Topic: which pond filters?

[Mark /\]

Hello everyone hope you've had a merry xmas. I have been a member for a while now and tend to just read replies and lurk around anyhow I moved into my house 2 years ago and have spent a lot of time creating two new gardens from scratch. I also made a small wildlife pond about september.

So this year I want to build a raised pond at the side of my patio about 6ft x 5ft and 4ft deep   mainly for goldfish and a few other fancy fish. I have been looking around the net and have noticed a lot of pressurised UV filters in the sales.I narrowed my choice down to three models which I think are suitable

Lotus Green Genie Pressure Filters with UVC (model PF5000) for ponds up to 5000 litres

TETRA PRESSURISED UV 5000 Model for ponds up to 7000 litres

Hozelock Bioforce 4500UVC for ponds up to 4500 litres (about£72.00)

I am leaning towards the first two filters as they seem to have good cleaning systems.
Does anybody have these?
Are they any good?
Do you really not have to clean the filters out as it says?

Thanks for your time and help.

[glow777]

Mark cant answer myself but a fish keeping friend had problems with the tetra model and had to exchange it. Not sure if this was his fault or theirs but he did say the company was very friendly and offered good advice. To me good product support is worth a lot.

BTW is 1969 the year of your birth (like mine) or is there another reason for 11110110001

[Mark /\]

no its the year I was born in as well. I can't wait to get started on building my pond got so many ideas
floating around my head, waterfall, plants and fish just got the hard part to do now and build it.

[manicscousers]

son in law and ray built this one last year, now got mature plants and fish in, waterfall, rocks at the back, dog trying to get in !! good luck,
funny, he had the same problem with a tetra, again, they exchanged it, no problems since, maybe it was him   :)

[tim k]

you would be better off going for a conventional filter cloverleaf f20d should do it i would also go for a back up UV of about 25 watt this combined with the f20's UV would be more than enough

they take about 20 mins maintenance a week
1 hour once a month

simple to use and fit

they don't look as modern as the filters you have mentioned but will keep the water crystal clear once they are live

[Mark /\]

Happy New Year everyone. Cheers tim always good to hear another point of view, will look up on the net about what you said and hopefully get a filter ordered quickly.

[Margaret]

Hi Mark.When we had our raised pond built,about 8 years ago,the person who built it installed a pressure filter.Mainly so it,and the pipes, could be hidden from view.But we never got on with it.It needed constant cleaning,and i always had to ask hubby to help instead of doing it myself,as in a conventional box type,which i have on my larger pond.The raised pond is larger that your intended one but not as deep.Maybe things have moved on since then as in size,choice etc but i hated it.

We then tried a box filter with the pipes over the edge of the pond.It worked better and the UV coped better but  it was unsightly,no matter what we did to hide it.

Then last year i found a new pump,filter and Uv in one.It goes on the bottom of the pond so you have nothing to have to hide.It allows a nice fountain,with a choice of heads.My pond has a lot of fish in it but as it well matured and has plenty of healthy plant life,it needs cleaning about once a week.There are 2 sizes and you would need to work out overall gallonage to decide which is best.

here is a link to the said filter

http://www.pondsuperstores.com/index.php?cat=Hozelock_EasyClear_All_in_Pond_Pump_Filtration&ActinicSID=d51ef3639ee118353211029a5fa4bad7