Click 'SHOW MORE' for full video description + links - Watch in HD. Decent set of 4 plastic boxes: geni.us/iGvq Stronger option for larger filters: geni.us/tBdZg Biohome and Pumice: www.filterpro.co.uk The shower filter set up on outdoor aquarium: ruclips.net/video/EL9HR_Y3-40/видео.html 'How To' video showing the building of a very effective and extremely cheap shower filter for a fish pond. The media types in this video are as follows: Flocor = a very cheap and quite ineffective plastic media in any situation. Supports aerobic bacteria. Large Hel-x = a quite effective plastic media for a shower filter but more suitable for a large moving bed filter. Supports aerobic bacteria. Hel-x 13 = decent media for a shower filter but like other plastic media it only really supports aerobic bacteria. Good alternative to K1 in a moving bed filter as it has 40% more surface area per volume. Gravel = it is definitely not the best natural media but is better than plastic. Supports mainly aerobic bacteria as it tends to be not very porous. Alfagrog = A decent cheap ceramic media which does quite well in a shower filter. Good surface area but poor porosity so it takes ages to build up anaerobic bacteria. However it will support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria when well established which could take a year or so to affect nitrates. Pumice = a great natural filter media if the correct type is selected. The pumice I used in this video came from a supplier specialising in pumice for drinking water purification so it has an excellent reliable internal structure. Will support a decent balance of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria for nitrate reduction. Biohome Ultra = A sintered glass filter media which was created for use in shower filters and large aquarium sumps. Effective in fresh or salt water and its internal structure is perfect for supporting aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in great balance so is the best choice if the aim of the filter is full cycle filtration (nitrate reduction). I sell some of the media types above on my website here: www.filterpro.co.uk FILMING EQUIPMENT: Panasonic HC-VX870 geni.us/3UwE Rode stereo microphone: geni.us/4OL Rode deadcat mic cover: geni.us/1pmn If you have found this video useful feel free to share it anywhere you think other people may benefit from viewing it. Check out the nation of other aquatic videos on my channel. Thanks for watching. Pondguru.
@@Steves_fish Yes less is more as far as numbers of containers go but this video is simply to demonstrate that something can be made very cheaply using boxes bought from discount stores. My choice for a 'proper' sized shower would definitely be the traditional long containers and you're right - the smaller a system is the more need there is for overflow(s). It's definitely good advice to have a spare similar sized pump for any system whether that is indoors or outdoors as it is the heart of the system.
Just finished putting this on my pond, 2500 litre raised sleeper goldfish pond. Have the pump connected to a pressure filter then on to the DIY shower which is 4 boxes high and has about 20-25 kilo of alfagrog. So delighted with it so far.
Mr.PondGuru just really wanted you to know that without your video I would have just ended up with a big muddy hole with adequate water. Now thanks to your filtration concept I finally have crappie, bream, and other sunfish actually breeding like drunk rabbits during the apocalypse! Thank you and God bless.
After watching this video decided to give this trickle filter a go. What can I say absolutely brilliant, the difference after only 5 days running are amazing (just wish I could post before and after photos. I used 3 sponges in top box then mature alfagog from my old filter in other 4 boxes, with a flow rate of 5000lph water is crystal clear without a uv purifier. Great videos Pond Guru, become a bit of an addict during lockdown, not jealous of your pond at all.........😜😜
+MA FishGuy I probably won't do many but I will definitely be spending less of my free time metal detecting so there will be a more varied amount of topics on the channel. One thing which will be coming will be a quick-fire Q&A on aquariums and one on ponds too as hopefully those videos will save people trawling through all the older videos for information.
If you liked this one then you will love the one I will be making this week as it is portable and has a much smaller footprint (and uses the new shower media which takes up so much less volume than traditional media).
PLEASE can you tell us if all the boxes have the same inside, if not the box with the expensive stuff in it is that at the top or bottom of the stack? excuse the lack of education on this, but i am new to pond keeping.
Hey partner. Just wanted to drop in and say much obliged for this how-to. Your method, design and instruction saved our 1800 gallon koi pond here on the Gulf of Mexico. Anybody who cares about their fishstock can take what this fella has to say as the gospel truth. If you ever wind up in our neck of the woods down the trail, gimme a holler. I owe you a whole lotta longnecks and a touch of whiskey.
I've been working on aquarium/vivarium projects on a much smaller scale but I LOVED your video!! super informative and I love your accent!!! hello from a new fan from the US!!
+Desirae Collins Great, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. This one really seems to be doing well and has been well received by viewers so I will do more on pond filtration ideas, no worries.
I have the same question as Hannah-marie Donovan and other viewers ---Quote ' 'PLEASE can you tell us if all the boxes have the same [media] inside, if not the box with the expensive stuff in it is that at the top of the stack? ' Fantastic video by the way, sooooo simple and very well explained. Love that you gave mm AND inches. I know you don't do many fish ponds anymore but if I ever won the lottery I dream of you creating a beautiful pond in my dream garden zzzzzzzz :))
Great video. I wrote on a blog from which I'm a member about your system, which I copied. I didn't use boxes, but a plastic chest of drawers (5 drawers) and it is working perfectly. I don't use strong pumps, but two that don't use much electric and made two of these trickle filters, which are running for more then 8 months now. The pond was green, but it soon turned back to a very clear pond. In the beginning I had to change the soft filtermedia or wash it out a lot, but now maybe once a month. Besides that I put an airstone connected to an airpump at one end of the pond, which is helping of course. Also I increased the filter time. I turned the filtering of at night, but now the pumps are running 24/7. The water looks so clean that I use it to cool off, swim between my fishes and feed them by hand! By the way I live in Thailand, so one of the concerns here is algea. My pond is divided into one big pond and some smaller basins, which are carrying above water plants. That's the only place green algea is growing. In the big pond itself there is except for some kind of growth of a spungy thick layer of whatever that sits only where there is a lot of watermovement no visible growth of algea. The fish help maintaining this pond.
That sounds great and I'm glad you used the principle idea of the shower filter to achieve better water conditions - good stuff and thanks for watching.
spent a lot of time looking at different styles and actually purchased items for another type until I saw this video. luckily I can stilll return that bucket and try this. Thank you
No worries, I'm sure there are other shower filter videos on RUclips but I always like to give my own experience of certain things - thanks for watching and appreciating the videos.
I have a 3-ft deep pond, and I could only see one inch below the surface with green algae, I made this filter and now I can see the bottom perfectly...only tip is don't forget to switch the pump off when it's freezing weather , as if it freezes in the box the pump will empty the pond by overflowing out of the side of the boxes
finally made this filter for my koi pond(that i watched and learned how to make from you back in 2013 at 14yrs old) and it made a huge difference in a day!!!! thanks for sharing this.
@@AsavageMustache it held up well. But I eventually shut my pond down. I recommend painting the outside of the containers so it doesnt get sun damaged over time. Or put under shade if you can.
hi , so pleased you kept this video up . I'm just about to copy your shower , ive just ordered 3kg of your Biohome ultra from you . i'll be making up the shower box's over the weekend . Geoff
Very useful information and very well explained, love watching your videos and find them very useful with helping me and my new pond construction. Thanks for posting. Stephen
Brilliant detail until the last couple of minutes! Which box did you put the filters and media in? I'm assuming top one so you can easily access it to clean it, and then all boxes below just have media in them?
This looks like a great DIY filter, I've seen a few on RUclips, but this may be one of the best (if not the best). I haven't made any of them though because I always have one question that never seems to be addressed in the videos... How do you clean it??? The DIY filters often seem to be superior to anything you can buy for the money mainly because you can make it as good as you like. However, they all seem like they'd be difficult to clean. For this one, do you only clean the pads and leave the other media alone, or do you have to clean all boxes? Also, how do I know how big of a pump I can use without overflow my DIY filter?
I love ..love love your video. They have been so much help. I've struggled with my koi pond now for years.. 6 or more keeping it clean and functioning, sad to say purchasing koi each year. l finally slowed down long enough to research the web and found your video.. yahhh. its so refreshing to find a successful way of maintaining my pond [ponding] ..lol. l was so jealous of the koi ponds i'd see when out at various Japanese Steak houses.. clean, clear water and huge koi...so that motivated me to do some research.. l plan to duplicate the system in this video with exact same size containers.. My pond outdoor pond is 5'x7'x1.5'. Are all the containers filled with bio-home media . if so how many pounds should i purchase for this system.
