Pond Filters – Two Important Types of Pond Filters

Pond filters are an important asset for anyone who is enthusiastic about water gardening. They help you keep the water in your ponds safe for your garden life so that you can worry about other important things like feeding your Koi fish or tending to your ground gardens.

Most people starting out in water gardening usually overlook an important fact which is the quality of the water in their ponds. They spend endless hours ensuring the décor around the pond itself is meticulous and end up loosing their water plants and fish due to water contamination.

Water gardens can get contaminated in a number of ways. First, debris such as leaves from trees might fall onto the pond and over time lead to a massive build up of bacteria and other microbes as they rot. Also, since you have to feed your fish, any excess food might end up acting as nutrients for algae which are known to thrive in still waters. These algae in certain concentrations are poisonous not only to your fish but also your aquatic plants. Your pond supply might at times also have chemicals that have washed into the water upstream and this might be harmful to your water life.

Pond filters have been designed to deal with any conceivable water contamination source by removing harmful microbes and chemicals from your water on a regular basis to keep the water fresh. There are numerous types of pond filters available for water gardeners to choose from. However, two types stand out as favorites because of their effectiveness.

There are the bio-pond filters. These pond filters use harmless micro-organisms to keep your water garden fresh. The living organisms are usually introduced to the pond through the water supply system or through a pond pump if one is available. The application of the pond filter is known as priming and since these microbes take sometime to act, this type of method of pond filtration is used as a preventive rather than curative measure. These filters come with instructions from the manufacturer that you need to follow strictly to avoid contaminating the water by over application. The microbes cleanse and purify the water by feeding on most algae and other scum causing pollutants.

A more popular type of filter is the UV pond filter. These pond filters are more advanced and use the power of the sun to rid you water gardens of any harmful microbes. These filters absorb the ultraviolet rays from the sun, concentrate them and target them at the harmful micro-organisms in the pond. This is usually done through a system of UV bulbs which can be lit at night to also provide some form of lighting in your water gardens. The advantage of using UV pond filters is that they deal with the predominant pond contaminants, which are algae, more effectively than any other filtration system.

So to ensure your ponds stay clean not only on the outside but also on the inside, use one of these environmental friendly pond filters.

Jen Rosado is the author of this article on UV Pond Filter. Find more information on PVC Pond Liners here.