Perhaps as an avid gardener, you love spicing things up in your backyard, whether it is planting some new trees and flowers every few months or maintaining a lovely small pond in the middle of the area. Especially for ponds, they can be a great addition to the garden, for it offers a nice contrast from all of the greenery surrounding them.
However, when it comes to maintaining ponds, they can be a bit more work than that of plants. It is simply not a matter of filling water into the trough and letting it be. Ponds need time and care to keep them clean and healthy, which is especially important if you decide to add wildlife into it, such as fish and water plants.
That said, a pond filter is highly encouraged, if not a necessity, for your water surface. In this article, we will help you figure out just what kind you need, as well as choosing the best pond filters for it. Soon enough, you will be able to maintain a beautiful, pristine pond that you would be proud to call your own.
Without any more hesitation, let’s get to it!
Comparison of Top 5 Best Pond Filters 2021
**Below, you’ll find more detailed reviews but you can also click links above to see current prices and read customer’s reviews on Amazon.
Reviews of the Best Pond Filters
Sun Grech CPF Pond Bio Pressure Filter
This biological and mechanical pressurized filter has an efficient system in which it allows for higher flows so that more water gets pushed through at a faster pace for a quicker filtration process. Sun Grech CPF Pond Bio Pressure Filter also has a system for cultivating good bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrate, which can otherwise cause problems to the pond’s health.
Pros
- Creates aerobic bacteria which helps to get rid of harmful substances, such as ammonia and nitrate, for a cleaner, healthier pond.
- Provides crystal clear results within 36 hours.
- Has a foolproof no-leak system, so that everything gets filtered out in an efficient manner.
Cons
- Filter medias might not have the structural support inside of the tubing system, which makes it difficult to stay in place.
Best Choice Products 4000 gal Pressure Bio Pond Filter
Best Choice’s pressure bio filter seems to be the best choice in terms of already having a UV filter, along with a UV indicator built into it. In addition, it can filter up to 2500 gallons at once, then 4000 gallons overall, thereby saving you a lot of time and energy on keeping your pond nice and clean.
Pros
- Comes with a 13W UV filter, as well as a UV indicator to tell you the filtration progress, so you do not need to worry about constantly having to check up on it.
- Filters up to 2500 gallons, along with 4000 gallons overall.
- Able to filter out algae and other debris efficiently, even with changes in temperature.
Cons
- Backwash system has a plate that needs to be removed before adding the hose to it, thereby adding some inconvenience.
XtremepowerUS 10000 koi Pond Pressure Bio Filter
With a whopping 10,000-liter per hour feature, XtremepowerUS’s koi pond pressurized filter can clean out a 4000 gallon with no sweat at all. Its powerful features have been shown to result in pristine waters, which have also been shown to last up to months on end.
Pros
- Has a large 10,000-liter per hour filtration system, which works well for ponds that contain up to 4000 gallons of water.
- Quick and efficient filtering system which, depending on the size of the pond, can clean it up anywhere between six hours to twenty-four hours.
- Long-lasting results of clean water onwards.
Cons
- Instructions for setting up and using the filter can be very confusing, which might result in an incorrect setup.
- Does not come with replacement parts, in the case your filtering parts were to break or be defective.
Goplus Pond Pressure Bio Filter
(Editor’s Choice)
Goplus pond pressurized filter is a good product to consider for just about any type of pond out there, whether the pond holds a normal amount of fish, or a heavy load of them. On its own, it is suitable for working with 1500 to 2500-gallon ponds, but also even 4000-gallon ones with its UV filtration system.
Pros
- Consists of built-in UV bulbs and purifiers that can turn a 2500-gallon cleaning process into a 4000-gallon one.
- Has been shown to clean out entire ponds within just a few hours after installation, offering crystal clear water afterwards.
- Its bio filter feature helps keep koi ponds healthy and free of algae.
Cons
- Is fairly heavy to handle, which might be inconvenient when cleaning out the filters from time to time.
Active Aqua Submersible Pond Filter
This submersible water pond filter from Active Aqua is a lovely asset to your pond, for it can be placed inside of the water and filtered without it being seen, so that you can have a wonderful, aesthetic pond to show off to friends and guests. Active Aqua Submersible Water Pump is oil-free, and it can filter up to 1000 gallons per hour, which serves well for smaller, more intimate ponds.
Pros
- Good for supplementing submersible water filters for an effective, maintenance-free cleaning system.
- Has multiple hose fittings so it makes it easy to hook up the different hoses together without any problems.
- Filters up to 1000 gallons per hour, which works well for smaller ponds of around 100 gallons.
Cons
- Is too small for larger ponds, so it is important to do research before making sure that it is compatible with the size of your pond.
Best Ways to Choose a Good Pond Filter
While selecting a solid pond filter might at first seem like a difficult task, we assure you that it is not as hard as it seems. All you need to know are two factors to consider when doing so, of which we highlight here:
Type of Filter
You might be surprised to find out that there are a good number of different filters out there, depending on the type of pond you have. Here are some you might consider for your pond:
1. Submersible filter
To start, submersible filters are those which are located inside of the pond, or “submersed,” as its name suggests. One end of it contains the pump, along with its discharge side. The tubing side is where the intake area will happen.
Benefits to a submersible filter are that it can be hidden inside of the pond, so that your pond looks natural and untouched. The downsides to it, however, are that it can be difficult to remove and clean.
2. External filter
On the other hand, the external filter is not placed in the water, but rather on land. Usually, it is up to you to figure out where and how far you would like your filtering and plumbing systems for this particular filter to be: know that the farther away you put them, the longer the pipelines will have to be.
Additionally, there are gravity-fed or pressurized filters that are external and act based on the natural pull of gravity, which can be placed adjacent to the pond itself and covered up with rocks and other objects to blend in with the surroundings.
3. UV filter
Especially if your pond is susceptible to possibly-harmful objects like algae, bacteria, and parasites, then having a UV filter is a resourceful way to get rid of them. It does so by having UV light pass through the water in its chambers and subsequently kills off the unpleasant debris, and then later trapped into the filtering pads of which you can take out and dispose of later on.
At the same time, however, UV filters cannot be used on their own, but rather as a supplement either to other filters such as submersible or external filters. Regardless, it is a nice little addition to keeping your pond clean and fresh.
4. Vortex pond filter
Similar to the UV filter, vortex pond filters also get rid of unwanted items, particularly rocks and larger objects. Essentially, a drain port cleans out these rocks and finer objects get filtered again before the water flows out through air entrainment ducts, which in the process gets enhanced with oxygen for a pure, filtered system.
5. Bead/bio-tube filter
Commonly used for fish ponds (specifically that of koi fish), bead and bio-tube filters have a backwash system which makes them a self-cleaning process. As a result, you do not need to worry about cleaning out the filters, for the bio-tubes and beads built into them do all of the work for you. It is that easy!
Size of Filter
When it comes to the size of the filter you are getting, it greatly depends on just how big your pond is. To start, you will first need to know how many gallons your pond can hold, and from there that determines how frequently you will need to filter it for cleanliness.
The trick to knowing the filtration system of your pond is to multiply the length, width, and depth of it to get the area, then multiply by 7.5 to get the number of gallons. From there, you can look into which kinds of pond filters that can filter up to that many gallons within a couple of hours.
Our Top Pick
Despite it being a relatively-new product, the Goplus Pond Pressure Bio Filter is the winner of this list, for its powerful filtering system can satisfy both small and large ponds with crystal clear results within hours after installing.
It has also been shown to keep the pond clean for a while, so there is less need to clean it constantly. Now, you can sit back and enjoy the beauty of it!
