The Best Pond Filters of 2023

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Best Pond Filter

Fish pond filters are the most important element to have healthy growing fish in your pond. Fish in a closed environment where water is not changed or it does not circulate die vary fast poisoned by the dirty water and their own waste deposited in it. Water in a natural pond flows and changes rejuvenates and cleans itself. The water in a manmade pond has nowhere to go so it must be filtered and cleaned artificially.

The best pond filter and an aerator are basic in the proper development and care of a fish pond. It is also necessary to change some water from it every fifteen days or so, this will help to reduce the work on the filter and the aerator. It will also reduce the concentration of toxins and chemicals in the water.

Your fish will be more relaxed and will grow larger and healthier if their water is kept as clean as possible. The filter cannot do the entire job, it is necessary to help it once in a while by eliminating at least one-third of the water in the pond.

  1. Best UV Pond Filter: VIVOHOME Pressurized Biological Pond Filter
  2. Best Garden Pond Filter: Aquagarden Water Pump for Ponds
  3. Best Koi Pond Filter: Oase BioSmart Pond Filter
  4. Best Small Pond Filters: POND BOSS Filter Kit with Pump
Best Garden Pond Filter

Pond filter for a garden pond.

UV Pond Filters

UV pond filters are the best water purifiers when there are fish in your pond. They are based on UV (Ultraviolet rays) which is used for various purposes for e.g. in security systems, Water purification, Treatment of different diseases in human beings and plants. Water purification is just one of the uses of UV rays used to purify tanks, ponds, and simple water.

When pond water is treated with a UV pond filter, it increases the number of beneficial bacteria in the pond which helps in cleaning and evading of the harmful bacteria in the pond. These colonies of bacteria are beneficial for the fish in the pond as well. You can install a UV pond filter in your pond. It will regularly purify the water without harming the fishes in your pond.

UV treatment also stops the reproduction cycle of harmful bacteria known as microbes in the water. When are unable to reproduce, they become less harmful and easy to destroy in the entire purification process. However, the pond should not be exposed to direct sunlight for a specific time after UV treatment is completed.

It gives a chance to the microbes to reproduce again. These microbes are present in the water. UV treatment stops them from reproducing any further, which creates a good chance of their death as bacteria do not survive for long if they cannot reproduce. Avoiding the pond water from direct sunlight is crucial to continue the purification process in the pond water after UV treatment is completed.

If the water is exposed to direct sunlight after immediate UV treatment, a phenomenon of Photoreactivation may occur, especially if the water is exposed to higher wavelengths. This reactivation repairs the capability of microbes to reproduce again, which can be more harmful than before.

UV pond filter is very effective in removing green algae from your pond leaving the water crystal clear. Algae bloom is not good for your fishes’ health. It is important to keep crystal clear water to keep them healthy. They start falling sick and dying if they have to stay in green water for very long.

Purchase a UV filter that has an automatic control system. An automatic UV pond filter will indicate when the pond requires cleaning. Look for the UV range as it decides how smoothly your UV pond filter will kill harmful bacteria and clean algae from the pond to keep your fish and plant healthier. Its capacity to sterilize pond water is a very important point to be noticed in the product’s brochure. Installing a UV pond filter is an easy task. Read the product’s manual for the guidelines related to the installation.

Best Pond Filter Vivohome Pressurized Biological Pond Filter
Photo: Amazon.com

There are several types of UV filters available in the market. It is important to buy an effective UV pond filter to keep your fish healthy. Vivohome is our best recommendation if you are looking to buy a UV pond filter. This filter comes with 4 water pipe adaptors and each of them has different sizes (20mm, 25mm, 32mm, and 38mm).

That’s a very handful as it can fit any type of drain you have. Equipped with 4 removable sponges, yellow sponges are low density and blue ones are high density. The orange light on a cleaning indicator notifies you when to clean the filter sponges. 

Advantage

  • It has a strong material that can resist for years.
  • Easy-to-use 3 drain holes
  • UV light is changeable
  • Sponges can be removed which makes it easy to wash

Disadvantage

  • Only suitable for ponds with fish under 800 gallons or garden ponds under 2100 gallons

Garden Pond Filters

Garden pond filters are an important part of a garden to form its pond hygienic and healthy. To wash the water of the pond contemporary enough for the fish and alternative water plants, garden pond filters are used to clean the dirt and other contamination from water. Garden pond filters conjointly remove toxic materials that are thrown out of the body of living organisms in the water. Fish and alternative aquarium inhabitants die if water isn’t cleaned regularly with garden pond filters.

