Plastic Duck Pond Filtration Advice needed?

[severeidaho]

My dad recently setup a plastic duck pond in the backyard. He has a water heater to keep water from freezing. He mentioned the water is pretty dirty (mostly mud/dirt sedament. He inquired to me about a proper pump with filter. After looking online I realized I have no clue what to search for. He is hoping for a pump with filter he can just drop inside the pond and it will filter the water. Anyone able to link me to a complete setup from amazon? Setup needs to include pump/filter that will submerge in 16" of water. Thank you so much.

-Gerrit

Southeast Idaho

 

[brandilly]

I have done massive research, including reading a boatload of threads about that on this site and the conclusion I've come to is there is no such thing. Empty, rinse, repeat. Perhaps someone will chime in and prove me wrong... please... prove me wrong! I have the largest kiddie pool and throughout the warm months I empty it once, maybe twice, a week. Winter, not so much.

 

[TLWR]

How big is the pond? How many ducks?

He's likely not going to find something that he can just drop in and call it good. He will need to mess with it daily to keep it unclogged.

I have a ~1000 gallon pond with a separate ~75 gallon filter box. I have a pump in the pond that pushes water to the filter box. It is set up as a "skippy filter"
While it does a great job, water still turns green here and there is still poop and sand in the pond.
I drain and clean the pond about every 16-18 months at this point. The green doesn't bother the ducks, so I live with it.
If I had to remake it, I'd change the filter and set that up with a drain as well.

Many people say to never clean a skippy filter. Not sure they were used for ducks. After a year, that filter box is absolutely vile. I think it would work much better if I could just drain out the bottom part of the filter every month or so.


You won't be able to find a pump/filter combo that will work for ducks. But search for skippy filters and they can easily be set up and work pretty well. My advice would be to make a drain in whatever you use for a filter.

 

[tmorgan46]

Here where we're at in our quest for the search of the perfect pond filter... Our pond is roughly 300 to 500 gallons in size and for now I'm using a complete DIY filter. 5 gallon bucket with a lid; drilled holes in the bottom all the way around and then filled the bucket with a bag of lava rock. On top of that I have a couple layers of filter media and then a plastic screen. On top of all that sits a small pond pump and the output goes through the lid where I drilled a hole large enough. The outflow tube then goes into a a plastic tub with drainholes in one end and filled it with regular straw for now but will replace with barely straw this week. The straw filled tub is situated right next too the pond and angeled down slightly so the water flows back into the pond. So far, its the best effort for results. I think this will help decrease the frequency we change the water from once a week to maybe once a month. I am having to add water almost daily, between the ducks and geese, they somehow manage to splash enough out to where the pump is almost above the water line. I am contemplating a very similar setup, but all external to the pond which would provide slightly more swimming area.

I usually don't make it home while it's light enough to take photos, so maybe this week I'll take some during the holiday break and post back on this thread.

Troy & Tina

 

[brandilly]

I did all the research on Skippy filters, even going so far as talking to a guy at the company that everyone recommended (can't remember name now). With 3 ducks and 1 goose, he said I'm better off just dumping and refilling my kiddie pool. Said that duck/goose poop really fouls ANY filter. After the two comments above, I will be making a Skippy filter to try! Hubby just bought The Feathers a 300 gallon stock tank! Super happy for my feathered friends to have more room and deeper water, not happy thinking about cleaning! Wish me luck... I may have questions!!! tmorgan46, would love to see pics!!!