+bsessley55 It sounds like you are in the US. The US supplier of Biohome is www.greatwaveeng.com and he will be able to work out cubic inches and pounds needed no worries. I am actually going to use only 2-3 containers for my 800 litre external aquarium and only one will have the biohome in. The other 1 or 2 will be filled with the pumice media as I will be keeping crayfish in the tank and I want the water to have an elevated pH and a good level of mineralisation for them. Glad you enjoy the video and if by chance you're in the UK just give me details of the container sizes and I will work out how much you'll need no worries. If you're in the US Don from Greatwave can work out that and supply the media no problem.
i made mine 9 years ago never clean them always clean also i have a 100 gal stock tank as pre filter that's the one i flush once a week and fully clean once a year. i made a 1'' hole on each totes on the side on the top because shower needs good contact with air to make nitrates go down
always very good video pondguru. and nice explanation. again my fish tank working super good after I use you biohome media. no ammonia. also no nitrate and n. almost over one year. Regards Edwin
+Edwin Arroyo Great - that is exactly the outcome which should be achieved when a suitable amount is used so its good to hear. Thanks for watching and appreciating the videos.
Hey Rich good video as usual, I use bio home media and peat balls in my discus tank and I attribute some of my success to those two products enjoy all your vids
+walter otiepka Good to hear that things are going well. Unfortunately the quarry I get peat from is closed with no date to reopen so I can't get peat for the foreseeable future which is a real bummer as the peat balls were great.
Hi Richard, enjoyed watching your video, very good cheap one filter. You have many excellent ideas, going to check out your aquarium video now , very amusing cat. Just bought bio balls and ultra filter media. I've Having a lot of trouble with very high ammonia reading, done water changes over last four days. Reading was off the scale, but now down to 2.0 but still too high, I'm hoping the new media will get the anirobic bacteria going. Cheers from Dennis
+dennis frankland Ammonia should never be e problem with an aquarium once the filter has matured. The balls and new media will certainly help. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching.
Great video. I see you put a bar in the bottom box on the outlet. I am having a 4 box shower and filling the first 3 with your media. Will I be ok just to have the tank connector on the bottom box as this will just be used as a settlement chamber Thanks paul
Absolutely awesome where have you been I’ve been looking for a video like this for so long thank you so much one question what pump nobody talks about pumps
green standstill pond water....how about to get the pond water moving and use some UV-C light to make the green algue clump together so the filter can catch algue and you will get cristal clear water and the light wil kill tiny paracites aswell....and the sun can reach bottom of pond and you can se the fish down there aswell
+Richard skår I had a mega filter system planned for this pond but it is around 1,000,000 litres and would require way too much UV power to affect the water, plus the size of settlement chambers / mechanical waste removal would require something akin to a small treatment plant.
To you have to put filter in everybody that stacked we need 2 boxes so would it be filter on topbox then hole pipe bottom box Cheers great video from council kev uk
I absolutely love your videos, so helpful! I had an idea I'd like your opinion on. Last summer I hand dug a 10ft x 5ft x 4ft deep pond. Before this I've never even owner a fish tank. Now that the ice has melted I've noticed a good bit of leaves in my pond. My idea was to use my wet/dry vac with a mesh bag inside to vacuum out the leaves while letting the bottom port on the vac open so the water could flow right back out. I only have 5 large (roughly 10in) fish in my pond who always avoid where I'm working in the pond so no little ones to be sucked up.. Do you think this could work to do my spring cleaning of the pond? Or maybe links to your own videos on pond cleaning. Thank you!!
Hello mucker... loving all the vids... i have just built my first pond, only small as my garden is tiny... i used a icb container so just over 1000 litres... i have a pump and filter that does 5000 litres so should be ok but would you recommend adding a shower filter?? Ps do you still metal detect 🤩🤩
Great video as usual. I was wondering if you could show a picture of what the pond water looks like before it goes in and what it looks like when it comes out. I would guess that as the system becomes more active those results will probably be better but it still might be interesting. What is the maintenance on a system like this. Do you just need to clean/rinse the media pads periodically or do you also have to do something with what ever media type you choose? Thanks again for an easy to follow and economical project.
+Thom Lindgren Problem is that flowing water always looks quite clean and the real test will be looking in at the foams after the filter has been running a while. It is going to be set up on my outdoor aquarium with a mixture of biohome and pumice filter media so once it has been running a while I will do a water test and take a look inside on a future video. The foams should be the only things which need cleaning with the coarse and medium foams needing rinsing and muck removing. The fine white pad will be binned when it is clogged. Although a filter of this type will clean the water and can reduce nitrates unless it has a UV fitted before it it's unlikely to act on a green pond which gets many nutrients. Glad you enjoyed the video.
On every commercial filter I've seen, the water from the pond enters the media first, then passes through the foam mats. In this design those top mats would get clogged up in no time at all. So I'm assuming you don't put a filter mat in the top box, just media ? Or you could put a coarse mat at the bottom of the top box, but that would be the same as the top of the next box down. I'm going to make this and put my coarsest mat in the top of box 2, and finer mats in the top of each successive box. I'll also be putting a second outlet with a tap on (diverted away from the pond) for cleaning off the media.
PG...great design for little money, I could out one box on my aquarium, get your sponge kit and Biohome and it would be a great filter at low price...thanks for the cool idea
If you have fittings designed for use with liner then yes no problem. If you search 'bottom drain for lined pond' on google you will find suitable products.
Great video! I think it would be very interesting to see how this performs compared to say an Oase filtoclear, I would imagine when filled with Biohome that its filtering capability's are untouchable for it's price. I think this is defiantly going to be a summer project for me.
+ChRiSVII Even with alfagrog it will do an excellent job and with pumice it will do even better. Using biohome is kind of like saying to the filter 'if the water isn't perfect it's your fault' as it is better again. I actually swapped out some of the biohome for pumice and that will be running in an upcoming video. I wanted the water to be a bit higher pH and mineralised for my aquarium and although the biohome offers the perfect balance of aerobic / anaerobuc bacteria the biohome wouldn't do raise pH or mineralise water. The pumice could well be a great choice for a large koi pond. where a huge filter is required and cost is an issue.
Hi PondGuru - love your channel!! Regarding this DIY-SHower-Trickle filter, do all the boxes need to have media in them, and if so, which ones go on the topbox (inlet), middle, and bottom box(output)? I will have a go using three boxes for my small pond... Cheers...
Thanks Richard another great filter example. Can you explain the benefit to separate boxes between the media. And why the shower effect between the boxes helps. Thanks D
+EastLondonKiwi Glad you enjoyed the video, man. Having separate boxes allows the filter to be made bigger / smaller for the size of the pond but more importantly it increases the chance of the water being well spread across the area of media contact. There is nothing wrong with a single chamber tall filter (like a wheelie bin) but there's a small chance the water would not cover all the media depending on the layout of media as water always takes the easiest route. Hope that makes sense.
+jim walsh I used to manufacture wooden products using a nail gun so have had plenty shot through fingers and thumb. Those ring shank nails take some pulling out, lol
Ha great job - I guess that would work so well. Don't think I could use that in my 250ltr aquarium though. The BioHome media is amazing, very quick to setup and I use it in all my systems..
+Ian Roughley Awesome to hear, man. A scaled down version of a shower filter could be installed coming out of an aquarium sump but as sumps are generally easily big enough for a good set up I reckon most people will only make shower filters for fish ponds. Thanks for watching.
Great video. I've just acquired a large pickling drum to make a filter for my yet to build pond. Would you advise me to follow the same concept. For example: media, fine foam, med foam and course foam? Repeat repeat repeat? Would be a nightmare to clean. So maybe just lots of media at the bottom and the layers of foam on top?
