Newbie question: Small filter for small pond?

I plan on building a small waterfall in our front garden. By "small" I
mean very very tiny. The area I have to work with is about 5' by 5'. I'm
looking at a pump in the area of 100 gph. Pond size? Not sure yet. I'm
still doing research.

My question is what kind of filter is recommended for such a small size.
There will be no fish in the pond, the waterfall is mainly for
aesthetics at the front of the house. Every filter/skimmer I've
researched is huge (the smallest requires a minimum water flow of 400 gph!)

I just want water free of algae/bad smells/mosquitos. And I don't want
to change the water every two days. I'm really a beginner at this so any
help at all is extremely appreciated.

Thank You

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:07:01 GMT, angel toledo
wrote:

I plan on building a small waterfall in our front garden. By "small" I
mean very very tiny. The area I have to work with is about 5' by 5'. I'm
looking at a pump in the area of 100 gph. Pond size? Not sure yet. I'm
still doing research.

My question is what kind of filter is recommended for such a small size.
There will be no fish in the pond, the waterfall is mainly for
aesthetics at the front of the house. Every filter/skimmer I've
researched is huge (the smallest requires a minimum water flow of 400 gph!)

I just want water free of algae/bad smells/mosquitos. And I don't want
to change the water every two days. I'm really a beginner at this so any
help at all is extremely appreciated.

Thank You

I had a small 6-8' waterfall that empties into a 3x3' "pond" built
last year. I don't use a filter (although am trying to convince my
wife that a goldfish or two would be nice and therefore one might then
be needed) and things are fine. Water turbulence is enough to keep
the bad thingies at bay. Top up is needed once a week(unless your
water finds it's own exits) along the waterfall sides. ;-}

A few plants make it look gorgeous unless you have two Labs who think
everything in the world is their toy .

All the best,

Larry

Hello,

my fist pond didn't have fish or any living thing so I had no filter and
put in bromine or chlorine tablets like they do in swimming pools. You
will get no algae, no mosquitoes , no nothing growing in your pond.
This is what I would do. I would recommend fake lilies too if you don't
want the hassle of putting living ones.

I then realized that a pond is NOT a pond unless you put fish. Then the
year after I put in live plants. Then this is when filtering becomes
important.

angel toledo wrote:
I plan on building a small waterfall in our front garden. By "small" I
mean very very tiny. The area I have to work with is about 5' by 5'. I'm
looking at a pump in the area of 100 gph. Pond size? Not sure yet. I'm
still doing research.

My question is what kind of filter is recommended for such a small size.
There will be no fish in the pond, the waterfall is mainly for
aesthetics at the front of the house. Every filter/skimmer I've
researched is huge (the smallest requires a minimum water flow of 400 gph!)

I just want water free of algae/bad smells/mosquitos. And I don't want
to change the water every two days. I'm really a beginner at this so any
help at all is extremely appreciated.

Thank You

lol CanadianCowboy, i thought i was the only one that did that. 3 years
ago my first pond (4x2x1) was green all the time. it was a cheap all in
one kit from home depot. man did it suck. i had nothing living in it
except stuff i didn't want. i would put a chlorine puck from my pool in
every month and it was always crystal clear.

my second pond had fish and water lilies. barley, pond plants and a uv
sterlizer kept the 6x4x3 pond clear.

now i've made it bigger again and it's up to 12x9x3. it'll probably get
bigger and better next year.

Thank you all for your help.