How To Set Up Pond Filter System

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While there are commercial pond filter systems you tin can purchase, many people cull to build their ain to save coin. You can put together a surprisingly capable swimming filtration system using ordinarily institute household tools and a few components purchased from your local aquarium supply or pet store.

1. 1

   Get a bucket or trash tin with a sealable lid. Having a sealable lid volition help go along other droppings from falling into your filter textile and preclude the filter from overflowing if information technology starts to bleed slowly.^[1]

   • 5 gallons (xix L) buckets with sealable lids are available at near hardware and large retail stores and make for great filter housings.
   • You tin can as well utilise similarly sized trash cans or Tupperware containers as long as they have a sealable chapeau.

2. 2

   Buy a h2o pump if you lot don't already take 1. If you have a h2o pump in your pond for circulation, that pump should suffice. Otherwise, purchase a good quality pump that's rated for the size of your pond. Most pumps are rated in terms of how many gallons your swimming can hold. If you lot are unsure, you tin can observe pond calculators online to assistance you lot determine your pond's size in gallons based on its measurements.^[2]

   • Yous don't need to buy a new pump if you lot have one for circulation already.
   • You can use either a submersible pump or one that's meant to remain out of the h2o with a line that goes into the pond.

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3. 3

   Lay out where the pump and filter will be located in relation to the pond. In lodge to determine how much hose you need to purchase, place the plastic container that will hold your filter and the water pump where you intend them to exist in one case you're finished. And then use a measuring tape to determine how much hose you lot'll need to run one line from the pump to the filter, and some other from the filter back into the swimming.^[iii]

   • It's all-time to position your filter and pump in a shady location. If you tin place them under some sort of shelter, that is optimal.
   • A submersible pump is meant to be placed in the water, whereas a non-submersible pump should exist placed side by side to the filter with the inlet hose placed in the water.
   • Keep the filter and pump as close to the water equally possible to reduce the corporeality of hosing the water needs to run through nether the pump'southward power.

4. 4

   Buy rubber hose to connect the filter to the water pump. Measure the diameter of the outlet nozzle on your water pump, then take that measurement to your local hardware store. Purchase rubber hose of that within bore in enough length to run from where the pump will be placed to where yous want to position the filter itself. Then buy another length of hose for the render line.^[iv]

   • Go on the measurement for the hose so know what size hole to cut in the lid.
   • Your pump may have come with the necessary hosing already.

5. five

   Cut a hole in the lid of the container that's merely big enough for the hose. Use a drill with a hole-saw bit of the same diameter every bit the hose to drill a pigsty through the hat for the hose. If you don't accept a drill and the chapeau is a thin enough material, puncture it with a knife. Place the lid on the bucket and printing the knife downward through the lid where you intend to run the hose. Once the knife punctures the plastic, employ it to saw a hole in the lid of the approximate size and shape of the hose.^[5]

   • If you don't take a drill, make certain to use a sturdy utility pocketknife for cutting the plastic, rather than a thin kitchen knife.
   • A drill with a hole saw is the recommended way to make the hole.

6. half-dozen

   Drill a pigsty in the side of the container for the water outlet. Make the pigsty the same approximate size the height 1, which should be a snug fit for your hose. The water volition catamenia in from the peak, pass through filter media, then return to the pond via an outlet hose. Cull a spot on the side of the container about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the lesser and use the hole-saw fleck on your drill to create an outlet hole.^[half-dozen]

   • Drill the hole almost the base of the container, equally far downwards it equally you tin can go.
   • Remove whatever debris created past drilling from the inside of the container one time you're done.

7. 7

   Insert the hoses and seal them with a fish-friendly sealant. Insert the end of one hose into the lid and utilize a sealant meant for use with aquatic wild animals around the top and bottom of the hole to create a waterproof seal. Then practice the aforementioned with a length of hose for the hole near the bottom of the container.^[vii]

   • Y'all tin purchase fish-friendly sealant at larger pet stores or on specialized websites.
   • Read the instructions on the sealant you choose to know how long information technology needs to cure before you can move forrard.

