How To Set Up A Sand Filter Pump

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While there are commercial swimming filter systems you can purchase, many people choose to build their own to salvage money. You can put together a surprisingly capable pond filtration organization using commonly found household tools and a few components purchased from your local aquarium supply or pet store.

1. 1

   Get a bucket or trash tin with a sealable lid. Having a sealable lid will help keep other debris from falling into your filter material and forbid the filter from flood if information technology starts to bleed slowly.^[1]

   • 5 gallons (xix L) buckets with sealable lids are bachelor at about hardware and large retail stores and make for great filter housings.
   • Y'all tin can likewise use similarly sized trash cans or Tupperware containers equally long every bit they take a sealable lid.

2. ii

   Purchase a water pump if you don't already take ane. If you lot have a water pump in your pond for circulation, that pump should suffice. Otherwise, purchase a adept quality pump that's rated for the size of your swimming. Most pumps are rated in terms of how many gallons your pond tin can hold. If you are unsure, you tin find pond calculators online to aid yous make up one's mind your pond's size in gallons based on its measurements.^[two]

   • You don't need to buy a new pump if you accept one for circulation already.
   • You lot can utilise either a submersible pump or one that's meant to remain out of the water with a line that goes into the swimming.

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3. three

   Lay out where the pump and filter volition be located in relation to the pond. In order to determine how much hose you need to buy, place the plastic container that will concur your filter and the h2o pump where you lot intend them to exist one time you're finished. And then use a measuring tape to determine how much hose y'all'll need to run 1 line from the pump to the filter, and another from the filter back into the pond.^[3]

   • It'south best to position your filter and pump in a shady location. If you can place them under some sort of shelter, that is optimal.
   • A submersible pump is meant to exist placed in the water, whereas a non-submersible pump should be placed next to the filter with the inlet hose placed in the water.
   • Keep the filter and pump as close to the water as possible to reduce the amount of hosing the water needs to run through under the pump's power.

4. four

   Purchase safe hose to connect the filter to the water pump. Mensurate the diameter of the outlet nozzle on your water pump, then accept that measurement to your local hardware store. Buy safety hose of that inside bore in enough length to run from where the pump will be placed to where you want to position the filter itself. Then purchase another length of hose for the render line.^[four]

   • Keep the measurement for the hose then know what size hole to cutting in the lid.
   • Your pump may have come up with the necessary hosing already.

5. five

   Cut a pigsty in the lid of the container that'due south just large plenty for the hose. Apply a drill with a hole-saw fleck of the same diameter as the hose to drill a pigsty through the hat for the hose. If y'all don't have a drill and the lid is a thin enough material, puncture it with a knife. Identify the chapeau on the saucepan and printing the knife down through the lid where you lot intend to run the hose. Once the knife punctures the plastic, utilize it to saw a pigsty in the lid of the approximate size and shape of the hose.^[five]

   • If yous don't have a drill, brand sure to use a sturdy utility knife for cutting the plastic, rather than a thin kitchen knife.
   • A drill with a hole saw is the recommended way to make the pigsty.

6. vi

   Drill a hole in the side of the container for the water outlet. Make the pigsty the same gauge size the acme one, which should be a snug fit for your hose. The water will flow in from the superlative, pass through filter media, and then render to the pond via an outlet hose. Cull a spot on the side of the container well-nigh 1 inch (two.v cm) from the bottom and use the hole-saw bit on your drill to create an outlet hole.^[6]

   • Drill the hole near the base of the container, as far down it every bit you tin can go.
   • Remove any debris created by drilling from the within of the container once yous're done.

7. 7

   Insert the hoses and seal them with a fish-friendly sealant. Insert the end of 1 hose into the hat and apply a sealant meant for utilize with aquatic wildlife around the top and bottom of the hole to create a waterproof seal. So practise the same with a length of hose for the hole nearly the bottom of the container.^[vii]

   • Y'all tin can purchase fish-friendly sealant at larger pet stores or on specialized websites.
   • Read the instructions on the sealant you choose to know how long it needs to cure before you lot tin can move forrard.