Yes have all the foams on the top if you have a single container followed by the media underneath. That way the media will stay clean and the foam will be easy to clean. I am intending to make a shower filter with a wheelie bin very soon and it will just be single chamber whit media filling 90% of it and layers of foams on top. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Loved the video! I am just getting going on my outside pond. This is probably a dumb question, but am I supposed to put media in the bottom box as well?
There is really no reason not to. It is a choice really. As for the amount of filtration you would have to run the figures on the size of your pond and the type and number of fish and then you could make an educated guess as to how much media you need.
I used a 100l waterbutt and the return from my Oase filter in a similar way to an external aquarium filter. Seeding it with your biohome ultimate. Your's was a much easier method!
Okay just about to do this. I got a few carbon pads and 3 grade media foam. The boxes i got are see through. Is that a problem for beneficial bacteria or should i spray them black?
Hi. Youll know. I built one of these. Worked fine for months. For some reason now the filter is filling up slowly and overflowing the top? Any hints on likely causes please? No changes to flow rates etc, but something subtle is going on.
They were just bits I had lying around but I think the inlet was quite small (20mm) and the outlet was around 40mm (could have been 50mm?) Outlet would always be much bigger than inlet when water flows out via gravity.
Brilliant video, another question here. I have got hold of quite an amount of lava rock for use in gas grills to keep the heating. Where would you rank those for use as bio media compared to alfagrog, pumice, biohome etc? Cheers
It is very similar to alfagrog - much heavier though as it can be very dense. It is a sort of volcanic rock called 'scoria' and very much like the white pumice but the white pumice has a much more suitable structure for bacteria. The scoria is definitely not as good as white pumice or biohome but I'd rate it on par with alfagrog.
+ThePepperford The loudest noise was from the water pouring back into the pond but that could be cut way down by piping it to the pond properly. The actual shower filter doesn't make much noise as the water is falling only a few cm onto either foam or filter media. Thanks for watching and appreciating the video.
+ratrod diesels Apart from all the invertebrates there is a nation of Rudd, a few Roach, Golden Orfe, possibly Tench and Gudgeon but I think the Otter has nailed all of the carp based species unfortunately.
Wondering if this helps with the floating algae common in the northeast US these days. I have a very large (6 acre) pond that needs aerating and algae management. Would different media help? Adding UV lights perhaps?
built a pond that is just under 500 gallons that has a decent pump filter on it now with uv light and spray fountain for aeration but it also has a second hose valve that i would like to run to one of these. how many tiers do you suggest for a pond that size?
Great video, Currently in the midst of making one for our 12000gallon pond. Is every box filled with the same media? Also will this help clear Algae? Our pond should be named Emerald pond because of its color.
Hi Richard, do you have a video or instructions on how to design and make a simple homemade filter using the 44 gallon plastic blue drums? I have a 400 litre fish tank and find the 1200 litre/hr canister filter is not keeping up and not able to hold enough media to keep nitrate level low.
+Ted Nguyen I haven't done a video on making a filter from a large drum but the concept is exactly the same. Many people in the UK make moving bed filters from large drums but they would be better with a shower filter as moving beds seem to produce lots of nitrates. For 400 litres it would be easier just to add another canister filter?
PondGuru, what a great video many thanks. I have a general question about filtration which, I hope you can help me with? shall i post it here or email you separately? Regards, Paul.
The stuff generally though of as lava rock (scoria) is decent but too macro-porous to support anaerobic bacteria well so you tend to get good ammonia and nitrite reduction but high nitrates (just like with most media) but the white pumice has a much more varied internal structure so can support both aerobic and anaerobic so you're in a chance of getting full cycle filtration using that type of lava rock.
Hi Richard Great video !! I am looking to build one of these for my pond . I am going to be using 27lt storage boxes very similar to what you have here .I am going to use pumice as the media for it the only problem I am having is trying to work out how much pumice to get .I want to use 4 times 27lt boxes and I can get 25kg of pumice could you help out with how much I would need to get Thanks Andy
Apologies for late reply, I've been on holiday the last week or so and internet access wasn't the best. Each 25kg bag of 30mm-50mm pumice takes up approx. 40 cubic litres so if you have roughly 100 cubic litres to fill that would be 2.5 bags - allowing for foams and space in top of boxes I'd say go for 2 x 25kg bags then if you need more you can add it at a later date - it is also available in 10kg bags too. I have drinking water quality pumice available here www.filterpro.co.uk but it is available in a variety of grades and prices online. I always go for the best quality of anything I am going to buy or sell.
Hi Richard I'm going building an above ground pond 1000 gallon and am going building a shower filter like this one. Was going to use 15kg alfagrog in 2-3 32ltr bins with a Blagdon force 8000 pump. Do ya think this is enough filtration? Pond will only be lightly stocked with koi and goldfish
I made one exactly the same cost me £5 plus a few bits I've got lying around in the workshop I got two bags of alfagrog lying around. Might not look as good as the shop brought one but then again it didn't cost me hundreds of pounds
very educative and informative video,thank you! my question is ,what power head or pump did you use to suck in the water all the way up ? I am interested in building my own and better filters for the aquariums I have at home,the ones in the market are just very expensive and incapable of getting the job done quite well so I am searching for a better and also a cheaper alternative.
This one uses a spare Aquamax 16000 I had but really it would be fine with an 8000 pump as the water does not need to flow as fast as it is in this filter. Even a moderate flow will be just as effective.
Thank you. What is your opinion on the use of a diffuser over course gravel, over medium gravel, over sand as the medium then a seperator fabric over some small gravel to go around the drain pipe?
+Mark Kurtis Just about anything can be used as a media and that all sounds plausible but I would avoid using sand unless you have a very slow flow rate or the sand is very coarse.
This has been the best video to tell you how and what to do IV been doing a lot of looking you show how to do it and tell why to do it. They only thing need help with is the bacteria. I don't understand that. Or how to get that into my pond.
Bacteria is everywhere so don't worry too much about getting it in the pond. A simple way to add it to a filter is with the gel balls from EA as they dissolve slowly. A filter is only as good as the media and foams in it. Here is what I am talking about: geni.us/WJTO
I’m thinking of doing this but instead of having them stacked underneath each other having them stacked in a staircase fashion so that I can grow plants out of the top do you think this will work?
Hi buddy! I was impressed by your demonstration but I still have a question. As I see your pond is large enough and its aeration is efficient, naturally by the winds. What if the pond was small, in the backyard for example? Do you think the simple showering on the outlet of the bottom unit will be enough for pond oxygenation?
+Matthew Lacy There is no need to do that as they only need to be in the top box but if you wanted to go for extra foams in the other boxes then go for it - as long as the first thing water hits is the foams the rest of the filter can be set up however you want, man. Glad you enjoy the videos as I really like making any which help people.
Great video and I'm going to start this at the weekend. I have a small (500 gallon) above ground Koi pond and want to improve filtration which right now is mechanical to include bio. There are quite a few small Koi (12) in it and wondered if you think a three tier trickle filter would be big enough? I'm being very lazy here but can you tell me where you sourced the inlet and outlet connectors and pipe. The containers I got were from Poundland like you suggested and are the same size as the ones you used. Love all your pond videos so many thanks!
The inlet / outlet were from some old filters I had lying around from my pond building days and the best bet is to visit your local pond store and see what is available. Failing that a place which sells plumbing supplies should have the necessary tank connectors and pipes available. Yes a 3 tier will be big enough for 500 gallons and I'd go for between 25kg - 50kg pumice for some serious filtration (if the boxes are big enough, the ones I had only held around 10kg)
I have a 3/4 acre mud pond. There's 500 koi in it approx. 3-8 inches. It's 6-15' deep. Will this improve my pond? There's an evaporation and replacement going on every month during Spring-Fall months. I'm trying to raise Koi to get a full 30 plus inches and lots of them.
