Duck pond filtration advice?

[egraham]

I'm going to be upgrading from a kiddie pool to a larger preformed pond for my ducks. I've been looking at different pond filters but have doubts they can keep up with duck poop.

Any recommendations on filters or DIY filters that can keep a duck pond clean?

 

[cavemanrich]

You are stuck somewhere between a stone and a hard spot. (jokingly of course) when it comes to effective filtration. First thing to consider is naturally the number of ducks. The more ducks,,,,,,,, the harder the filtration effort. I would suggest a small swimming pool filter. Try to find one that uses sand as filtration medium. The cartridge type will drive you to the poor house in replacement costs. JMO. The sand type can be reverse flushed and used over and over. You may consider changing sand as often as you deem necessary. This filter will only remove more or less solids. The water will turn cloudy compared to fresh fill and will still need to be replaced/refilled as needed. There are youtube videos about home made filters. They look home made and get quite large in size. (garbage barrels) I am sure they do work to a certain degree.
WISHING YOU BEST and

 

[egraham]

That's a really good idea! And prob not anymore expensive than a good pond filter. Thanks!

 

[Meg Muir]

@egraham Did you ever come right with a pond filter? How many ducks do you have?

 

[egraham]

Yes! I bought a sand swimming pool filter. The hardest part was adapting the connections to the pond but fortunately pvc parts are inexpensive. I'd do it a little different if I did it again but it saves me a ton of labor and my newest additions love playing in the rapids the filter creates!

 

[egraham]

Oh and I can actually leave it off during the day then give everything a good stir at night and its pretty darn clean by morning. Next challenge was algae but 2 $5 pouches of barley straw took care of that.

 

[Meg Muir]

Oh that's great! I cannot find barley straw bales anywhere here in South Africa. It's a nightmare. I have 4 muscovy's and have a bath tub in their pen. I built a bio filter using household materials and a bit of fish tank media and seem to have gotten it right.

 

[egraham]

Maybe you could order them online? I found them at my local farm store. They are literally just quart sized burlap bags stuffed with barley straw. You could prob order barley extract if you can't find the straw.

 

[Meg Muir]

The pool we converted (at the start of our drought to avoid water usage) into eco pool / duck play ground for during the day is about
50 000ltrs.... that's alot of extract.... :-D

 

[egraham]

I guess so! My pond is only 145 gallons so 2 small pouches does the trick.