Setting up a pond filter

[mesmerred]

I have a pond filter which has the common arrangement of whirlpool, then 3 chambers. Water enters the whirlpool basin, flows into the first chamber, comes up through the second, flows down into the third, from which it drains through a pipe part way up back into the pond. At the moment, I have brushes, "curler" type media in net bags which are further covered by three laters of foam, and then blocks of coarse matting. With this kind of filter, which is the best order to have the filter media please, plus any other tips?

[hammerman]

1st i would put the brushes in to trap any larger sediment, then the media in net bags for biological filteration and then the matting just to polish it off.

I have a 5 bay filter for my pond and it goes
1) brushes
2) flocor (plastic rings for biological filteration)
3) Japanese matting
4) flocor again
5) different grades of foam sheets

Hope this helps

[Kelvin]

To avoid green water caused by unicellular algae which is small enough to pass through the finest medium I would also reccommend installing a UV unit. They make a surprising difference!

[ruthann58]

probably this is not the way to do it but it works for us our pond is 12x9 by 4ft deep our tanks are plastic dustbins
1st nothing
2nd brushes
3rd brushes
4th net sack of barley straw
5th pea shingle
this then passes through UV and back into pond there are about 25 fish ranging from 6" to 3 at about 24" all were little fish and have grown to this size

[merlinsmate]

I forgot to mention that I have a UV filter. Thanks for the advice everyone. Cheers.

[paddywak]

I rearranged my pond filtration earlier this year to a system which is basically as recommended by hammerman but with the addition of a UV light and the water is now spot on

[hammerman]

Yeah, a UV is a must if you want crystal clear water. I turn mine off around October time for the winter, then replace the bulb and restart up in March and it turns my pond from pea green to crystal clear in a week. If you go for a UV, you want 10 watts of UV per 1,000 gallons....i have a 3,000 gallon koi pond and i use a 35 watt TMC UV. The UV needs to be positioned BEFORE the filter.
Don't forget to regularly drain your filter and give the media a good clean in pond water or you will find the pond will soon fill up with "fines"

[mesmerred]

Someone advised me to put brushes in the whirlpool. What do you think?

[merlinsmate]

Lost the first part of my reply. Am finding this really interesting as I have a similar problem. Is it better to have floating weed in the pond too. Something like water cress? It grows big, but the fish eat it.

[hammerman]

Definately no with the brushes....they should be in the first bay. The vortex (whirlpool) is designed to throw larger particles outwards by centrifugal force and then be drained off. anything in there would hamper the vortex effect.