HOW BIG FOR FILTER?

[Mmathis]

OK, just about there . Is there a magic formula for knowing how big a filter you need? Pond will be around 3500 gals., give or take. Pump I'm considering claims to move over 5000 gph.

Will have plants, but no bog (not right now, anyway), goldfish, and of course, my box turtles. How big should I plan for my filter to be? Or maybe my question should be what is the smallest size I should consider, since don't think a filter could ever be too big. Haven't decided between a Skippy or upright barrel-type. Looked at Rubbermaid stock tanks the other day @ Tractor Supply. I hadn't envisioned just how big they were. I was looking at the 100 gal. -- it looked massive to me. They didn't have a 75 in stock, but the 50 gal. looked too small (and too shallow, too!).

Anyway, this is my next step, sooooo.......?

 

[LIKOI]

I suggest going doc style filter, I've had great success with it. My simple rule of thumb is 3.3% of your pond gallons, or 50 gal filter for 1500 pond. However, there are many others much more experienced than I here so may have a different view.

 

[fishin4cars]

Filtration is a tricky subject to figure out. There really isn't a formula that I have ever seen that gives a amount of fitration per gallon of water. Your on the right track when youstated bigger is better. But a better track of info to work on is the more effective the better. I'll try to keep this simple. The more bigger particles you can remove BEFORE the actual bio filtration takes place the better. Removing leaves, dying plants, bugs that fall in the pond, anything organic that can't be broken down by bacteria need to be removed as quickly as possible, THEN, removing the next size down, the fish poop, algae, and things that make it through the first netting or skimming. By removing all this first THEN you have more room for the bacteria to clean the water. Now for the tricky part, Once you get to this point the more oxygen you can get to the bacteria the better the bacteria can work. This allows more bacteria to concentrate on and where they need to do their job. After that you need to find that balance point where the fish are putting off waste and the filter can keep up and not be put in a overload. That's where all the water testing comes in. If you can balance the fish load to the filter you'll find that point where the pond balances well and maintance is not a serious clean out regularly. It will balance and you'll really only need to clean the parts of the filter that catch the big stuff. Don't overlook the added benefits of the bog. In your case the bog filter could be one of the easiest to make and most effective filters you can install without having to buy a bunch of fliter parts and such. Plus the turtles really like it. We took our two boxies and placed them in the bog the other day to see what they would do. THEY LOVED IT! the shallow water was perfect, they were digging in the gravel, drinking, nibbling on some of the plants and even found a bug or two. They stayed in there for almost 3 hours and never tried to get out. My water stays so much clearer than at the old house, I love seeing the constant growth of the plants in the bog and each day more and more wildlife seems to find it. PLUS, it has to be one of the easiest filters to HIDE and maintaining it so far has been really simple.
Filtration only works if the bacteria can breakdown the waste. I've seen ponds that had only slight water movement, lots of plants and only a few fish do extremly well. I've seen ponds that had MASSIVE filtration that was not properly maintained and didn't have good pre-filtering and the pond looked horrible. So the point I'm trying to make, bigger isn't always better, the effectiveness is a key factor, and ease of maintaining and keeping up with that maintance are also key factors. The other big key is the stocking level and not just the fish, the balance between the fish, and OTHER wildlife along with the natural breakdown that the plants do that allows for a balance in the pond.

 

[addy1]

lol fishin, can't even see a "bog" any more just see plants, tons of plants all starting to bloom, pond water perfect.