+Edward White The same idea would work but you would need huge filters. If the pond is well planted and has a natural feed replanishing it then it should be a self sustaining ecosystem with no need for extra filtration.
hi the check valve on the input pipe has a gauge filter what do you think of drum filters what stops the jets being blocked does the drum filter act as a prefilter or do you need a prefilter to prefilter the drum filter best regards
A drum is an excellent filter and that is all you would need before a biological filter as they are self cleaning and remove very fine muck. As with most filters they are more efficient when used on a gravity fed system due to a pump chopping up muck into finer particles but a drum will still handle anything a pump can throw at it. They are very expensive but good. Jets on a drum filter would normally be fed from a pump at the end of the gravity filtering system (where water is cleanest) as far as I can remember but if if it is a pump fed system it may be attached to mains water?
thanks i used to make something nearly identical for plating nuts and bolts which were inside the drum with spray bars on the outside pumping the solution inside
I’m looking to build something similar to this for aquaponics setup. As a result I don’t need nitrate reduction just very good mechanical and nitrification media. I’m looking at somewhere around 275g tank with 100 or so fish with somewhere around another 500g or so of water between grow beds and sump tank. The fish tank will feed the sump and the sump will feed the grow beds, fish tank and filter. The sump will also be the return for the grow beds and filter. So roughly a little under 1000g. I’m looking to use a couple totes or boxes for nothing but lots of poret foams of 20ppi density. I will have gravel filled grow beds so I will got some filtration there but don’t really want to rely on that for filtration. The system I’m looking at will have approximately the same size tote boxes as this video.. how much media and of what type would you recommend. I know aquaponics is out of your experience but it’s still fish keeping where you don’t have to worry about nitrates to the same extent. So for 100lbs of fish with around 10g per fish total system what would be an effective and cost efficient media to us? I’d rather spend s few dollars on an extra box then several dollars more for better media.. my initial though was to use lava rock or lower grade Pumice from landscaping in stead of paying for regular aquarium media that’s costs $30-40 per gallon as I’m looking at likely needing 100g or so in media I need something I can bulk buy for a good price. I even looked to cheap ceramic rings and bio balls but I don’t think they will work when comparing amount to cost vs surface area needed.. your thoughts?
I'm not sure what is available in the US as I am in the UK so answering the 'what media should I use' question is never easy unless it's from the UK. If you had been in the UK I'd have said go for alfagrog in the 40mm size as it is really cheap and better than most lava rock but I'm not sure it is available in the US. If you can get white pumice that would be a great one to go for if fish and plants liked pH above 7.5 as it mineralises the water and has a good internal structure - problem is it may help to reduce nitrate so the standard red / brown very dense lava rock 'scoria' would probably be a better choice. I know you guys have that over there. Without knowing the size of the growing beds it's hard to guess at how much nitrate you'd need (plus I have little experience of growing plants / aquaponics) and although I'd normally say stay away from any plastic media if it is enough to eat up the ammonia and nitrite and the plants are taking up the nitrate it's all good. A moving bed would be most efficient for removing ammonia and nitrite but I don't know how much K1 or similar is over in US so it may not be an option.
Pondguru that’s plenty of response.. I wasn’t expecting a detailed list of best to worst.. we have all you mentioned here. The grow beds will be 4’ x 8’ and roughly 8” worth of gravel deep. The reason I don’t want to go with considering the grow beds for media space is cause I’m going with plain old river pebbles which really won’t provide much surface area. Ideally I would go with a moving bed filter however the shear amount I need and the cost of it plus the additional cost of a high end air pump is more then I want to put into it. As for the pumice that was my first though was to get garden grade pumice and just use that. I was unaware that it buffers the ph a little.. plants like 6.6-6.8ph ideally so having a 7.5 buffer is a no go. I do want something that will mineralized well as I don’t want to have to add a mineralization filter which many do and I see as something not needed when I can get it through trapped detritus breaking down in the poret foam or other ways.. I also want efficient and low maintenance.. what would be your thoughts on nothing but poret foams in a trickle filter? Clearly I’d have to build a really good spray bar system to get proper wetting through that much foam unless I went with a traditional closed cell foam pond filter that can wick and stay moist.. that would be cheaper but again I was looking for low maintained and the closed cell structure of regular foams I thick would clog up too easily and reduce flow and possible give denitrification through big pockets of mulm collected.. my issue is looking at normal media choices for filtering I’m looking at almost the same cost as the entire system. So what I’m looking for is something I can buy a lot of very very cheap or something that will work just as well in a smaller amount where total cost balances out.. I’m trying to stay away from the cheap Chinese bokki media’s. Bioballs and cheap ceramic rings are cheap up to a certain quantity but at the amounts I’m looking at will actually be expensive. I actually think ehiem Substrat pro would possibly be a good choice as it’s fairly cheap compared to the amount of surface area and due to construction can help mineralize waste for plants.. this would be an example of something I think could be used to replace 2-3 totes of something else which could offset the cost overall? My issue with that is it breaks down over time and needs to be replaced...
If it is for use in a system which incorporates growing beds the choice of media may not be too critical. If you have something called Hyrdoton which is an expanded clay ball media that may be as good as anything for the growing media but could also be used in a shower situation too. Yes, definitely stay away from the chinese shower media as it is an absolute waste of money - so brittle that you'd be lucky to get a few months out of it.
Glad you enjoyed the video. The size of filter and amount of media required will depend on the stock in the pond but I am assuming a heavy fish stock (koi?) so if you are going the DIY route something about the size of a standard wheelie bin would be great for a trickle filter. You'd need a UV before it of about 100w and the filter (if made from a wheelie bin or stacked boxes of similar size) would hold around 100kg of pumice which seems to be the best media for performance and price balance. What filter do you have on the pond at present?
Click 'SHOW MORE' for full video description + links - Watch in HD.
Decent set of 4 plastic boxes: geni.us/iGvq
Stronger option for larger filters: geni.us/tBdZg
Biohome and Pumice: www.filterpro.co.uk
The shower filter set up on outdoor aquarium: ruclips.net/video/EL9HR_Y3-40/видео.html
'How To' video showing the building of a very effective and extremely cheap shower filter for a fish pond.
The media types in this video are as follows:
Flocor = a very cheap and quite ineffective plastic media in any situation. Supports aerobic bacteria.
Large Hel-x = a quite effective plastic media for a shower filter but more suitable for a large moving bed filter. Supports aerobic bacteria.
Hel-x 13 = decent media for a shower filter but like other plastic media it only really supports aerobic bacteria. Good alternative to K1 in a moving bed filter as it has 40% more surface area per volume.
Gravel = it is definitely not the best natural media but is better than plastic. Supports mainly aerobic bacteria as it tends to be not very porous.
Alfagrog = A decent cheap ceramic media which does quite well in a shower filter. Good surface area but poor porosity so it takes ages to build up anaerobic bacteria. However it will support both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria when well established which could take a year or so to affect nitrates.
Pumice = a great natural filter media if the correct type is selected. The pumice I used in this video came from a supplier specialising in pumice for drinking water purification so it has an excellent reliable internal structure. Will support a decent balance of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria for nitrate reduction.
Biohome Ultra = A sintered glass filter media which was created for use in shower filters and large aquarium sumps. Effective in fresh or salt water and its internal structure is perfect for supporting aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in great balance so is the best choice if the aim of the filter is full cycle filtration (nitrate reduction).
I sell some of the media types above on my website here: www.filterpro.co.uk
FILMING EQUIPMENT:
Panasonic HC-VX870 geni.us/3UwE
Rode stereo microphone: geni.us/4OL
Rode deadcat mic cover: geni.us/1pmn
If you have found this video useful feel free to share it anywhere you think other people may benefit from viewing it.
Check out the nation of other aquatic videos on my channel.
Thanks for watching.
Pondguru.
@@Steves_fish Yes less is more as far as numbers of containers go but this video is simply to demonstrate that something can be made very cheaply using boxes bought from discount stores. My choice for a 'proper' sized shower would definitely be the traditional long containers and you're right - the smaller a system is the more need there is for overflow(s).
It's definitely good advice to have a spare similar sized pump for any system whether that is indoors or outdoors as it is the heart of the system.
Just finished putting this on my pond, 2500 litre raised sleeper goldfish pond. Have the pump connected to a pressure filter then on to the DIY shower which is 4 boxes high and has about 20-25 kilo of alfagrog. So delighted with it so far.
Mr.PondGuru just really wanted you to know that without your video I would have just ended up with a big muddy hole with adequate water. Now thanks to your filtration concept I finally have crappie, bream, and other sunfish actually breeding like drunk rabbits during the apocalypse! Thank you and God bless.
