Simplified Newbie Pond Filter Build

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Hey guys so after researching a lot of these builds, it appears that most of these DiY filters are pretty similar to bioball trickle filters in aquariums? Water is forced through an area holding media with a large amount of surface area for bacteria to grow on? I was thinking a smaller version for my pond might be nice, there's been a HUGE boom in hair algae over the last couple days, like I didn't even realize the stuff could grow so fast, so I'm going to try and add a filter. Right now the bioload is three small Koi and two adult Comets, and I have a feeling a lot of the food is going to waste as they're still hidden most of the time, in fact after owning them for a couple weeks today I finally saw them all out at once, and of course as soon as I moved closer to feed them, they darted back into debris (which I've been vacuming out but the shop vac I'm using doesn't have a whole lot of power).

Anyways, that's kind of a backround on my pond, what would you guys suggest?
 
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Yep, same concept , larger scale .Alot of us don't buy an off the shelf system like the aquarium folks . We build our own to save $$ and some of us just like to tinker . Quicker you add that filter to your system the better off you'll be . I am gusseing you have already checked out the DIY section for filter ideas .
 
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Well I did a quick Paint design and came up with this. I plan on placing this filter underground, but the way our pond is set up there's one side that's got a good two feet plus wall above water, so I plan on diggin out a pit on the tall side and running the intake and outlet pipes through the rock wall we have and into the pond? The only issue I can see from going this route is how do I run the pipes through the liner? Or will there even be a liner that runs up that high? If you guys have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

filter.png
 

fishin4cars

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:confused::lol::confused::dunno: ??? What am I looking at??? I think I can tell the box, a pump on bottom pumped up spray bar or similar above the media and water trickling back through. But what are the two pipes coming down?:confused::confused::confused:
 
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Oh sorry, those are intake/outlet pipes to the pond. The one of the left obviously is an intake that gets pumped to the top, and then the one on the right side is just an outflow that I'll put a ball/gate valve on to regulate flow.
 
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Thanks...so you think it's a pretty decent plan? Or would you suggest something different. And I could still use some help on the liner issue, I'm hoping one of you guys can tell me if there's a general rule for how far up liners go, instead of having to tear up my mom's backyard to find out. Don't think she'd like that. lol
 

fishin4cars

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If your going to trickle water over the media, the pump would go in the pond, then pump to the top. I would then trickle straight from the tower down to the pond or to a area that the water could stream back to the pond, Like a tower. Also may actually want to do some research on Bakki towers for some ideas. Similar design.
 
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Well I was looking to find a pump with an intake/outake fittings so I could just run a piece of pipe down there. I might look at redoing the top of the water fall to put a filter up there. I just did a 25% water change to try and start combating some SERIOUS hair algae, and I figured that was enough bothering for one day, so I'm going to let the waterfall run overnight and take a look at it tomorrow. Will having a large amount of flow (the pump is rated like 1300gph, and has a pretty good flow through the creek/waterfall) affect the filtering, or will the high turnover rate caused by it cancel the issue out? Also what's your guys' favorite media? I've heard rock rubble, pvc piping, and even snow fence-type material. What would you guys recommend? Finally is there a preferred brand of algae remover? Don't want to waste $50 on a bulk jug of a brand that doesn't work lol.
 

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