Choosing a Water Garden Filter System for Healthy Fish

Water gardens are a unique and beautiful addition to an outdoor space. They can hold plants, fish and more, not to mention provide a calming view. Floating plants, edge plants and submerged plants all work together to filter nutrients to keep the water clean, provide oxygen and provide a home for aquatic life in your pond. Tropical fish, goldfish or koi can live in a water garden, depending on the climate and size of the space.

Why Use a Water Filter System?

The key to maintaining healthy water gardens is clean, unchlorinated water. The same antimicrobial quality that makes chlorine desirable in pool water makes it poison to a water garden. It kills the tiny insects and microorganisms that are necessary and beneficial to plant life. Filtering systems can remove up to 85% of the chlorine in the water, making it much easier to create a balanced system in your small pond that will include beneficial bacteria. Filtered gardens can hold even more fish than unfiltered gardens.

What Kind of Water Filter System Should I Use?

There are four main kinds of filter systems available to use in water gardens and ponds. Submersible filters go at the bottom of the pond, and filter water from inside the pond. They are recommended for small ponds without a large ecosystem, since they need to be removed and cleaned regularly. External gravity filters have a cyclical filtering system, where they are filled with water to clean it and the filtered water flows back into the pond from the filter. External pressurized filters can be hidden away from your water garden, and tend to have a more complicated installation process. A surface skimmer and waterfall filter system is best for larger ponds, and sucks in surface debris before it clutters the water inside the pool. The waterfall pumps cleaned water back into the pond.

Complicated filter systems improve the appearance and quality of your water garden. Though they may seem intimidating, the installation process is quick and easy if you hire filter installation professionals.