New multi stage filter for pond

[wui39]

Hey guys just wondering what you would make of this:

I'm going to build a new filter for my pond and i wanted to make it a multi stage filter. The first stage was going to be a vortex like system where the water enters a round 55L Sabco garbage bin and it literally spins in a cyclonic fashion. I thought this might be a good way of getting the heavier particles in the water to spin and then settle at the bottom of the filter. From here the water would output into another container where it would be run through scoria or similar substance before going back into the pond. Any ideas to improve the system?

Thanks

[Ben]

I think some filter wool first up to catch the large particles will make your life much easier. I use to use scoria as a pre filter and it worked really well. The problem was it is so hard to clean without killing all the bacteria. I ended up replacing it with filter matting.

If you don’t use some type of filter wool no matter what you do the large particles will end up all the way through your filter over time. Making the filter maintenance much harder than it should be.

When I was running scoria as my pre filter I had to clean the hole filter every month or so. Now with the filter wool as the pre filter I only clean the rest of the filter once every 6 months.

The pipe you can see is the input from all the tanks. The water passes the scoria before entering the main filter. The problem is when you clean the filter everything in the scoria washes through the rest of the filter unless you turn the filter off first, which is a pain when you are running a reef system.

You can see the green filter matting in the chamber to the right. That same matting is now occupying the entire area where the scoria and heaters use to be. Making it much easier to clean.

HTH