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Another Project

© Vicki Paull

How can a filter work too well? I decided this because the Water Hyacinth I had in the pond starved to death. Even though I would take them out of the pond each week and let them float in fertilized water they did eventually turn yellow and die. Of course, the pond was crystal clear and beautiful, but I want to raise Water Hyacinth. The dilemma was how to balance the filtration with the desire for floating plants. I came up with the system I used this year and it met my needs very well. I had clear water and grew all the Hyacinth I could stand!

Most bio-filters start with a basic plastic garbage can. This will effectively filter a fairly large pond. Mine is only about 350 gal. so I decided to use a much smaller basin. A trip to a local discount store yielded a large plastic patio planter and a bag of lava rock. A trip to the hardware store resulted in several feet of hose, silicone sealer, blue furnace filter and plastic "egg crate," the stuff used in large flourescent light fixtures. A red brick will also be needed. The tools used are; tin snips, a drill and drill bits to match the OD of the hose you use to connect the pumps outlet to the filters inlet.

I decided to have the water enter the filter from the bottom up. Experimentation has proven to me that the water clears more effectively if it "percolates" up through the filter medium. So place the brick in the bottom, using the tin snips cut a piece of the egg crate to fit inside the container and lay it on top of the brick. Just above the egg crate drill the inlet hole. At this time it would be wise to use the silicone and stabilize the egg crate, just use a few blobs on the corners to fix it to the sides of the container. Now is also the time to determine how the water will exit the filter. In my case I located the filter as the head of my falls so I drilled several holes near the top of the filter to allow the water to splash out, onto the stones below. It is a good idea to do a trial run at this point to make sure the outlets are sufficient. So stuff the hose into the inlet, attach the other end to the pumps outlet position the filter and turn the system on. Watch for leaks, and overflow. If there is overflow drill another hole or two, if there are leaks then the silicone sealer should be used to stop them.