The operation of garden pond filters isn’t solely to strain the water and remove some dirt from it, it’s some biological perform to perform. When harmful toxic parts collect at the table of the pond, garden pond filters set useful germs at work which break down the mess at the bottom.

Several modern garden pond filters could have terribly effective straining capacity but there must be a biological process within the pond to decompose organic buildup. Otherwise, mere cleaning of dirt can be performed. Harmful germs are microbes that can be massive within the pond to destroy fish.

Garden pond filters have 3 main sorts that provide the client a variety of alternatives keeping in view of the size and want of his garden pond.

  • Robot garden pond: The first type of garden pond filter is a robot that pumps water through the filter that strains mess present in it. This kind of garden pond filter needs to be cleaned at regular intervals to keep off dirt congestion. 
  • UV garden pond: The second sort of garden pond filter is a UV device. It uses sunlight radiation to exterminate harmful microbes and fungus which breeds in stagnant water and harm fish. The UV-type garden pond filters are necessary for those gardens where algae breed a lot quickly. 
  • Biological garden pond filters are the third of their category. They too obliterate germs and microbes which are harmful to the fish. However, their process of cleaning takes longer time than the others because they breed helpful bacteria in the pond to kill harmful germs. It takes considerable time. So, it is advisable to place 2 or three varieties of garden pond filters along and develop an explicit one for the protection of the garden pond. It will promise a lot of durability along with performance than single kind garden pond filters.

Garden pond filters can be set up at any suitable place whether it is within or outside of the pool. For his or her installation, some precautionary measures have to be taken otherwise garden pond filters will damage water life. Hence, some consultation with the agent of an organization that deals in garden pond filters ought to be obtained.

One thing must be remembered that all ponds don’t want garden pond filters. It there’s no rearing of fish within the pond and it has water plants; it will not require any garden pond filters. Higher to have natural ecological balance in the pond, it is better than any garden pond filters. Natural plants do the work of cleansing of water by manufacturing Nitrate that kills harmful germs.

Best Garden Pond Filter
Best Pond Filter Aquagarden Water Pump for Ponds
Photo: Amazon.com

Suitable for any budget, Aquagarden Water Pump for Ponds is your best choice to create a wonderful fountain and to make your pond water crystal clear. It’s easy to install and integrated UV light which can kill green water algae.

Ideal for standard ponds and it’s suitable even for fish ponds in case in the future you will add some fishes. If used for fish ponds try to use it on under 300 gallons ponds.

Advantage

  • 3 beautiful fountain features
  • It has a LED light.
  • Brings pond to life after dark
  • The filter keeps water clean and healthy
  • Provides algae-free water
  • Comes with a pump that creates and circulates water

Disadvantage

  • Not suitable for large ponds. (bigger than 400 gallons)

Koi Pond Filters

A Koi pond is not similar to a garden pond other ponds with other types of fish. Maintaining a Koi pond is very different from a regular fish pond. Hence, it requires different types of cleaning methods and a Koi pond filter. A Koi pond is better and healthier for the fish if it is bigger as the Koi fish gets ample of space to grow in the spacious environment.

Koi ponds require a biological filtration system to keep the Koi naturally healthy. Electronic equipment can work very well. However, the results of natural filters are always better than the others.

When it comes to design an electronic filtration system for a Koi pond, you can fix an in-pond, down-flow filter, out-pond up-flow filter, or out of the pond downflow biological filter. An in-pond downflow filter will clear the pond operating from inside of the pond. An out-pond up-flow filter operates from outside of the pond. This type of filter is much easier to maintain and shift.

The last type of filter is the biological filter which operates inside the pond with its original base fixed inside the pond. If you do not maintain crystal clear and healthy water for the Koi, it starts falling sick. 

Koi is a cold-water fish. Hence do not choose a filter that leaves warm water after purifying the pond as it can damage Koi.

A pond designed for Koi fish should be deeper and bigger to keep the Koi healthy. These ponds are cleaned with the help of several types of filters and pumps. Mechanical filtration and biological filtration both are required to maintain a healthy pond of Koi.

Mechanical filters remove the waste and dirt settled at the bottom of the pond. Biological filters work with converting harmful elements into beneficial elements with the help of beneficial bacteria. These bacteria remove the harmful elements developed in the pond and convert them into oxygen, nitrogen, etc.

The amount of food that you are putting in your pond also matters a lot in keeping the pond clean. These filters weigh the food every day. If the amount of food is more than the ideal amount, it starts to increase the harmful elements like ammonia and nitrate. When these harmful elements are increasing in the pond, the water does not show any changes or signs of it. However, the fish starts falling sick.