After watching this video decided to give this trickle filter a go.
What can I say absolutely brilliant, the difference after only 5 days running are amazing (just wish I could post before and after photos.
I used 3 sponges in top box then mature alfagog from my old filter in other 4 boxes, with a flow rate of 5000lph water is crystal clear without a uv purifier.
Great videos Pond Guru, become a bit of an addict during lockdown, not jealous of your pond at all.........😜😜
Thanks for explaining biological aspect and showing diff media types. Question: do all boxes in system contain same media as the one box you showed?
Didnt realize you were back at doing fish videos so glad you are. Something awesome to watch on youtube again. Thank you Pond Guru
+MA FishGuy I probably won't do many but I will definitely be spending less of my free time metal detecting so there will be a more varied amount of topics on the channel.
One thing which will be coming will be a quick-fire Q&A on aquariums and one on ponds too as hopefully those videos will save people trawling through all the older videos for information.
hands down the best pond filter build on RUclips!!!! beautiful pond too!!!
If you liked this one then you will love the one I will be making this week as it is portable and has a much smaller footprint (and uses the new shower media which takes up so much less volume than traditional media).
PLEASE can you tell us if all the boxes have the same inside, if not the box with the expensive stuff in it is that at the top or bottom of the stack? excuse the lack of education on this, but i am new to pond keeping.
Hey partner. Just wanted to drop in and say much obliged for this how-to. Your method, design and instruction saved our 1800 gallon koi pond here on the Gulf of Mexico. Anybody who cares about their fishstock can take what this fella has to say as the gospel truth. If you ever wind up in our neck of the woods down the trail, gimme a holler. I owe you a whole lotta longnecks and a touch of whiskey.
I've been working on aquarium/vivarium projects on a much smaller scale but I LOVED your video!! super informative and I love your accent!!! hello from a new fan from the US!!
+Desirae Collins Great, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. This one really seems to be doing well and has been well received by viewers so I will do more on pond filtration ideas, no worries.
I have the same question as Hannah-marie Donovan and other viewers ---Quote '
'PLEASE can you tell us if all the boxes have the same [media] inside, if not the box with the expensive stuff in it is that at the top of the stack? '
Fantastic video by the way, sooooo simple and very well explained. Love that you gave mm AND inches.
I know you don't do many fish ponds anymore but if I ever won the lottery I dream of you creating a beautiful pond in my dream garden zzzzzzzz :))
When I have a bad day I play the part several times from 15:28 to 15:34, tears in my eyes with laughter ... My day goes all the way hahahaha 😎😄
Great video. I wrote on a blog from which I'm a member about your system, which I copied. I didn't use boxes, but a plastic chest of drawers (5 drawers) and it is working perfectly. I don't use strong pumps, but two that don't use much electric and made two of these trickle filters, which are running for more then 8 months now. The pond was green, but it soon turned back to a very clear pond. In the beginning I had to change the soft filtermedia or wash it out a lot, but now maybe once a month.
Besides that I put an airstone connected to an airpump at one end of the pond, which is helping of course. Also I increased the filter time. I turned the filtering of at night, but now the pumps are running 24/7.
The water looks so clean that I use it to cool off, swim between my fishes and feed them by hand! By the way I live in Thailand, so one of the concerns here is algea. My pond is divided into one big pond and some smaller basins, which are carrying above water plants. That's the only place green algea is growing. In the big pond itself there is except for some kind of growth of a spungy thick layer of whatever that sits only where there is a lot of watermovement no visible growth of algea. The fish help maintaining this pond.
That sounds great and I'm glad you used the principle idea of the shower filter to achieve better water conditions - good stuff and thanks for watching.
can you pls tell which water pump you are using
The pump was either an old Oase Nautilis 3000 or an Oasis 3500. Both old pumps from my pond building days and I'm not sure they are made any more.
Made this with 2 boxes and pumice stone the other day works great! thanks for the vid mate.
One word ( Brilliant) thank you for sharing your knowledge.
spent a lot of time looking at different styles and actually purchased items for another type until I saw this video. luckily I can stilll return that bucket and try this. Thank you
every video I see from You, teach me more and more interesting things, just THANK U!!!
No worries, I'm sure there are other shower filter videos on RUclips but I always like to give my own experience of certain things - thanks for watching and appreciating the videos.
I have a 3-ft deep pond, and I could only see one inch below the surface with green algae, I made this filter and now I can see the bottom perfectly...only tip is don't forget to switch the pump off when it's freezing weather , as if it freezes in the box the pump will empty the pond by overflowing out of the side of the boxes
watching this in 2021 and such a great step by step build and has inspired me to build my own on my newly built indoor 1000 gallon koi pond 👍
finally made this filter for my koi pond(that i watched and learned how to make from you back in 2013 at 14yrs old) and it made a huge difference in a day!!!! thanks for sharing this.
No worries and that is awesome to hear. I'm glad when people have great filtration on their pond as the fish will benefit from that.
How did it hold up as I'm lokong at making 1 for my 1st koi pond at 11000 litres
@@AsavageMustache it held up well. But I eventually shut my pond down. I recommend painting the outside of the containers so it doesnt get sun damaged over time. Or put under shade if you can.
@@TheDeedsta appreciated
Awesome video. Thank you. I've seen a few others, but yours was detailed, visual, and straight to the point. Thank you.
No worries and I'm glad you found the video useful.
hi , so pleased you kept this video up . I'm just about to copy your shower , ive just ordered 3kg of your Biohome ultra from you . i'll be making up the shower box's over the weekend . Geoff
Very useful information and very well explained, love watching your videos and find them very useful with helping me and my new pond construction. Thanks for posting. Stephen
Brilliant detail until the last couple of minutes! Which box did you put the filters and media in? I'm assuming top one so you can easily access it to clean it, and then all boxes below just have media in them?
You are the man. What a great idea for a cheap filter. well done for a great video again.
Omg wow!!!, perfect for my 2,000 liter koi pond. Thank you.
This looks like a great DIY filter, I've seen a few on RUclips, but this may be one of the best (if not the best). I haven't made any of them though because I always have one question that never seems to be addressed in the videos...
How do you clean it???
The DIY filters often seem to be superior to anything you can buy for the money mainly because you can make it as good as you like. However, they all seem like they'd be difficult to clean. For this one, do you only clean the pads and leave the other media alone, or do you have to clean all boxes?
Also, how do I know how big of a pump I can use without overflow my DIY filter?
Hi, your video helped me a lot!!! Thanks so much.
Question: What water pump you use?
I love ..love love your video. They have been so much help. I've struggled with my koi pond now for years.. 6 or more keeping it clean and functioning, sad to say purchasing koi each year. l finally slowed down long enough to research the web and found your video.. yahhh. its so refreshing to find a successful way of maintaining my pond [ponding] ..lol. l was so jealous of the koi ponds i'd see when out at various Japanese Steak houses.. clean, clear water and huge koi...so that motivated me to do some research.. l plan to duplicate the system in this video with exact same size containers.. My pond outdoor pond is 5'x7'x1.5'. Are all the containers filled with bio-home media . if so how many pounds should i purchase for this system.
+bsessley55 It sounds like you are in the US. The US supplier of Biohome is www.greatwaveeng.com and he will be able to work out cubic inches and pounds needed no worries.
I am actually going to use only 2-3 containers for my 800 litre external aquarium and only one will have the biohome in. The other 1 or 2 will be filled with the pumice media as I will be keeping crayfish in the tank and I want the water to have an elevated pH and a good level of mineralisation for them.
Glad you enjoy the video and if by chance you're in the UK just give me details of the container sizes and I will work out how much you'll need no worries. If you're in the US Don from Greatwave can work out that and supply the media no problem.
i made mine 9 years ago never clean them always clean also i have a 100 gal stock tank as pre filter that's the one i flush once a week and fully clean once a year. i made a 1'' hole on each totes on the side on the top because shower needs good contact with air to make nitrates go down
always very good video pondguru. and nice explanation. again my fish tank working super good after I use you biohome media. no ammonia. also no nitrate and n. almost over one year. Regards Edwin
+Edwin Arroyo Great - that is exactly the outcome which should be achieved when a suitable amount is used so its good to hear. Thanks for watching and appreciating the videos.
