How to Make a Garden Pond Filter

Make a garden pond filter for clear pond water

Constructing a do-it-yourself garden pond filter helps save money on water garden creation while providing sufficient mechanical and biological filtration for plants and fish. Basic materials found at any hardware store can help you create a garden pond filter quickly and inexpensively. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on plastic containers and specially-packaged filter media and matting, you can substitute more ordinary materials that do the same job.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic bucket or tub with lid
• PVC pipe
• Utility knife
• Vinyl window screen or netting
• Silicone sealant
• Pond pump
• Hoses or tubes
• Small rocks
• Plastic wiffle golf balls, plastic hair curlers or hard foam blocks
• Quilt batting or fiber fill

Instructions

1. Cut a large hole in the lid of the plastic bucket or tub filter container with a sharp utility knife. Be sure not to damage the edges so the lid can still be snapped on to the container tightly.

2. Cut a piece of window screen or netting large enough to cover the entire hole in the lid of the container, with at least 1 inch on each side overlapping. Use silicone sealant to attach the screen securely to the inside of the lid so it covers the entire opening. This will be the first filter where the water comes from the pond into the garden pond filter box.

3. Cut a 2 to 3 inch length of PVC pipe and trace its outline on the side of the plastic container a few inches up from the bottom. Cut this circle out with the utility knife. Insert the PVC pipe piece and seal it in place with aquarium-safe silicone sealant. Be sure there are no leaks.

4. Attach the water intake port on the submersible pond pump to the PVC pipe at the bottom of the garden pond filter container. This can be done directly or you can use a hose or tubing, depending on the design and size of your pond pump and filter.

5. Pour a layer of clean, small rocks in the bottom of the filter box. This layer should be deep enough to just cover the PVC pipe coming out of the side. Add a layer of plastic wiffle-style golf balls, hair curlers or hard foam cubes next. These items will provide plenty of surface area for beneficial bacteria colonies to grow. Pack the rest of the garden pond filter box with clean quilt batting or fiber-fill material. This will strain out all larger debris from the pond water as it flows through the filter.

6. Snap the lid of the filter box on tightly and submerge the garden pond filter in your pond. Wait a few moments for all the air to bubble out of it before turning on the pond pump. The water will flow down through the screen at the top, through the filter media and come out the other side of the pond pump clean and healthy.

References

• Pond Guide: Homemade Pond Filter
• Pond Doctor Dave: Pond Filters