Koi-Lo wrote:

"Snooze" wrote in message
m...

"Koi-Lo" wrote in message
...

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For an easy quick-to-make easy to clean filter you can wrap a Beckett
pump loosely in window screen and drop it into a 2g black flower pot.
Fill pot up with pea gravel, drop in pond, plug it in.... VOILA! :-)


Why on earth would you suggest pea gravel?


Because everyone can easily find it everywhere. The smaller the better.

Might as well suggest lava

rock...It's got an incredibly poor surface area to mass ratio,
difficult to clean and you end up spilling the pea gravel in the pond
anyways.


Sorry but I haven't had any problems like that. I also use lavarock but
it's harder to clean as it clogs.

If you're going to buy window screen material to wrap the pump, buy a
few more yards and cram as much of it as you can into the pot.


That will also work. :-)

It's light,

fairly inexpensive and a breeze to clean. Just lay it out on the lawn
or sidewalk, and blast with a hose.


I've had the screen come up and not stay in the pots so have switched to
plain small pea gravel. The pea gravel's weight also keeps the filter
pot in place.

I won't comment on the suggestion of beckett pumps, since brand and
pump choice is a religious issue.


So if I understand correctly I could probably use the existing pump (if
it still works) and create my own cannister filter equivalent. The other
alternative is to go out and buy something which I may well have to do
if the old pump doesn't work. In which case I probably would go for
something like 2pods suggests and save myself the work.

I'm not sure what window screen material is but I'm guessing it is a
type of foam which would work great as a pre-filter. Then combine it
with pea gravel or similar for biological filtration...then finish up by
pumping it up to the veggie filter. Have I got the concept right?

I'm guessing that the bio-load of 3 shubunkin won't be excessive in a
pond of this size and that planting it up will help with things...

Thanks
Gill