Hey Rich good video as usual, I use bio home media and peat balls in my discus tank and I attribute some of my success to those two products enjoy all your vids
+walter otiepka Good to hear that things are going well. Unfortunately the quarry I get peat from is closed with no date to reopen so I can't get peat for the foreseeable future which is a real bummer as the peat balls were great.
Hi Richard, enjoyed watching your video, very good cheap one filter. You have many excellent ideas, going to check out your aquarium video now , very amusing cat. Just bought bio balls and ultra filter media. I've Having a lot of trouble with very high ammonia reading, done water changes over last four days. Reading was off the scale, but now down to 2.0 but still too high, I'm hoping the new media will get the anirobic bacteria going. Cheers from Dennis
+dennis frankland Ammonia should never be e problem with an aquarium once the filter has matured. The balls and new media will certainly help. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching.
Great video.
I see you put a bar in the bottom box on the outlet. I am having a 4 box shower and filling the first 3 with your media. Will I be ok just to have the tank connector on the bottom box as this will just be used as a settlement chamber
Thanks paul
Absolutely awesome where have you been I’ve been looking for a video like this for so long thank you so much one question what pump nobody talks about pumps
green standstill pond water....how about to get the pond water moving and use some UV-C light to make the green algue clump together so the filter can catch algue and you will get cristal clear water and the light wil kill tiny paracites aswell....and the sun can reach bottom of pond and you can se the fish down there aswell
+Richard skår I had a mega filter system planned for this pond but it is around 1,000,000 litres and would require way too much UV power to affect the water, plus the size of settlement chambers / mechanical waste removal would require something akin to a small treatment plant.
To you have to put filter in everybody that stacked we need 2 boxes so would it be filter on topbox then hole pipe bottom box Cheers great video from council kev uk
Matur sembah nuwun pakde tutore mantull ...😁👍
I absolutely love your videos, so helpful! I had an idea I'd like your opinion on. Last summer I hand dug a 10ft x 5ft x 4ft deep pond. Before this I've never even owner a fish tank. Now that the ice has melted I've noticed a good bit of leaves in my pond. My idea was to use my wet/dry vac with a mesh bag inside to vacuum out the leaves while letting the bottom port on the vac open so the water could flow right back out. I only have 5 large (roughly 10in) fish in my pond who always avoid where I'm working in the pond so no little ones to be sucked up.. Do you think this could work to do my spring cleaning of the pond? Or maybe links to your own videos on pond cleaning. Thank you!!
Very helpful!!! Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Hello mucker... loving all the vids... i have just built my first pond, only small as my garden is tiny... i used a icb container so just over 1000 litres... i have a pump and filter that does 5000 litres so should be ok but would you recommend adding a shower filter?? Ps do you still metal detect 🤩🤩
Will definitely be giving this a go. I'm sick of cheap and nasty ready made filters!
+Rachel Smith Best of luck with the build and thanks for watching.
Great video as usual. I was wondering if you could show a picture of what the pond water looks like before it goes in and what it looks like when it comes out. I would guess that as the system becomes more active those results will probably be better but it still might be interesting. What is the maintenance on a system like this. Do you just need to clean/rinse the media pads periodically or do you also have to do something with what ever media type you choose? Thanks again for an easy to follow and economical project.
+Thom Lindgren Problem is that flowing water always looks quite clean and the real test will be looking in at the foams after the filter has been running a while. It is going to be set up on my outdoor aquarium with a mixture of biohome and pumice filter media so once it has been running a while I will do a water test and take a look inside on a future video.
The foams should be the only things which need cleaning with the coarse and medium foams needing rinsing and muck removing. The fine white pad will be binned when it is clogged.
Although a filter of this type will clean the water and can reduce nitrates unless it has a UV fitted before it it's unlikely to act on a green pond which gets many nutrients.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
On every commercial filter I've seen, the water from the pond enters the media first, then passes through the foam mats. In this design those top mats would get clogged up in no time at all. So I'm assuming you don't put a filter mat in the top box, just media ?
Or you could put a coarse mat at the bottom of the top box, but that would be the same as the top of the next box down.
I'm going to make this and put my coarsest mat in the top of box 2, and finer mats in the top of each successive box. I'll also be putting a second outlet with a tap on (diverted away from the pond) for cleaning off the media.
PG...great design for little money, I could out one box on my aquarium, get your sponge kit and Biohome and it would be a great filter at low price...thanks for the cool idea
Yes it makes maximum use of minimal space and could easily be used on an aquarium. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Can you fit a drain to a timber raised pond
If you have fittings designed for use with liner then yes no problem. If you search 'bottom drain for lined pond' on google you will find suitable products.
Great video! I think it would be very interesting to see how this performs compared to say an Oase filtoclear, I would imagine when filled with Biohome that its filtering capability's are untouchable for it's price. I think this is defiantly going to be a summer project for me.
+ChRiSVII Even with alfagrog it will do an excellent job and with pumice it will do even better. Using biohome is kind of like saying to the filter 'if the water isn't perfect it's your fault' as it is better again.
I actually swapped out some of the biohome for pumice and that will be running in an upcoming video. I wanted the water to be a bit higher pH and mineralised for my aquarium and although the biohome offers the perfect balance of aerobic / anaerobuc bacteria the biohome wouldn't do raise pH or mineralise water. The pumice could well be a great choice for a large koi pond. where a huge filter is required and cost is an issue.
Nice one Richard I can't wait to see this secret project with that massive aquarium!
Hi PondGuru - love your channel!! Regarding this DIY-SHower-Trickle filter, do all the boxes need to have media in them, and if so, which ones go on the topbox (inlet), middle, and bottom box(output)? I will have a go using three boxes for my small pond... Cheers...
nice job and very cheap!, will try setting this up above the first bay in my bay filter, its deffo gotta help improve water quality !!
Yes it would definitely add much more biological action and help with pollutants. You don't need a mad flow rate going through it either.
I Assume that all the other boxes have the same filter material? Correct?
Awesome stuff!!! What makes the water crystal clear? Is it the bigger the pump? or the bigger the bucket? Thanks for the info...
I like your fabricating technique...use of the "calibrated eyeball"...
Thanks Richard another great filter example. Can you explain the benefit to separate boxes between the media. And why the shower effect between the boxes helps. Thanks D
+EastLondonKiwi Glad you enjoyed the video, man.
Having separate boxes allows the filter to be made bigger / smaller for the size of the pond but more importantly it increases the chance of the water being well spread across the area of media contact.
There is nothing wrong with a single chamber tall filter (like a wheelie bin) but there's a small chance the water would not cover all the media depending on the layout of media as water always takes the easiest route.
Hope that makes sense.
we built one today, it was just as easy as you said. thanks!
+evan bleumer That's excellent to hear - thanks for watching and appreciating the video.
Brilliant you are far from boring thats for sure ! thankyou so much just what i was looking for :-)
Oh and sorry about your finger hope all is well. Working in the cabinet field for ten years I know a little about those type of injuries. Good day.
+jim walsh I used to manufacture wooden products using a nail gun so have had plenty shot through fingers and thumb. Those ring shank nails take some pulling out, lol
im currently making a pond of 12500 liters how many tanks would i need for that ? loving your videos best iv found on the subject ty
Great filter my friend. Nice and neat as well . I will refer back to this video when building mine. Thanks.
+jim walsh Sounds good to me - glad you enjoyed the video.
fast easy and NO BULLSHIT....this is how it is done...good job with this video
Glad you enjoy the video and thanks for watching.
I have been waiting for this video in a long time. Wish I saw it when I started my pond
excellent delivery. i live your video. straight to the point and informative. thanks. thumb up.
No worries, glad you found it useful.
Great idea, that's the filter for my pond that I'm building this year !
Well done. Great viewing and well explained.
+colinbarsby No worries and I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
How's the water going into the bucket from the top thanks for your videos
I am very interested in your shower filter. However, you didn't say what filter material your put in the other four tanks. Thanks, Bill
A fantastic idea and a nice easy diy project. Thank you.