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1. 1

   Pour a layer of red lava rocks into the lesser of the container. The lava rocks will serve as both a ways of filtration and a mode to hold your other filter media upwards away from water render nozzle at the bottom of the container. The layer of lava rocks should be but deep plenty to encompass the hole for the return hose.^[8]

   • You can purchase reddish lava rocks at most aquarium supply stores or large pet stores.
   • Fill the lesser of the container with lava rocks until the render hose is hidden beneath them.

2. ii

   Cut filter material to lucifer the shape of the container. Filter fabric oftentimes comes in rolls and is made out of layers of fibroid and fine material. Unroll it and trace the general shape of the container onto the filter material. Cutting the shape out and then repeat that process iii more than times until y'all have at least 4 layers of filter fabric to place in the container.^[nine]

   • You tin purchase the water filter material at aquarium supply stores or on specialized websites.
   • If you can't find filter material, y'all tin also use a mesh laundry bag filled with household sponges.

3. iii

   Identify the filter material over the lava rocks. Lower a layer of filter material into the container and position it flat on top of the crimson lava rocks. Then place each boosted layer on peak of the previous i and so the water has to laissez passer through multiple layers of it before reaching the lava rocks.^[x]

   • If you have trouble getting the filter material to stay on summit of the rocks, you lot tin can add a layer of the metal screening you used at the stop of the inlet hose to get in stiffer.
   • If you used a laundry bag and sponges instead, brand sure the bag and sponges completely cover the lava rocks.

4. 4

   Seal the tiptop of the container with the lid. The lid will preclude any debris from falling into the filter while also preventing overflow if the filter drains slowly. One time the hat is on the filter, motility it to where y'all intend to set it upwardly.^[eleven]

   • Make sure to seal the chapeau once you lot put it on.

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1. ane

   Attach a plastic screen to the end of the input hose on the pump. The h2o pump y'all put into your swimming has an input hose that draws the water in. Use the aforementioned fish-friendly sealant you used to seal the hoses to the container to glue a metallic screen to the end of the input hose to stop it from sucking up large debris. Wrap the screen around the finish of the hose and so utilise the sealant to glue it in place.^[12]

   • Yous can use any pliable screen material, including the screening commonly used for windows.
   • Purchase the screen at your local hardware store.

2. 2

   Connect the pump to the filter inlet. Attach the hose running from the lid of the filter to the outlet on your h2o pump. Identify a hose clench on the hose before you lot connect it, then apply a Phillips head screwdriver to tighten the clamp over the hose and outlet nozzle to ensure information technology's secure. At this stage, the pump is non connected to ability, and so it won't part yet.^[13]

   • Place both the pump and the filter at the pond's edge one time they're continued.

3. 3

   Place the water pump in or nearly the pond and position the filter adjacent to it. If the pump is not designed to exist submerged, position it in a covered spot most the water's edge and merely submerge the inlet hose. Place the filter nearby on the water's edge. When you lot turn on the pump, water will menstruation through information technology and into the filter.^[14]

   • Submerge the screened finish of the inlet hose in the water.
   • Read the package your pump came in. Information technology volition conspicuously specify if your pump is meant to exist submerged in water.

4. 4

   Run the filter render hose back into the pond. The lower hose on the filter will let the filtered h2o to return back into the pond. Simply orient the filter so the hole points toward the pond and run the hose from the hole into the water.^[15]

   • This hose returns the clean water to the pond afterwards it's been filtered.
   • Position this hose as far abroad from the pump's inlet hose as you can.

5. 5

   Connect the pump to ability and switch it on. Plug the pump into a power source like an outdoor wall outlet. With the pump running, h2o will move into the top of the filter, pass through the filter material and lava rocks, and back out the return hose.^[xvi]

   • It may take a few minutes for the water to fill the container plenty to begin pouring out the render hose.
   • If h2o completely fills the container and does not leave from the return hose, the outlet is blocked by the lava rocks. Disassemble the filter, articulate the outlet, and try again.

