Having a fish pond in your garden is an attractive feature and makes for a great mediation spot. You don’t have to chant or do yoga poses when you go out to your pond to enjoy some fresh air and watch your fish swim in the water, you can just sit and relax. To keep your koi pond healthy, you will need to select the proper filter for it.

What a Pond Filter Does

A pond filter helps to remove debris from the water, such as fish food and fish faeces, to help maintain a high level of water quality so your fish remain healthy. This is especially important for koi as they produce large amounts of solid waste and also excrete ammonia when they breathe. A filter also helps to eliminate algae, which can reduce the oxygenation of the water and kill your fish.

Choosing the Right Filter

There are two of filtration used for koi ponds. They are:

• Biological Filtration
• Mechanical Filtration

Biological Filters

This type of filtration system helps reduce the amount of toxins in the water produced from fish waste by cleaning and recycling the waste. While most koi fish pond filters use both biological and mechanical filtration, biological only filters can be used. Biological only filtration is recommended for ponds that have been well established, are unlikely to have more fish added to it or undergo any other changes, and are stable.

Mechanical Filters

These filters trap solid waste and dirt so it can be manually removed from the water. A good koi pond filter that has both mechanical and biological filtration will mechanically remove most of the solids otherwise the solids will be deposited in the biological filter and they can clog the media. This can result in the good bacteria in the media dying, which will reduce the quality of the pond’s water and be harmful to your koi fish.

Filter Types

Along with different filtration methods, there are two main types of koi pond filters, pump or gravity fed systems.

Pump Fed Filters

Pump fed systems mechanically move the water around in the pond and circulate it through the filter. Both solid waste particles and biological contaminants, such as the ammonia secreted by koi fish, are held until they can be manually removed. The clean water is then recirculated into the pond.

Gravity Fed Filters

This system works by removing solid waste and debris from the bottom of the pond with a pipe connected to the filtration system. Since the water level remains the same in the pond as in the filter, it creates a good way to clean and filter the pond. This type of filter system is the one usually recommended for koi ponds.

If you have a koi pond, it is important to choose the correct filtration system to help keep your fish and pond healthy. The filtration system will also keep the water clear, so you can see the fish as they swim in it and get more enjoyment from your pond.