Upgrading to an External Filter for my small pond..................

Hi,

I'm a 5-year veteran ponder, and a regular fan of this cool newsgroup. In
the middle of winter, the PVC liner that came with my Beckett pond (4 x 6 x
18 ", 270 gal) kit ruptured, leaving 12 assorted Koi/goldies lying in 1 inch
of ice and water. I raided our emergency water supply and transported them
in a Rubbermaid container to a water garden center that agreed to take them
off my hands, and all the fish survived. With spring here, I am now ready to
buy a rubber liner and stock the pond with only 2 Koi and about 4 goldies,
and some plants........

In previous years, I seemed to spend more summer hours cleaning my pond than
sitting in front of it with a frosty Margherita; hence, I want to upgrade
from the submerged filter to a small, external filter that would be easier
to clean. I am prepared to change out my current little 210 gph, 25 watt
pump to a stronger one (maybe 300-500 gph, 35/45 watt), to get the job done
right. The water garden center wants to sell me a 1200 gph pump ($160)
and a BF-1000 UV waterfall filterbox ($99) plus tubing, etc. They say that
the filter would only have to be changed ONCE OR TWICE a year, and could be
camouflaged in some plants beside the pond. I'm would appreciate any shared
comments and/or recommendations about making the upgrade to a simple,
efficient arrangement.............

Thanks...........

"RWITTY" wrote in message
...
Hi,
The water garden center wants to sell me a 1200 gph pump ($160)
and a BF-1000 UV waterfall filterbox ($99) plus tubing, etc. They say
that
the filter would only have to be changed ONCE OR TWICE a year, and could
be
camouflaged in some plants beside the pond. I'm would appreciate any
shared
comments and/or recommendations about making the upgrade to a simple,
efficient arrangement.............
=========================
Shop around and search the net. You'll find all kinds of filters suitable
for small ponds. Surely there are pond stores or large Aquarium stores in
your area what carry a selection you can see for a better idea. The
cheapest way to go is to make your own filters from Rubbermaid tubs.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:42:07 -0500, "RWITTY" wrote:

I'm a 5-year veteran ponder, and a regular fan of this cool newsgroup. In
the middle of winter, the PVC liner that came with my Beckett pond (4 x 6 x
18 ", 270 gal) kit ruptured, leaving 12 assorted Koi/goldies lying in 1 inch
of ice and water. I raided our emergency water supply and transported them
in a Rubbermaid container to a water garden center that agreed to take them
off my hands, and all the fish survived. With spring here, I am now ready to
buy a rubber liner and stock the pond with only 2 Koi and about 4 goldies,
and some plants........

If you're going to stay with the same size pond how about making a fake
flower pot filter? You can see 3 on my website, one is a commercial unit
that sells for $99. Two are homemade for $30 and $11. I made one, a little
larger than the 3 shown, for my 1,000 gallon lily pond without bothering
with the flower saucer on top (used a plastic garbage can lid instead) cost
me $15. Unfortunately haven't take a picture of it yet. To see the other
two, go to my website (below), click on My Filter and scroll to the bottom
of that page. ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

Check out the Danner Pondmaster line of pumps....They are of seal less
design, and the pumps from 350 or so gph on up can be used submersed
or external. Very energy efficient.

If your into making home brew items, then a filter is easy
project....Jan has good info on her site, as does a few other
websites........I can't say much about filters as I do not use em as I
have a natural pond but do use Danner Pondmaster series of pumps to
power some of my water features.........The wife has a new Danner 500
internal / external pump in her half barrel setup as well, because the
little giant pump lasted less than 9 months and has been replaced
twice on warranty so far.....so it was decided to change it out and be
done with it as it has not had a good track record to date.....

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:42:07 -0500, "RWITTY"
wrote:

===Hi,
===
===I'm a 5-year veteran ponder, and a regular fan of this cool newsgroup. In
===the middle of winter, the PVC liner that came with my Beckett pond (4 x 6 x
===18 ", 270 gal) kit ruptured, leaving 12 assorted Koi/goldies lying in 1 inch
===of ice and water. I raided our emergency water supply and transported them
===in a Rubbermaid container to a water garden center that agreed to take them
===off my hands, and all the fish survived. With spring here, I am now ready to
===buy a rubber liner and stock the pond with only 2 Koi and about 4 goldies,
===and some plants........
===
===In previous years, I seemed to spend more summer hours cleaning my pond than
===sitting in front of it with a frosty Margherita; hence, I want to upgrade
===from the submerged filter to a small, external filter that would be easier
===to clean. I am prepared to change out my current little 210 gph, 25 watt
===pump to a stronger one (maybe 300-500 gph, 35/45 watt), to get the job done
===right. The water garden center wants to sell me a 1200 gph pump ($160)
===and a BF-1000 UV waterfall filterbox ($99) plus tubing, etc. They say that
===the filter would only have to be changed ONCE OR TWICE a year, and could be
===camouflaged in some plants beside the pond. I'm would appreciate any shared
===comments and/or recommendations about making the upgrade to a simple,
===efficient arrangement.............
===
===Thanks...........
===
===
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

"RWITTY" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm a 5-year veteran ponder, and a regular fan of this cool newsgroup.
In
the middle of winter, the PVC liner that came with my Beckett pond (4 x 6
x
18 ", 270 gal) kit ruptured, leaving 12 assorted Koi/goldies lying in 1
inch
of ice and water. I raided our emergency water supply and transported
them
in a Rubbermaid container to a water garden center that agreed to take
them
off my hands, and all the fish survived. With spring here, I am now ready
to
buy a rubber liner and stock the pond with only 2 Koi and about 4 goldies,
and some plants........

In previous years, I seemed to spend more summer hours cleaning my pond
than
sitting in front of it with a frosty Margherita; hence, I want to upgrade
from the submerged filter to a small, external filter that would be easier
to clean. I am prepared to change out my current little 210 gph, 25 watt
pump to a stronger one (maybe 300-500 gph, 35/45 watt), to get the job
done
right. The water garden center wants to sell me a 1200 gph pump ($160)
and a BF-1000 UV waterfall filterbox ($99) plus tubing, etc. They say
that
the filter would only have to be changed ONCE OR TWICE a year, and could
be
camouflaged in some plants beside the pond. I'm would appreciate any
shared
comments and/or recommendations about making the upgrade to a simple,
efficient arrangement.............

Thanks...........

I gave up on using the typical 'filter' some years ago. I basically have a
5 gallon black bucking in my pond that contains a waterfall pump that is
surrounded with lava rock. The water from this pump goes into a small upper
pond that then overflows back down into the lower pond. Doing two ponds
like this is just as easy as doing one. The top pond does not have any
large fish and hold water hyacinths which act as a filter (Veggie filter
good!). The lava rock acts as a bio-filter. When I remember, I take the 5
gallon bucket out about once a year and rinse off the rock with water from
the pond.

One of the benefits of having your pump in a bucket is that if there is an
accident (raccoons pulling your tubing out of the upper pond and flooding
the yard with water from the lower pond), the lowest the water in the pond
with the pump can go is the height of the bucket.

You can also use this method without the upper pond per se but with
something like a planter or an oak barrel liner that you put plants in. It
just has to be able to flow back into the pond with the pump (you could for
example put this on blocks in the middle of the pond). You could use a
beautiful ceramic planter with the tubing coming in from the bottom hole...
So many possibilities - so little time, space, etc.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePh...Uy=7j38g7&Ux=1