I am building a diy pond filter for my buddy and was wondering what's the filter media that has the most bang for it's buck. I was thinking on using a garbage can and having an upflow design. For media I was planning on using lava rock and sand
What's the best/cheapest pond filter media
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Your also going to need foam, Carbon and Bio Balls. You can always improvise. I've seen people use sponges as foam.
Yeah I would skip carbon and bioballs. Some type of mech filtration will be needed, whether its foam, a pad, or poly fiber. You can get ceramic rings relatively cheap, but I would have to say that pond matrix is the best for bio. I love the stuff, but depending on the size of the pond/filter, it can get quite expensive.
Joe M;5139934; said:
X2. But " best and cheapest " rarely go hand in hand. Best is Pond Matrix fir sure. Relatively cheap but not the cheapest
I run a garbage pail filter with stacks of poly (sponge) for mech and lava rock ontop for bio. works real well. pond is also moderately planted.
The lava rock and blower idea is the cheapest and most effective. The blower has to be designed with a perforated pvc pipe layout to agitate whole bottom of the filter and a drain to release the pond mud is required after blowing the filter. In addition, you do have to have some kind of pre-filter so the filter won't get clogged with debris from the pond. Good Luck.
kendragon;5140004; said:
Well my friend want to put bass and panfish in te pond. It will be outdoors and will have roughly 1000 gallons. What exactly is a blower and what's it's purpose? We live in SoCal
A blower is a high volume air pump.
Forget the trash can, one of those blue plastic 50 gallon food grade barrels are cheaper and much sturdier. They will take a bulkhead (the plumbing piece that lets you mount a pipe into the barrel) much better. You can also find them with lids that seal which would allow for a low pressure filter.
A sponge / sponges are great as they server the purpose of both mechanical and biological filtration. You could craft some kind of horizontal (paddle) with many holes to compress them during cleaning. Kind of like a butter churn.
I would consider looking for a pool sand filter on craigslist for mechanical filtration and then a separate barrel for biological filtration.
It seems like you can pick up a pond pressure sponge filter for around the $100 range. I don't know if a $100 would be of sufficient size for the pond though.
Forget the trash can, one of those blue plastic 50 gallon food grade barrels are cheaper and much sturdier. They will take a bulkhead (the plumbing piece that lets you mount a pipe into the barrel) much better. You can also find them with lids that seal which would allow for a low pressure filter.
A sponge / sponges are great as they server the purpose of both mechanical and biological filtration. You could craft some kind of horizontal (paddle) with many holes to compress them during cleaning. Kind of like a butter churn.
I would consider looking for a pool sand filter on craigslist for mechanical filtration and then a separate barrel for biological filtration.
It seems like you can pick up a pond pressure sponge filter for around the $100 range. I don't know if a $100 would be of sufficient size for the pond though.