Would anyone suggest a good low-wattage pump & filter setup for an
outdoor water garden? I've got a plastic tank with about 18 gallons
in it, covered with plants, and including some tadpoles. I'd like to
aerate and filter this stagnating pool of life. Any suggestions?
Everything must be situated outdoors, and it never freezes here in San
Francisco.

Thanks.

I'd look into spitters that are sold for
bird baths. Sounds like it might do the
trick. Some of them are solar operated
if I remember.
Probably don't need to filter if you have
lots of plants and a few tadpoles.

k :-)

In article . com,
RG wrote:

Would anyone suggest a good low-wattage pump & filter setup for an
outdoor water garden? I've got a plastic tank with about 18 gallons
in it, covered with plants, and including some tadpoles. I'd like to
aerate and filter this stagnating pool of life. Any suggestions?
Everything must be situated outdoors, and it never freezes here in San
Francisco.

Thanks.

Aquarium store for a pond that size would be best best. I would think a
very small submergeable pump with a pre-filter (foam piece) on the end.

You'll still be cleaning it.

I don't think you will get really good filtration on a pond that size
unless you configured your pond like an aquarium and had an external
filter. A small external pump will need some protection from rain (they
usually aren't rated for outsdoors use).

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On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:18:11 CST, RG wrote:

Would anyone suggest a good low-wattage pump & filter setup for an
outdoor water garden? I've got a plastic tank with about 18 gallons
in it, covered with plants, and including some tadpoles. I'd like to
aerate and filter this stagnating pool of life. Any suggestions?
Everything must be situated outdoors, and it never freezes here in San
Francisco.
Thanks.

I have several pots of that size and I'm just using a cheap air pump and
air stones. You could get a small submerged filter that works on an air
pump also. That would probably be the cheapest wattage wise, and
purchase-wise to go. Most likely all you need is to churn up the surface
to get rid of the scuzz. :-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Hi RG,

We used to live in Piedmont and my Dad built a pond with his Dad in
1935 in Berkeley. In all our years there, we only saw frost once.

With 18 gallons, you have an outdoor aquarium. Others will no doubt
have a better set of recommendations than I s to the best filter for
today. When I had an outdoor 20 gal tank (in Florida), we used a sub-
sand filter hooked up to an oversized (for a 50 gal tank) external
filter in which we had a filter sponge. The sub-sand was set up to
help clean the tank and the sponge was easy to pull, squeeze out and
replace.

The crucial piece for us was to protect the electrics. If I had it to
do today, I might use a powerhead in the tank so I would only have to
protect the plug.

Let us know what you decide.

Jim

a 20 watt maxi jet 100 in a bucket filter would work.
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/c...re.html#BUCKET
put in different mesh filters. I see somebody is offering a bucket
filter online when I googled "bucket filter" with the quote marks.
Ingrid

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:18:11 CST, RG wrote:

Would anyone suggest a good low-wattage pump & filter setup for an
outdoor water garden? I've got a plastic tank with about 18 gallons
in it, covered with plants, and including some tadpoles. I'd like to
aerate and filter this stagnating pool of life. Any suggestions?
Everything must be situated outdoors, and it never freezes here in San
Francisco.

Thanks.