6. 6

   Clean the filter media every month. Open the chapeau of the filter and remove the filter cloth. Rinse it thoroughly then remove the lava rocks. Utilise a hose to rinse them off completely and so put both filters back into the container.^[17]

   • If the swimming is very dirty, clean the filter every two weeks instead of every month.
   • Supplant the filter material if information technology becomes too dirty to allow water to pass through.

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Add New Question

• Question

  How can I get rid of algae in my pond?

  

  Scott Johnson is the Owner and Lead Design Consultant for Physical Creations, Inc., an accolade-winning landscape and design visitor based in the San Diego, California metro area. He has over 30 years of experience in the pool and landscape structure industry and specializes in large estate outdoor surroundings construction projects. His work has been featured in San Diego Home & Garden Magazine and on Pool Kings TV Show. He earned a BS degree in Structure Management with an emphasis in Architecture and CAD design from Northern Arizona University.

  

  Landscape & Design Consultant

  Practiced Respond

  

  Support wikiHow by unlocking this proficient answer.

  You can ever attribute algae in a pond to the sun. If you want to go rid of the algae but y'all don't want to kill any fish or anything, get an algicide that's prophylactic for fish and information technology'll work just fine. In the jump and summertime, yous almost always get an algae flower, which is totally normal. Don't freak out about those blooms, just use a dose of the algaecide and y'all'll exist fine.

• Question

  What (if anything) prevents the pump intake from clogging? Practice I need to put in any kind of screen?

  

  I put my submersible pump within an upside-down plastic mesh waste product basket (from the Dollar Store), then wrapped the outside of the basket with nylon window screen. Over the course of the summer I typically have to remove the screen twice and rinse it off with a garden hose. This keeps the pump intake from clogging and reduces the number of times the filter media has to be changed too.

• Question

  What filtration material practice I employ for this system?

  

  Yous tin can add Bio-Balls, Bio-Rings, carbon packs, rock and sponge pads, which y'all use in your aquarium filters. Y'all must layer them on elevation of each other.

• Question

  Can fish survive on aquatic plants lonely?

  

  Yep, they tin can. But consider more plants than fish, equally they volition eat some of the plants.

• Question

  How practise I build an overflow in a pond?

  

  Apply 5-inch schedule twoscore PVC white pipe, dig a trench on the side of the pond to the elevation you want the h2o, employ 5 sections of 10 feet long pipe and bleed it off into a lower expanse.

• Question

  What size pump will I need to pump well-nigh 300 gallons?

  

  It depends on how fast you lot want to pump that 300 gallons and how high. Read dissimilar pump specifications to see their rated GPH (gallons per hr) and pumping heights.

• Question

  Can this filter arrangement proceed the outside of the pond?

  

  Yes, that is the intention, this filer organisation is not recommended to be placed inside the swimming itself. But the pump that pumps h2o into the filter must be kept in the swimming at all times unless being cleaned (must be turned off for this), to avert the pump called-for out.

• Question

  Where can I go connectors for intake?

  

  Just utilize a piece of screen door screen over the hose stop, secure information technology to the hose with zip ties or film framing wire after roofing the screening with pantyhose from a dollar store.

• Question

  How exercise I clean the filter?

  

  You just need to rinse the filtration media with pond h2o.

• Question

  What are bio balls and bio rings? Can l make those likewise?

  

  They tin can't be fabricated. They are ordinarily bought and used to pause downward fish waste matter.

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Things You lot'll Demand

• H2o pump (if yous don't already take one)
• Plastic container with a sealable lid
• Rubber hose
• Drill with hole-saw fleck
• Fish-friendly sealant
• Ruddy lava rocks
• Filter material

About This Article

Article Summary X

To build a swimming filter system, purchase a resealable, lidded garbage bin, a rubber hose, and a water pump. Then, position the bin and pump relatively close to where they will be in the pond, and cut a hole in the lid of that bin that'southward but large enough for the rubber hose to fit into. Next, drill a hole in the side of the container for a water outlet, and seal the hoses into the openings with an creature-safety sealant. Finally, fill the bottom of the container with a layer red lava rocks and a layer of filter material cut to fit the bin over top of the rocks. For tips on installing the filter in the pond, read on!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Pond-Filter-System

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