Is there no store bought filter

[babybaits]

My son has 7 (soon to be 3) ducks that he built a pond for. As usual, he got himself into something without doing research so now it's my job to try to figure out a plan to filter it. From what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be a store bought filter that will do the job well enough. I told him it seems that pumping the water out (he already has a good pump) every so often seems to be the best solution. Am I right and how often should he do it? I'm not good at sizing something so I'll post a pic. About half of it (maybe a little less) goes down about 2 feet. The other half gets more shallow.

 

[ProudRedneck]

Here is what I have seen some have success with and what I am currently using. I'm using the waterfall box to add air exchange and put lava rock in the net bag of the waterfall box as additional filtration

 

[babybaits]

Here is what I have seen some have success with and what I am currently using. I'm using the waterfall box to add air exchange and put lava rock in the net bag of the waterfall box as additional filtration

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Thank you so much, but I do have a few questions if you don't mind. How many ducks do you have? How often do you need to clean it? And do you only have to rinse off the filter(s)? In other words, you don't need to keep buying replacements?

Note: Not all of the message originally showed so I just noticed that's its more than 1 unit so I'm back to thinking the cheapest way to go is removing the water

 

[BReeder!]

Reducing mud would help alot. This means keeping the ducks out of dirt. Sand and pea gravel are options. The next big challenge is poop. Ducks like to poop. Typically a pretty major biomechanical filter is needed like what is built for a koi pond. The canister filters clog up quick. Cheap pumps will clog up too. The pump should be able to handle solids and the filter is likely to be a DIY system. I no longer of a pond nor ducks. My best filler though was two large garbage cans . Water entered the first can through pvc down into the bottom and then rose up through open cell foam (I used gutter guard foam blocks cut into 6" sections) and then overflowed through the side near the top through x2 2" pvc pipes into the second garbage can and down through mess bags full of lava rock. There was a 3" pvc stack then that drew water from the bottom up and out the side back into the pond. My pond was behind the garage, so I put my filter in the garage and ran the pvc pipes through the garage wall.

I had plants (potted in soil!), sunfish, goldfish and koi in that pond and it was always clear enough to see the fish as long as I could keep the sun off a bit with a canvas shade. Algae would be a challenge in mid summer otherwise.

 

[ProudRedneck]

Thank you so much, but I do have a few questions if you don't mind. How many ducks do you have? How often do you need to clean it? And do you only have to rinse off the filter(s)? In other words, you don't need to keep buying replacements?

Note: Not all of the message originally showed so I just noticed that's its more than 1 unit so I'm back to thinking the cheapest way to go is removing the water

Cheapest is definitely going to be drain n refill....

And yes it's more than one item in the loop...here is what the loop looks likes like, minus the fish & plants

 

[babybaits]

Cheapest is definitely going to be drain n refill....

That's what I figured so I'm just trying to figure out how often. I know he doesn't want to do it more often then needed, but he also wants to make sure the ducks stay healthy. My guess was every 2 to 3 days so I'm trying to find out if there's no need for it to be that often. Maybe he can go longer?

 

[ProudRedneck]

I have 13 = 5 adults + 8 babies
I haven't cleaned it yet since installing
I do use a pool skimming net every afternoon to get floating chips & feathers but I only do it once a day.
The pump is able to handle solids and hasn't clogged on me yet

Here's what my water looks like right now

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 9 ducks using just a large kiddy pool no filter the longest I go with draining and refilling is 3 days

 

[ProudRedneck]

Main things to consider when doing mechanical filtration is how many times you need to turn over every gallon of water per hour you in your pond to keep it clean to your satisfaction. AND have a pump that can tolerate larger solids in order to not clog. If you get those two things under control then you're golden

 

[babybaits]

Main things to consider when doing mechanical filtration is how many times you need to turn over every gallon of water per hour you in your pond to keep it clean to your satisfaction. AND have a pump that can tolerate larger solids in order to not clog. If you get those two things under control then you're golden

That's been one of the biggest obstacles.....finding a reasonably priced filter that can handle waste from a duck pond. I feel like I have to be a scientist to understand how to keep the water clean and an engineer to understand how filters and pumps work. I've gotten to a point where I'm so aggravated trying to understand all this so i just feel like either point me in the direction of 1 filter/pump that will do the job or empty and refill.