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1. 1

   Pour a layer of red lava rocks into the bottom of the container. The lava rocks will serve as both a means of filtration and a way to concur your other filter media up away from h2o return nozzle at the bottom of the container. The layer of lava rocks should be but deep enough to cover the pigsty for the return hose.^[viii]

   • Y'all tin purchase red lava rocks at nigh aquarium supply stores or large pet stores.
   • Fill the lesser of the container with lava rocks until the return hose is hidden beneath them.

2. 2

   Cut filter textile to match the shape of the container. Filter material often comes in rolls and is made out of layers of coarse and fine fabric. Unroll it and trace the general shape of the container onto the filter material. Cut the shape out and then repeat that procedure three more than times until you lot take at least 4 layers of filter fabric to place in the container.^[9]

   • You lot can purchase the water filter material at aquarium supply stores or on specialized websites.
   • If yous can't observe filter material, you lot tin also utilise a mesh laundry bag filled with household sponges.

3. 3

   Place the filter material over the lava rocks. Lower a layer of filter cloth into the container and position it apartment on top of the red lava rocks. And so place each additional layer on acme of the previous one and so the water has to pass through multiple layers of it before reaching the lava rocks.^[x]

   • If y'all have problem getting the filter material to stay on top of the rocks, y'all tin add a layer of the metal screening you used at the end of the inlet hose to make it stiffer.
   • If you used a laundry handbag and sponges instead, make sure the bag and sponges completely cover the lava rocks.

4. 4

   Seal the top of the container with the hat. The hat will preclude any debris from falling into the filter while also preventing overflow if the filter drains slowly. One time the lid is on the filter, move information technology to where you intend to set it up.^[11]

   • Make sure to seal the lid once you put it on.

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1. 1

   Attach a plastic screen to the end of the input hose on the pump. The water pump you put into your pond has an input hose that draws the water in. Apply the same fish-friendly sealant you used to seal the hoses to the container to glue a metallic screen to the terminate of the input hose to stop it from sucking up large debris. Wrap the screen around the cease of the hose and and then utilise the sealant to gum it in place.^[12]

   • You can use any pliable screen material, including the screening commonly used for windows.
   • Buy the screen at your local hardware store.

2. 2

   Connect the pump to the filter inlet. Attach the hose running from the lid of the filter to the outlet on your water pump. Place a hose clamp on the hose before you connect it, then employ a Phillips caput screwdriver to tighten the clench over the hose and outlet nozzle to ensure information technology'due south secure. At this phase, the pump is not connected to power, so it won't function yet.^[13]

   • Place both the pump and the filter at the swimming's edge in one case they're connected.

3. 3

   Identify the water pump in or near the pond and position the filter next to it. If the pump is not designed to be submerged, position information technology in a covered spot near the water's edge and simply submerge the inlet hose. Place the filter nearby on the water's border. When you plow on the pump, water volition flow through it and into the filter.^[14]

   • Submerge the screened end of the inlet hose in the water.
   • Read the package your pump came in. It will conspicuously specify if your pump is meant to exist submerged in h2o.

4. 4

   Run the filter return hose back into the pond. The lower hose on the filter will allow the filtered water to return dorsum into the pond. But orient the filter so the hole points toward the pond and run the hose from the hole into the water.^[fifteen]

   • This hose returns the clean water to the swimming afterwards it'south been filtered.
   • Position this hose every bit far abroad from the pump'southward inlet hose as yous can.

5. 5

   Connect the pump to power and switch it on. Plug the pump into a power source like an outdoor wall outlet. With the pump running, water will move into the top of the filter, pass through the filter material and lava rocks, and back out the render hose.^[xvi]

   • It may accept a few minutes for the h2o to fill the container enough to begin pouring out the return hose.
   • If water completely fills the container and does not exit from the return hose, the outlet is blocked by the lava rocks. Disassemble the filter, clear the outlet, and attempt again.

