Naz_Nomad Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Planning a 3500litre pond this summer and considering a home made filter followed by a UC clarifier. Anyone have any experience, helpful tips etc for making the home made filter? My plan - still in the vague stage - is to find a large plastic sealed container, make an inlet at the bottom and an outlet pipe at the top, fill the bottom with a course filter wool, a good layer of bio balls or similar then filter wool at the top. Through the outlet, through the UVC, back to the pond. So... thoughts/advice? Am I a fool for trying to save a few hundred bucks? Will my wife kill me because the pond will die based on my filter design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I wouldn't bother with putting an inlet at the bottom. Just drill a bunch of holes all over the outside of the container for the water to be drawn in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Except the idea was to have the filter out the water, after the pump. For ease of maintenance. Is this wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 No, suppose you could do that. You'll just want a big strainer on the intake in the pond, because it will get clogged up otherwise. Oh, and you don't want the pump before the filter if it's going to be outside of the pond. You'll be pressurising the container you're putting the media in...Which means given the likely very questionable sealing of the container it is going to leak all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 So should the set-up be:- Inlet l Filter l Pump l Outlet And does this apply even when the filter is outside the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Yup on both. But if the filter is in the pond it doesn't matter if it leaks so you can have the pump pushing water through the filter and let it leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Do you want a fountain or just water flow? (I know this is old but I just spotted it!) If you have room and it suits your p ond design you could design a trickle type filter that sat at the edge of your pond....the pump would sit before it.. and drop the water into the top of the filter.. which would flow out by gravity flow back into the pond.. giving you gentle movement. yo ucan plant around and/or in it.. and the filter is all there out of the water for cleaning and maintenance. You can then design the filter in a range of ways.. either with horizontal layers or with vertical dividers. If you divide it vertically you'd be able to have the filter hold water when the pump was turned off (ie: like an overflow sort of design rather than just an outlet at the bottom) That's what I would do personally Either in a big rubbermaid sort of tub or a very large planter of some type. and just sit some pots around it to protect it from the sun and make it look nice. You'd just ahve to make sure that if for some reason the filter busted that you wouldn't end up pumping the pond dry somehow... Could be easily done with a float switch on the pond or something.. or just making sure any spillage from the filter gets redirected back to the pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Our pump is in the pond but the filter is outside... It is in the tall wooden structure behind the waterfall. It is a proper bought filter, not homemade. Water sprays in through holes in the pipe, like a spraybar, then trickles through foam and other media before returning to the pond over the waterfall. We had to drill bigger holes in the underwater end as it kept clogging too quickly. Raising it several inches off the bottom helped too :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 yeah.. that's what I meant there are some DIY plans on the net for various types of home made filters that will sit out of the pond. You can use irrigation type tubing to make spray bars etc etc.. but you know.. if you find a sale on somewhere it might not be worth the trouble of trying to make your own http://www.petplanet.co.nz/shopping/pgm ... d=465&=SID That's a very tidy enclosure for your filter Caryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I gave up in the end and bought a Heissner 8000 with UV. Now just need the liner and a free weekend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 At the moment, if I ever get my pond built, I'm not planning on a filter. Need to find out how much it's going to cost to build it out of concrete...I don't have enough bricks to make 30 meters of a two brick thick 1-6 brick high wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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