Best Koi Pond Filter

A pond filter is essential piece of equipment for koi fish to grow healthy

Plastic beads and sands can be used as filters as well for the Koi fish pond. They maintain the bacteria in the pond that removes impurities and harmful chemicals in the pond. They are very effective and easy to maintain by the owner. Most of the time, they do not require regular cleaning. They maintain themselves while cleaning the fish pond as well. Installing Koi pond filters cannot be done manually.

You can install minor filtration systems, but do not forget to take professional help for installing mechanical and biological filtration systems for your pond. It is important to keep a regular check on other elements in the pond which are not visible in the water.

You Koi fish might have started falling sick and you are unable to understand the reason. In such situation, you should go for professional help to find out what is going wrong with your beautiful Koi fish.

Best Koi Pond Filter
Best Pond Filter Oase Biosmart Pond Filter
Photo: Amazon.com

Oase BioSmart Pond Filter provides biological and mechanical filtration and makes your koi pond water high in oxygen. The filters are split into different zones of the device to make possible nitrogen cycle and to kill harmful ammonia in your pond.

Cleaning this pond filter is easy, simply turn off the pump and pull up the cleaning handles. You don’t have to manually unclog the filter foams. A built-in cleaning indicator will notify you when it’s time to clean your koi pond filter.

Advantage

  • Built-in cleaning indicator notifies and water temperature
  • Easy to clean
  • Available in different sizes

Disadvantage

  • No UV filter

Small Pond Filters

Maintaining a small pond with fish and plants might seem like an easy task t it takes almost the same effort that is required in maintaining a medium pond. It is important to clean the water of the pond regularly to keep the fish and plants in the pond healthy. Even if the pond is small, its cleanliness cannot be ignored.

To purify a pond with fish, UV clarifiers, filters and sterilizers are the best options. They purify the pond water with the help of UV rays which kill harmful bacteria in the pond water. Green water or algae can be a major problem in your pond which damages the plants and fish in it. A UV pond clarifier can clean green algae giving you crystal clear water as a result.

Check that the UV filter should be user-friendly as you need to maintain it for a long time to maintain cleanliness in your tank. Installation of a UV pond filter is an easy task. You can find installation instructions online on the company’s official website or you can read the product’s manual for the guidelines related to the installation.

A small pond will require a smaller UV pond filter or clarifier. There are various UV sterilizers, filters, and clarifies available in the market. It is better to choose branded stuff for your pond. The branded filter will have a longer warranty which will be useful for you in long run. It is vital to buy a good UV pond filter, clarifier or sterilizer to keep your pond fish and plants healthier. 

Best Small Pond Filter

Pond filter for small backyard home pond.

Prioritize purchasing a UV filter that works on an automatic control system. At the start, when you have just started taking care of the pond, it often seems that you can save money by purchasing UV equipment that operates manually. However, after some time it starts to like a burden to process the entire working manually and becomes frustrating. An automatic UV pond filter has indicators to indicate when the pond requires cleaning.

After cleaning your pond with a UV filter, do not expose the pond to direct sunlight. It can repair harmful bacteria i.e. microbes. Microbes are still present in the pond water. UV treatment damages their DNA to reproduce further causing their death within few hours.

However, if they are exposed to sunlight, particularly within the wavelength of 300-450nm, their DNA gets stronger than before. This causes problems in the pond water, causing disease. UV-treated water is supposed to be kept in dark immediately after purification treatment is over for a specific time period. You can expose your pond to direct sunlight over that specific time-limits is over.

Best Small Pond Filter
Best Pond Filter Pond Boss Filter Kit with Pump
Photo: Chewy.com

POND BOSS filter Kit is a great filter. It’s a combination of filter sponge and bio balls. It comes with a pump and nozzle that can create a beautiful fountain in your garden. It’s a great choice for small ponds under 500 gallons. It requires a bit of rigging to weigh it down at the bottom of your pond and keep it from popping up to the surface.

Simply put some large stones next to the pond filter and it will stick at the bottom of your pond. You can even use this filter on ponds with some small fish like black moor goldfish, it will provide a water flow that these fishes will like.

Advantage

  • Filter, pump and nozzle in one device
  • Ecofriendly Filter
  • Quiet operation
  • Available in different sizes

Disadvantage

  • It requires a bit of effort at first installation

Get in on Amazon, or at Chewy

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I am Mario, a experienced fish keepr and the editor-in-chief of Epic Aquarium.

At Epic Aquarium, we take our commitment to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews very seriously. Our team carefully reviews each product, and we only recommend the very best in terms of quality. We also consult with leading fish keeper experts to ensure that each article is based on the most reliable and up-to-date information available.

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