6. 6

   Make clean the filter media every calendar month. Open the lid of the filter and remove the filter material. Rinse it thoroughly and then remove the lava rocks. Use a hose to rinse them off completely and and then put both filters dorsum into the container.^[17]

   • If the swimming is very muddied, clean the filter every ii weeks instead of every month.
   • Replace the filter fabric if information technology becomes too dirty to allow water to pass through.

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Add together New Question

• Question

  How can I get rid of algae in my pond?

  

  Scott Johnson is the Owner and Lead Design Consultant for Concrete Creations, Inc., an award-winning landscape and pattern visitor based in the San Diego, California metro expanse. He has over 30 years of experience in the pool and landscape structure industry and specializes in big manor outdoor environment construction projects. His piece of work has been featured in San Diego Home & Garden Magazine and on Pool Kings TV Evidence. He earned a BS degree in Construction Management with an emphasis in Compages and CAD blueprint from Northern Arizona Academy.

  

  Landscape & Pattern Consultant

  Expert Answer

  

  Support wikiHow past unlocking this expert respond.

  You can always aspect algae in a pond to the sun. If you desire to get rid of the algae but you don't want to impale whatever fish or anything, get an algicide that's safe for fish and it'll work just fine. In the spring and summertime, you almost always become an algae bloom, which is totally normal. Don't freak out about those blooms, just use a dose of the algaecide and you'll be fine.

• Question

  What (if anything) prevents the pump intake from bottleneck? Practise I need to put in any kind of screen?

  

  I put my submersible pump inside an upside-downwards plastic mesh waste basket (from the Dollar Store), and so wrapped the exterior of the basket with nylon window screen. Over the form of the summer I typically have to remove the screen twice and rinse it off with a garden hose. This keeps the pump intake from clogging and reduces the number of times the filter media has to be inverse equally well.

• Question

  What filtration material do I use for this organization?

  

  You can add Bio-Balls, Bio-Rings, carbon packs, rock and sponge pads, which you use in your aquarium filters. You must layer them on pinnacle of each other.

• Question

  Can fish survive on aquatic plants alone?

  

  Yep, they tin can. But consider more plants than fish, as they will swallow some of the plants.

• Question

  How exercise I build an overflow in a pond?

  

  Apply 5-inch schedule 40 PVC white pipe, dig a trench on the side of the pond to the tiptop you lot want the h2o, utilize 5 sections of x feet long piping and bleed it off into a lower area.

• Question

  What size pump will I demand to pump almost 300 gallons?

  

  It depends on how fast yous want to pump that 300 gallons and how loftier. Read different pump specifications to see their rated GPH (gallons per hour) and pumping heights.

• Question

  Can this filter organization go on the outside of the swimming?

  

  Yes, that is the intention, this filer arrangement is not recommended to exist placed inside the pond itself. But the pump that pumps water into the filter must be kept in the pond at all times unless being cleaned (must be turned off for this), to avoid the pump burning out.

• Question

  Where can I get connectors for intake?

  

  But utilise a piece of screen door screen over the hose terminate, secure it to the hose with zero ties or picture framing wire later covering the screening with pantyhose from a dollar store.

• Question

  How do I clean the filter?

  

  You just demand to rinse the filtration media with swimming water.

• Question

  What are bio assurance and bio rings? Can fifty make those also?

  

  They tin't be made. They are unremarkably bought and used to intermission down fish waste.

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Things You'll Need

• H2o pump (if you don't already have one)
• Plastic container with a sealable lid
• Rubber hose
• Drill with pigsty-saw chip
• Fish-friendly sealant
• Cherry lava rocks
• Filter material

Nigh This Article

Article Summary X

To build a pond filter system, purchase a resealable, lidded garbage bin, a rubber hose, and a h2o pump. Then, position the bin and pump relatively shut to where they will be in the pond, and cut a pigsty in the lid of that bin that'southward just large enough for the safe hose to fit into. Next, drill a hole in the side of the container for a water outlet, and seal the hoses into the openings with an animal-condom sealant. Finally, fill the bottom of the container with a layer red lava rocks and a layer of filter material cut to fit the bin over height of the rocks. For tips on installing the filter in the pond, read on!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Pond-Filter-System

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