How To Select Filters for Outdoor Ponds
Everyone enjoys a beautiful, pristine pond, but keeping your pond water crystal-clear, your fish healthy, and your plants thriving can be a challenge. Protecting your pond from things like harmful bacteria and pollutants depends on choosing the right filter for your pond. Whether your pond supports plant life or fish, you need to know how to choose a filter that best fits your pond's needs. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Instructions
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Determine the volume of water you need to filter. For a circular pond, use the formula: "diameter X diameter X depth X 5.9." This formula will give you the approximate volume in gallons you can then use to select a filter capable of cleaning the same volume of water.
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Decide what type of pond filter you need. There are three primary types of pond filters: gravity, pressurized and biological. Gravity filters use gravity to pull the water through a series of filtering materials such a carbon or gravel. Pressurized filters pump the water and force it through the filtering materials. Biological filters negate pollutants by injecting beneficial forms of bacteria into the pond.
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Determine how much maintenance the pond filter requires. Some filters, such as pressurized or gravity filters, require ongoing maintenance as the filters become clogged. This means either cleaning the filter or purchasing a new one. Additionally, some gravity filters also require you dig them up to clean them, which requires a lot of hard work.
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Match the filter to your pond's type of plant and marine life. Koi ponds, for instance, benefit from biological filters that eat algae from the water or clean the scales of the fish. Livestock or fishing ponds with an inlet, such as a stream, can be filtered with pressurized or gravity filters placed right at the inlet to allow clean water to enter the pond.
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Make sure the pond filter fits your budget. Small filters capable of filtering 500 gallons to 700 gallons of water cost between $35 and $50. Five hundred gallons might seem like a lot, but 500 gallons is a small pond that will only hold a few fish. Filters for medium-sized ponds of 3,000 gallons to 4,000 gallons cost between $500 and $1,000. Filters for larger ponds range in price from $800 to $2,000.
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