Koi Fish Information Centre

Hi Anastasia,
The way you have your filter set up will do a great job of cleaning you ponds water in the short term. I’m afraid you will find that in the long term, there is a much better way to build the filter system for your pond. After you’ve had your filter running for awhile, you’ll find the sand and pea gravel will become plugged up with mulm (fine particulates or debris your quilting material didn’t filter out), and other debris that will require you to disassemble your filter to conduct a thorough cleaning of all of the filter media you have in the filter. After the first time or two of having to clean the whole filter, you’ll find that the length of time it will take and the mess that will be made during the cleaning is more of a pain than it’s worth.
What you’ve basically built is a pretty decent MECHANICAL filter, but you’ll find over time that the your filter will be of very little value as a BIOLOGICAL filter. Your filter should make your water crystal clear during the first month or two of use, but it’s after that time that you’ll find the sand and pea gravel parts of the filter will start to plug up. Once that happens, there is good chance the filter will start to over flow because water won’t be able to pass through the sand and pea gravel media any longer. That’s when the messy and time consuming cleanups will have to start.
The most important part of a ponds filter system is the biological portion. Without adequate bio-filtration, a pond with koi (or other fish) in it is headed for trouble. If your landscape will allow you to, it would be much better for you to separate the mechanical portion of your filter from the biological components. You might want to consider some other media for the mechanical portion that will be less messy and time consuming when cleaning is needed. Some of the media you’re using in your current filter would work great for the biofilter system as long as it has a large surface area for the amount of media needed, and it’s not too restrictive to the flow of water passing through it.
Do you have any pictures of your current filter? If so, could you please post some, or even send some to me directly at keep_koi@comcast.net. I’d like to see how you’ve constructed it and maybe offer a few suggestions that might be helpful if you decide you would like to modify your current system.
Best regards, Don ikeepkoi
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Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society