hello all pond people

[doobry]

well its nearly time for the hardware i was told to get a lugana pump and a green geenie filter with uvc for the pond

• 4w UVC built into lid to prevent green water.
• Recomended for goldfish ponds up to 2000 Litres (440 gallons).
• Inlet 20-25mm,Outlet 1 x 32mm
• Dimensions: 38 x 27 x 30 (cm LWH)
• The Green Genie 2000 is a popular box filter for smaller ponds.

Laguna Max Flo 4000

• Max Flow: 4000 litres / 879 gallons
• Flow @ 0.6m: 3000 litres / 670 gallons
• Flow @ 1.22m: 1750 litres / 385 gallons
• Flow @ 1.83m: 360 litres / 79 gallons
• Wattage: 55 watts
• Auxiliary Outlet Size: 20mm (3/4'), 25mm (1'), 32mm (1 1/4').

and in another shop i was told get a pressurized filter with uvc
Pontec 5000 PondoPress Set


which type do you recommend for a starter 500 pond

 

[JamieB]

Uv is a matter of preference. It kills any algae in the pond, but doesn’t remove it, which leaves it in the water for other algae to eat. It treats the side effects, not the cause, which is excess nutrients in the water. Plants and not over feeding the fish is the way to prevent that.
You want a pump that will move your water volume 1 1/2 - 2 times per hour. So if your pond is 2000 ltrs, you want one that is 6000-8000 ltrs pr hour flow. I personally won’t bother with a uv filter, the algae is food for the fish and things the fish will eat, naturally removes excess nutrients, and protection from sight based predators. My pond last summer got pea soup green, and I had a population increase. Which wasn’t bad for me, as I had plenty of space for all my fish, but it fed daphnia which the fry eat, leading to more survivors.

 

[doobry]

thanks for the reply JB .so its a 500 ltr starter pond so i would need a pump to move 2000 ltrs an hr
so are pressurized filters generally better /worse for this size pond? and whats the difference between them

 

[JamieB]

You’d need 750-1000. 500x1.5= 750. Going up more than that would make a very strong current. Too much for most fish and plants. I’d say go for 1000, or around that, but find one with adjustable flow that you can increase or decrease as needed. Pressure filters are in a sealed/ locked canister, and use pressure to force water through the media, so if you get even a pin prick or hairline crack, it will shoot out and end up not working. I don’t have any experience with those, I stick with just a pump and diy filters.

 

[JamieB]

My recommendation would be to get a filter that is fed by a pump from below a filter media you can change. For example, the pump pulls water from the pond, sends it in the bottom of the filter, where it goes through the media, then spills out the top. That’s my preference. There are also filters that come before the pump, which with it being a pond, is not a bad idea, at least some kind of pre filter to prevent clogs in the filter. In that case, the filter is in the water, water is pulled by the pump through the media, where it goes in the inlet of the pump all clean and comes out the other side, ready for something to make spilling back into the pond nice. With just a pump, you can set it up either way. Read through the articles about filters, YouTube diy pond filters, and find one that will work for you. I prefer a filter with media I can adjust as needed. Polyester quilt batting does great at removing algae, but needs frequent rinses or changing if there’s a lot of algae. Lava rock makes great biological filtration, lots of surface area for bacteria to set up. So once my new pond is set up, I’ll be doing a prefilter with the quilt batting, then sending the water to my bog for biological filtrating.

 

[doobry]

thanks again jb for telling me make my own filter like on you tube
some great ideas
so place the pump in the pond and some type of pre filter attached to it
and pump it into a filterbox with some filter media batting mesh lava rocks bio balls scouring nets etcetc"i get the idea now i think"
then the water overflows out through the outlet at the the top and into the pond is this correct

 

[Sparky]

That’s a way to do it. You will find as time goes on there are many ways to skin a pond. I concur with the non UV use. You’ll have pea soup for a bit, your fish will love it, and when things balance out you’ll have gin clear beautiful natural pond water without any chemicals. FYI the non UV thinking for me is this. Yes it kills free algae. But that’s not all it kills. A lot of the groovy little critters that make a pond healthy are adversely effected by UV. Alters the new food chain you’ve created. The other reason is a mass algae die off “could” lead to ammonia spikes. IMHO

 

[doobry]

i was thinking would something like this work for an outdoor pond

 

[Sparky]

i was thinking would something like this work for an outdoor pond

That is currently how i filter the 175 gallon winter quarters for my comets. Works great.

 

[JamieB]

What ever works for you. I like the idea of a mini bog, where you’d have a big planter/ open top container where the water would spill out into the pond, it’s give space to plants that will use the excess of nutrients, and the spill will add oxygen to the water. It’s prettier than a bucket filter. But more work to clean.

 

[doobry]

sparky when you say "winter quarters" are you saying you move them indoors for the winter
jamie hope you dont mind me calling you that, is there any way you could post a link on what your explaining to me please

 

[Sparky]

sparky when you say "winter quarters" are you saying you move them indoors for the winter

Yep.

 

[doobry]

so on that answer and going on your experience the filter shown is more suitable for indoors im assuming
what type filter do you use outdoors then

 

[JamieB]

I’ll see if I can find a link. Yes, I’m good with being called Jamie.

 

[JamieB]