My pump keeps plugging!
I agree David… in fact you won’t find any kind of mechanical filtration that won’t eventually clog up and need maintenance, but some folks have small ponds and/or they have limited budgets so the DIY pre-filter (costs $10.00 to $20.00 versus $100.00 for a similar sized one at a big box store) at least keeps the pump and lines from getting clogged up which would lead to premature pump failure. Ultimately, an external pump is the best way to go but many folks start off with mini-ponds and the small submersible pumps used for fountains/spitters so these DIY pre-filters are mostly designed for that use.
If you have enough filter media in the DIY pre-filter, then it will run without slowing the water flow so at least the DIY pre-filter only has to be cleaned every week or two… depending on the bioload in the pond. I always used a small enough filter so that I could lift the filter up from the bottom of the pond and slide a bucket under it, then lift the bucket up to the surface and let it pump most of the water out of the bucket before moving it to the ground next to the pond. This keeps a lot of the detritus from falling off the filter media back into the pond, which would happen if you were to lift the pre-filter out of the water without a bucket under it.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
