water filter questions

[Terry E]

i bought a home with a nice koi pond.
It has fish in it and i estimate it to be 4000 gallons.

i currently have no filter system. i have two pumps ,one for a waterfall and the other for circulation and aeration.

Does anybody have any opinions on the fishmate PUV-6000 bio pond filter or equivilant?

Or the Tetrapond bio filter

 

[Waterbug]

I'm not a fan of combo filters or pressurized filters.

Any filter that has to be cleaned is never going to be a very good bio filter. Maybe if you clean it everyday it could do some bio filtering. These things don't remove very much crap, kind of depends on your setup. Generally these don't remove fish poo. The poo sits on the bottom and decomposes into tiny suspended particles which the filter can then remove some of. But many suspended particles are too small or just get thru. So the net amount of crap removed isn't very impressive to me.

Pressurized filters mean less water being pushed thru for the same electric cost. I don't really see the benefit. Also, I've personally seen these types of filters split open, or leak, and have also seen YouTube posts of this but those posts always seem to be taken down. Google "pond pressurized filter leak".

For me DIY filters like Trickle Tower, Shower, fluidized bed are better filters and way easier to maintain. Keeping the bottom clean so crap doesn't decompose into tiny bits is also a help but a separate subject.

If you want to buy a filter I do like Fishmate as a company for the mass market segment. I would suggest at least placing the filter so if it does leak the water gets back into the pond so you don't wake up to an empty pond and dead fish. Or make sure the pond isn't on the bottom so the water level only goes down a little to the pump level.

My San Jose ponds were "fixed" by a pond professional after I sold the house. He moved the pump to the bottom of the pond and added a pressurized filter sitting in the garden. On a return visit to the old neighborhood I saw the filter it was leaking pretty good, the garden bed was a swamp. A few weeks later the new owners told me the filter "broke", emptied the pond, and kill all the fish. So I'm not a fan.

 

[sissy]

Well looks like your pond looks pretty good to me even with no filter .

 

[ididntdoit99]

I was wondering, do you know how long the pond has been set up? How did they go without any filtration for and extended amount of time? Are they submersible pumps with a prefilter at least?

I'm with Waterbug, a filter you build yourself, no matter what type, will work way better than anything you overpay for in the store. check out the diy section for some filter plans.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Did the previous owners take the filter system?

 

[Terry E]

I never had the chance to speak with or meet the previous owners. Both pumps just have the plastic grate that is part of the pump itself which does get clooged with muck. I pull it up and clean it often now that it is warming up.

 

[Terry E]

I have 6 or 7 black koi.

 

[taherrmann4]

I sure hope the hose for circulation never gets dislodged from that rock or it could drain your pond in no time. May want to secure that better.

 

[JohnHuff]

I sure hope the hose for circulation never gets dislodged from that rock or it could drain your pond in no time. May want to secure that better.

lol, ya you're right, that looks rather precarious!

 

[addy1]

would scare me, I would have it tied roped taped and buried..............

 

[Terry E]

thanks guys for the advice and humor.

 

[crsublette]

Sorry, not familiar with that filter. I got my experience to share though.

I have used a Aquascape UltraKlean 3500 pressure filter. I got this back in August or September 2011 while working on my water feature. I just got it to have something ... I didn't really take all this serious until around 2012 and the hobby bug bit me; so, I read more about all this now. 3/4 of the pressurized filter was buried in the ground. I had the top of it completely exposed during winter and operational. We had a few days where the hi-temps stayed in the teens (F degrees) and the filter and hoses never even got close to freezing, nor any ice forming in the tubing. I figure the high constant flow of water prevent it from freezing. Then, my electricity went out and the entire system froze. When temps got back in the low 30s, it thawed out and everything works good. It never did crack nor leak at all probably due to 3/4 of it being underground. Back in Spring, I was using a pressurized washer to spray down my stream and rock causing all sorts of muckiness floating in the water. The mechanized portion of the filter worked quite well cleaning this fine dirt and other muck; the exiting water out of the filter was clean to the human eye.

I don't trust the bio-filter portion of combo filters. Far too much algae was forming in my waters. If bio-filters are working, then algae should never have such big algae blooms. This is why the open air, wet/dry, bio-filters (like the trickle/shower towers) do better. These type of bio-filters give Ammonia a chance to naturally outgass directly into the atmosphere, reducing nitrates, due to the open air interaction with the water, and also gives the bacteria the optimum oxygen saturation at all times so the nitrification process can be very efficient. Disadvantage of these open air type filters is the influence of wind introduction, faster cooling of water, and gunk potentially trapping so using a mechanized filter prior would be smart. They make a nice rain sound effect, can be made to look like a kool fountain, they do not take much space at all, and they may help cool your water during the summer if the water tends to become quite warm.

If ya want to get a combo, mechanized + bio-filter, filtration setup, then look into Fishmate. This is what I should have bought 6 months ago. The filter medium and bio-medium is much better quality. If you do get one, then be sure to get one that is fit for a pond much bigger than your pond's gallon so you do not have to clean the foam material as much.