Build a Trickle Tower Filter for your Pond

Well as promised in my last post I have now created my web page detailing the construction of my own trickle-tower filter which you can find at the following link:

>> How to Build a Trickle Tower Filter for your Pond

A few months ago I had been doing some research into the effectiveness of trickle tower filters, and also while looking through my web site stats I noticed that a lot of people were coming to my web site in search of information on building a trickle filter themselves. So I decided to have a go at researching and then making one using some spare parts I had lying around in my garage. In other words this cost me very little to make!

What is a Trickle Tower Filter?

A trickle tower filter can be a very efficient method of reducing ammonia levels in a fish pond, and is particularly useful if you have larger fish varieties such as Koi which produce large amounts of fish waste which if un-checked could produce danegrous levels of ammonia in the pond. It works well because it makes efficient use of high exposure to air (and hence oxygen) to help aerobic bacteria in their life-cycle of converting ammonia into nitrites, and then nitrites into nitrates.

The prime function of a trickle filter is to remove the invisible toxins from the pond water.

It is not intended to remove solids particles from the water, that is the purpose of the pre-filter, and the earlier sections of the bio-filter. However, a trickle filter can have the side-effect that it will help rid the pond of green-water. As well as converting ammonia to nitrates, which can encourage phytoplankton to grow (phytoplankton is the minute water-borne algae that cause green water), the bacteria also produces a certain phytoplankton-killing enzyme. As algae starts to grow in the bio-filter, or on the walls of the pond, the bacteria loves to feed on this algae, and as it does so it releases the enzyme (like an antibiotic) into the water. (Fascinating source article can be found here: http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/GRENH2O.html).

For the full details get on down to my web site Tower Trickle Filter page where you will find tons of photos detailing how I constructed it, which should give you some ideas for building your own homemade DIY tower trickle-filter.

Hope you find it useful !
Jim