensive. The best deal I could find was on Ebay. Then you can also use bioballs, but I don't think they are as good as K2.

 

[addy1]

Ok, thanks. Out of curiosity, what are other types of moving media that would be cheap but get the job done? As I do more research I'm understanding the reason for moving media better.

I have read of some going to yard sales, getting small plastic toys, plastic silverware, anything that is light enough to float around and a rough surface to hold the bacteria.
Wander a store like walmart, target, sometimes you will see something and go wow! that might work!
I have read, some with a time on their hands, cut up pvc into shavings, small rings, it bounces around nicely.
They sale, pretty cheap, plastic pvcish trim at home depot back in the wood section. 3 to 6 bucks for a 8 foot strip, easy to chop up with a razor knife or saw, it floats wonderfully.

I used perlite once, they are small , move around .........mistake...........float up and out of the opening, made a mess lol I put in a lot to put plants on at the top of the filter, thought that stuff would make a nice media...............mistake even had screening to keep them in place it did not help

 

[sissy]

I saw one with those pool noodles cut up .And was surprised to see how well it worked .it was the guy I meant at Eden flea market that gave me the lotus tubers and I gave him fish .I actually think I won that deal but he felt he gotta the better deal .He bought them at the dollar store and gave his kids a project to cut them up .His pond looked so crystal clear i was amazed .He put them in the dollar store laundry bags so he could pull them if he had too

 

[dieselplower]

Here are a couple pictures of my pond. You can see the two big containers near the deck. They are both filled with pea gravel. The larger one has a layer of bio balls on top, floating in the already mechanically filtered water. The darker brown container has the water enter near the bottom. The water flows up through the rocks and empties through an overflow at the top. The smaller container has a hose going up over the top and then down into the bottom, where the water again flows up and then exits via the spout like a waterfall.