Ha great job - I guess that would work so well.
Don't think I could use that in my 250ltr aquarium though. The BioHome media is amazing, very quick to setup and I use it in all my systems..
+Ian Roughley Awesome to hear, man. A scaled down version of a shower filter could be installed coming out of an aquarium sump but as sumps are generally easily big enough for a good set up I reckon most people will only make shower filters for fish ponds.
Thanks for watching.
Great video. I've just acquired a large pickling drum to make a filter for my yet to build pond. Would you advise me to follow the same concept. For example: media, fine foam, med foam and course foam? Repeat repeat repeat? Would be a nightmare to clean. So maybe just lots of media at the bottom and the layers of foam on top?
Yes have all the foams on the top if you have a single container followed by the media underneath. That way the media will stay clean and the foam will be easy to clean.
I am intending to make a shower filter with a wheelie bin very soon and it will just be single chamber whit media filling 90% of it and layers of foams on top.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Loved the video! I am just getting going on my outside pond. This is probably a dumb question, but am I supposed to put media in the bottom box as well?
There is really no reason not to. It is a choice really. As for the amount of filtration you would have to run the figures on the size of your pond and the type and number of fish and then you could make an educated guess as to how much media you need.
Did I miss the part on connecting the pump ? ( From Vancouver )
I wish I'd seen this before I made my own diy filter Richard!
lol, that's always the way. I will be doing a few more DIY filter videos in the next few weeks with any luck.
I used a 100l waterbutt and the return from my Oase filter in a similar way to an external aquarium filter. Seeding it with your biohome ultimate. Your's was a much easier method!
Okay just about to do this. I got a few carbon pads and 3 grade media foam.
The boxes i got are see through. Is that a problem for beneficial bacteria or should i spray them black?
No they will be fine if they are clear. Some people swear that bacteria will only grow in the dark but that is nonsense.
thanks for the fast reply
Up and running, added some filter bacteria to kick it off, thanks for making this tutorial :)
Awesome -best of luck with that.
Just finished shooting another video about shower filters today.
Pondguru - Good Day. Love your videos. How can I add a UV filter to the DIY shower filter?
Hi. Youll know. I built one of these. Worked fine for months. For some reason now the filter is filling up slowly and overflowing the top? Any hints on likely causes please? No changes to flow rates etc, but something subtle is going on.
Hi great video I’m making one in a couple of days what I need to know is what is the name of the connection that goes for the inlet and outlet cheers
As far as I know it is just a tank connector (available in different sizes) but in the US they are called 'bulk head' fittings.
Pondguru hi what size is the inlet and outlet cheers
They were just bits I had lying around but I think the inlet was quite small (20mm) and the outlet was around 40mm (could have been 50mm?) Outlet would always be much bigger than inlet when water flows out via gravity.
Brilliant video, another question here. I have got hold of quite an amount of lava rock for use in gas grills to keep the heating. Where would you rank those for use as bio media compared to alfagrog, pumice, biohome etc?
Cheers
It is very similar to alfagrog - much heavier though as it can be very dense.
It is a sort of volcanic rock called 'scoria' and very much like the white pumice but the white pumice has a much more suitable structure for bacteria. The scoria is definitely not as good as white pumice or biohome but I'd rate it on par with alfagrog.
Great video. Any idea of the decibels of it running through? Sounds louder but might be the video.
+ThePepperford The loudest noise was from the water pouring back into the pond but that could be cut way down by piping it to the pond properly. The actual shower filter doesn't make much noise as the water is falling only a few cm onto either foam or filter media.
Thanks for watching and appreciating the video.
very clever what other amphibious species do you have in your pond
+ratrod diesels Apart from all the invertebrates there is a nation of Rudd, a few Roach, Golden Orfe, possibly Tench and Gudgeon but I think the Otter has nailed all of the carp based species unfortunately.
Great video thanks! So do you have the same media in all the chambers? Can anyone advise? Tnx
Wondering if this helps with the floating algae common in the northeast US these days. I have a very large (6 acre) pond that needs aerating and algae management. Would different media help? Adding UV lights perhaps?
built a pond that is just under 500 gallons that has a decent pump filter on it now with uv light and spray fountain for aeration but it also has a second hose valve that i would like to run to one of these. how many tiers do you suggest for a pond that size?
Great video, Currently in the midst of making one for our 12000gallon pond. Is every box filled with the same media? Also will this help clear Algae? Our pond should be named Emerald pond because of its color.
Hi Richard, do you have a video or instructions on how to design and make a simple homemade filter using the 44 gallon plastic blue drums? I have a 400 litre fish tank and find the 1200 litre/hr canister filter is not keeping up and not able to hold enough media to keep nitrate level low.
+Ted Nguyen I haven't done a video on making a filter from a large drum but the concept is exactly the same. Many people in the UK make moving bed filters from large drums but they would be better with a shower filter as moving beds seem to produce lots of nitrates.
For 400 litres it would be easier just to add another canister filter?
PondGuru, what a great video many thanks. I have a general question about filtration which, I hope you can help me with? shall i post it here or email you separately? Regards, Paul.
This is awesome, great video brother, thanks for the walk thru
I'm glad you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching.
Hi pondguru I'm new to pond keeping. I have been watching your videos . And wonder what pump you would use on the trickle filter. Many thanks.
Love the Panther - Could Lava Rock be used as a medium?
The stuff generally though of as lava rock (scoria) is decent but too macro-porous to support anaerobic bacteria well so you tend to get good ammonia and nitrite reduction but high nitrates (just like with most media) but the white pumice has a much more varied internal structure so can support both aerobic and anaerobic so you're in a chance of getting full cycle filtration using that type of lava rock.
Hi Richard Great video !! I am looking to build one of these for my pond . I am going to be using 27lt storage boxes very similar to what you have here .I am going to use pumice as the media for it the only problem I am having is trying to work out how much pumice to get .I want to use 4 times 27lt boxes and I can get 25kg of pumice could you help out with how much I would need to get Thanks Andy
Apologies for late reply, I've been on holiday the last week or so and internet access wasn't the best.
Each 25kg bag of 30mm-50mm pumice takes up approx. 40 cubic litres so if you have roughly 100 cubic litres to fill that would be 2.5 bags - allowing for foams and space in top of boxes I'd say go for 2 x 25kg bags then if you need more you can add it at a later date - it is also available in 10kg bags too.
I have drinking water quality pumice available here www.filterpro.co.uk but it is available in a variety of grades and prices online.
I always go for the best quality of anything I am going to buy or sell.
Hi Richard I'm going building an above ground pond 1000 gallon and am going building a shower filter like this one. Was going to use 15kg alfagrog in 2-3 32ltr bins with a Blagdon force 8000 pump. Do ya think this is enough filtration? Pond will only be lightly stocked with koi and goldfish
I made one exactly the same cost me £5 plus a few bits I've got lying around in the workshop I got two bags of alfagrog lying around. Might not look as good as the shop brought one but then again it didn't cost me hundreds of pounds
very educative and informative video,thank you! my question is ,what power head or pump did you use to suck in the water all the way up ? I am interested in building my own and better filters for the aquariums I have at home,the ones in the market are just very expensive and incapable of getting the job done quite well so I am searching for a better and also a cheaper alternative.
This one uses a spare Aquamax 16000 I had but really it would be fine with an 8000 pump as the water does not need to flow as fast as it is in this filter. Even a moderate flow will be just as effective.
Pondguru Outdoors
thank you!
Thank you. What is your opinion on the use of a diffuser over course gravel, over medium gravel, over sand as the medium then a seperator fabric over some small gravel to go around the drain pipe?
+Mark Kurtis Just about anything can be used as a media and that all sounds plausible but I would avoid using sand unless you have a very slow flow rate or the sand is very coarse.
This has been the best video to tell you how and what to do IV been doing a lot of looking you show how to do it and tell why to do it. They only thing need help with is the bacteria. I don't understand that. Or how to get that into my pond.
Bacteria is everywhere so don't worry too much about getting it in the pond. A simple way to add it to a filter is with the gel balls from EA as they dissolve slowly. A filter is only as good as the media and foams in it.
