How Would You Filter It?

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Hey,
Ive been gone a while but its warming up so I getting my pond up and going. Its a 250 gallon preformed pond. The stock is going to be a single 2-4 inch yellow bullhead. Ive got a 18 gallon cheap rubbermaid tub that im drilling holes in to start him out in so I can monitor his feeding and health. Ive had issues finding a decent way to filter it. So if this was your pond, how would you filter it. By the way its in my garage.
Thanks
 

DrDave

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This one looks good for you. Check the rating. I would try to get twice the filter as the pond. Remember, this will require cleaning and a larger one is going to need cleaning less often.

Your catfish will work over and around this filter as well as the floor.
 
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Thanks, how exactly does it work? Do you hook up the input or out put to the filter? It seems like a bucket divived into 3 sections with media in each, and in that case, I can build one and save a chunk of change.
 

DrDave

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clemsonguy1125 said:
Thanks, how exactly does it work? Do you hook up the input or out put to the filter? It seems like a bucket divived into 3 sections with media in each, and in that case, I can build one and save a chunk of change.

If you download the instructions to it then you can tell us how it works. If we don't have this one, how are we supposed to tell you how it works? Most of these are very simple with a few minor deviations.
The Laguna site probably has the instruction manual available for a free download.
 

Koilady

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Hi Guy, I've got a great diagram on how to make your own bio-filter. Easy to make and maintain. No cleaning of the bio-media, just backwashing every four to six weeks and cleaning the window screening at the top of the filter when necessary. If you don't have a bottom drain, just place the bio-media (I use plastic scrubbies) in predator netting so that it can easily be lifted out. Put a pump into the filter and pump the water out to your garden or drain.

Yours Koily, Lorraine
 

DrDave

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We also have several plans with many photos in the DIY Thread. Most of which are cleaned in 45 seconds or less without getting your hands wet.
 
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Ive looked through all the plans, most are made on a big scale, 55 gallon tubs, and im not sure how effective they would be in a 5 gallon bucket,, as for how it works, I figure someone may have owned one or own one, or have seen a friends. Thanks for your help And KoiLady, Id be interested to see you design, is it in the DIY section. Thanks for the tip on checking the manual. I found a manual on how a similar one works. Looks simple enough to build one from a plastic toolbox. These type of filter dont limit the flow to the pump do they.
 

Koilady

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Hi Clem. The design I have would need to be sent to your e-mail unless someone can help me put it in here. I am not very good at doing things on the computer, although I do two Newsletters, one for an aquarium club and one for our pond club.
When we were breeding our Koi, we would use a 45 gallon drum bio-filter for every 1,000 gallons. A bit much I know but the ponds were heavily stocked and I wanted to make sure that the fry had good quality water.
I have been using a 25 gallon rubbermaid garbage can on that pond now with 400 fry in it and it's working well to keep the water clear, hair algae at bay and good quality water.

Your's Koily, Lorraine
 

sissy

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You can also use a tote as one of my filters is just a tote I bought at walmart for 6 dollars and used lava rock in dollar store laundry bags and reusable furnace filters .Cheap and easy .The lava rock I got at the garden center 5 dollars .just make sure you soak it and wash it good .I put it in laundry bags from the dollar store 3 bags a dollar
 

Koilady

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Hi Sissy. I used to use lava rock years ago but when using such large filters as I was, it was so much work to clean the rock, especially when you are using an upflow bio-filter. I started to use the plastic scrubbies because they were an inexpensive way to create a medium for good bacteria to grow on. I place the scrubbies into predator netting but do not wrap the scrubbies up. Instead, I put the predator netting inside the filter, lay the scrubbies inside and then fold over the sides, making sure that the scrubbies go around the pipe which is on the inside of the filter so that the water has to go through the scrubbies..
It's important to make sure that the water goes through all of the medium and brings oxygen and food to the bacteria which in turn removes toxins from the water. With the scrubbies, I fluff them up, not pack them so that there is lots of area for the water to pass through.
When I used the 45 gallon drums I made two layers of the scrubbies for easy removal. I would then remove the bricks and egg grating so that I could put a pump at the bottom to clean the filter out. On some of the bio-filters I had bottom drains which made it a whole lot easier.
The largest filter we had was 300 gallons and we had about a 3 or 4 inch bottom drain and didn't take us long to get the sludge out of the bottom of the filter. We raise the medium up so that the sludge doesn't collect on the scrubbies.

Yours Koily, Lorraine
 

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