"ken" wrote in message
s.com...
I am in the midst of making my own pond filter. I was going to use
charcoal brickets from the barbeque. A friend advised me to be
careful. Does anyone out there know if this is a good idea or not? If
not, what are the possible substitutes?
Thanks for all your help.
--

Charcoal briquets are just dust charcoal held together with some kind of
glue - personaally I think they make food taste funny so I never use them &
I certainly wouldn't put them in a pond filter - I would have thought they'd
disintegrate.

The easiest/cheapest thing to do is to get some of that black corrugated
hose they sell for pond pipework - about 1/2 or 3/4" dia should do. Chop it
up into pieces an inch or so long and stick them in the filter. All you are
looking for is as much surface area for bacteria to grow on as possible but
without making it so dense that the filter will clog. I've read of people
using chopped up drinking straws - but I think it would be quite a loabour
intensive thing to try & do!

I.