Here is what I am talking about: geni.us/WJTO
I’m thinking of doing this but instead of having them stacked underneath each other having them stacked in a staircase fashion so that I can grow plants out of the top do you think this will work?
Hi buddy! I was impressed by your demonstration but I still have a question. As I see your pond is large enough and its aeration is efficient, naturally by the winds. What if the pond was small, in the backyard for example? Do you think the simple showering on the outlet of the bottom unit will be enough for pond oxygenation?
Could you please tell me if you put the 3 filter pads in each tub ? Thanks... Love the videos...
+Matthew Lacy There is no need to do that as they only need to be in the top box but if you wanted to go for extra foams in the other boxes then go for it - as long as the first thing water hits is the foams the rest of the filter can be set up however you want, man.
Glad you enjoy the videos as I really like making any which help people.
Great video and I'm going to start this at the weekend. I have a small (500 gallon) above ground Koi pond and want to improve filtration which right now is mechanical to include bio. There are quite a few small Koi (12) in it and wondered if you think a three tier trickle filter would be big enough? I'm being very lazy here but can you tell me where you sourced the inlet and outlet connectors and pipe. The containers I got were from Poundland like you suggested and are the same size as the ones you used. Love all your pond videos so many thanks!
The inlet / outlet were from some old filters I had lying around from my pond building days and the best bet is to visit your local pond store and see what is available. Failing that a place which sells plumbing supplies should have the necessary tank connectors and pipes available.
Yes a 3 tier will be big enough for 500 gallons and I'd go for between 25kg - 50kg pumice for some serious filtration (if the boxes are big enough, the ones I had only held around 10kg)
cheers!
I have a 3/4 acre mud pond. There's 500 koi in it approx. 3-8 inches. It's 6-15' deep. Will this improve my pond? There's an evaporation and replacement going on every month during Spring-Fall months. I'm trying to raise Koi to get a full 30 plus inches and lots of them.
+Edward White The same idea would work but you would need huge filters. If the pond is well planted and has a natural feed replanishing it then it should be a self sustaining ecosystem with no need for extra filtration.
This is similar to the Bakki Shower filter.What is the difference between a Bakki Shower and a Trinkle filter?
after watching this i built one works great instead of using a spray bar in the top box i have a spinning garden water sprinkler
Sounds great - I'm assuming that you took the head off the sprinkler or it would get clogged up (assuming you had a solids handling pump)
hi the check valve on the input pipe has a gauge filter what do you think of drum filters what stops the jets being blocked does the drum filter act as a prefilter or do you need a prefilter to prefilter the drum filter best regards
A drum is an excellent filter and that is all you would need before a biological filter as they are self cleaning and remove very fine muck. As with most filters they are more efficient when used on a gravity fed system due to a pump chopping up muck into finer particles but a drum will still handle anything a pump can throw at it. They are very expensive but good. Jets on a drum filter would normally be fed from a pump at the end of the gravity filtering system (where water is cleanest) as far as I can remember but if if it is a pump fed system it may be attached to mains water?
thanks i used to make something nearly identical for plating nuts and bolts which were inside the drum with spray bars on the outside pumping the solution inside
Sounds like you've got the plan and skills for a successful drum...
I’m looking to build something similar to this for aquaponics setup. As a result I don’t need nitrate reduction just very good mechanical and nitrification media. I’m looking at somewhere around 275g tank with 100 or so fish with somewhere around another 500g or so of water between grow beds and sump tank. The fish tank will feed the sump and the sump will feed the grow beds, fish tank and filter. The sump will also be the return for the grow beds and filter. So roughly a little under 1000g. I’m looking to use a couple totes or boxes for nothing but lots of poret foams of 20ppi density. I will have gravel filled grow beds so I will got some filtration there but don’t really want to rely on that for filtration. The system I’m looking at will have approximately the same size tote boxes as this video.. how much media and of what type would you recommend. I know aquaponics is out of your experience but it’s still fish keeping where you don’t have to worry about nitrates to the same extent. So for 100lbs of fish with around 10g per fish total system what would be an effective and cost efficient media to us? I’d rather spend s few dollars on an extra box then several dollars more for better media.. my initial though was to use lava rock or lower grade Pumice from landscaping in stead of paying for regular aquarium media that’s costs $30-40 per gallon as I’m looking at likely needing 100g or so in media I need something I can bulk buy for a good price. I even looked to cheap ceramic rings and bio balls but I don’t think they will work when comparing amount to cost vs surface area needed.. your thoughts?
I'm not sure what is available in the US as I am in the UK so answering the 'what media should I use' question is never easy unless it's from the UK.
If you had been in the UK I'd have said go for alfagrog in the 40mm size as it is really cheap and better than most lava rock but I'm not sure it is available in the US. If you can get white pumice that would be a great one to go for if fish and plants liked pH above 7.5 as it mineralises the water and has a good internal structure - problem is it may help to reduce nitrate so the standard red / brown very dense lava rock 'scoria' would probably be a better choice. I know you guys have that over there.
Without knowing the size of the growing beds it's hard to guess at how much nitrate you'd need (plus I have little experience of growing plants / aquaponics) and although I'd normally say stay away from any plastic media if it is enough to eat up the ammonia and nitrite and the plants are taking up the nitrate it's all good. A moving bed would be most efficient for removing ammonia and nitrite but I don't know how much K1 or similar is over in US so it may not be an option.
Pondguru that’s plenty of response.. I wasn’t expecting a detailed list of best to worst.. we have all you mentioned here. The grow beds will be 4’ x 8’ and roughly 8” worth of gravel deep. The reason I don’t want to go with considering the grow beds for media space is cause I’m going with plain old river pebbles which really won’t provide much surface area. Ideally I would go with a moving bed filter however the shear amount I need and the cost of it plus the additional cost of a high end air pump is more then I want to put into it. As for the pumice that was my first though was to get garden grade pumice and just use that. I was unaware that it buffers the ph a little.. plants like 6.6-6.8ph ideally so having a 7.5 buffer is a no go. I do want something that will mineralized well as I don’t want to have to add a mineralization filter which many do and I see as something not needed when I can get it through trapped detritus breaking down in the poret foam or other ways.. I also want efficient and low maintenance.. what would be your thoughts on nothing but poret foams in a trickle filter? Clearly I’d have to build a really good spray bar system to get proper wetting through that much foam unless I went with a traditional closed cell foam pond filter that can wick and stay moist.. that would be cheaper but again I was looking for low maintained and the closed cell structure of regular foams I thick would clog up too easily and reduce flow and possible give denitrification through big pockets of mulm collected.. my issue is looking at normal media choices for filtering I’m looking at almost the same cost as the entire system. So what I’m looking for is something I can buy a lot of very very cheap or something that will work just as well in a smaller amount where total cost balances out.. I’m trying to stay away from the cheap Chinese bokki media’s. Bioballs and cheap ceramic rings are cheap up to a certain quantity but at the amounts I’m looking at will actually be expensive.
I actually think ehiem Substrat pro would possibly be a good choice as it’s fairly cheap compared to the amount of surface area and due to construction can help mineralize waste for plants.. this would be an example of something I think could be used to replace 2-3 totes of something else which could offset the cost overall? My issue with that is it breaks down over time and needs to be replaced...
If it is for use in a system which incorporates growing beds the choice of media may not be too critical. If you have something called Hyrdoton which is an expanded clay ball media that may be as good as anything for the growing media but could also be used in a shower situation too.
Yes, definitely stay away from the chinese shower media as it is an absolute waste of money - so brittle that you'd be lucky to get a few months out of it.
great video! I have a 6000 gal pond and wondering how many trays and what size pump to use for trickle filter?
Glad you enjoyed the video.
The size of filter and amount of media required will depend on the stock in the pond but I am assuming a heavy fish stock (koi?) so if you are going the DIY route something about the size of a standard wheelie bin would be great for a trickle filter. You'd need a UV before it of about 100w and the filter (if made from a wheelie bin or stacked boxes of similar size) would hold around 100kg of pumice which seems to be the best media for performance and price balance.
What filter do you have on the pond at present?