This is my first real pond build and first try at a biological filter. I made my filter out of two 55 gallon plastic drums that I got from a local carwash-
We marked out where our holes for the pipes would go and tried to drill them out with a hole saw but the saw kept slipping off the plastic. We ended up just drilling a bunch of holes and then cutting it out with a razor knife.
For the outlet pipe we used 2" PVC, this is the 2" PVC bulkhead that has silicone on it and is going to be used as the exit pipe back to the pond.
Here is the backside of the bulkhead once it was installed.
Here is the front of the bulkhead just before tightening down.
Alcohol abuse, I spilled my beer...that is one of the 1" PVC bulkheads used for draining the barrels. I have ball valves, that will show up later, connected to them and a 3/4" hose adapter so we can water our vegetables with the water out of the filter.
The first stage of the filter has a 1" PVC pipe coming into the barrel and fills from the bottom. At the top, the barrel overflows down a 2" PVC pipe to the bottom of the secong barrel. The water that flows through this pipe also sucks air as it goes thru the pipe forming a kind of venturi I guess. Lots of bubbles come up in the second barrel. This is barrel one flowing to barrel two.
top view
I set a milk crate in the bottom of the barrel to act as a settling/swirling chamber type of thing... This is what the gravel sits on.
I cut out light diffuser panels to fit the inside of the barrel. This sits on top of the milk crate and keeps gravel from falling down the sides.
On top of the crate and diffuser I plut this screen type of material, but it isn't window screen. I got it from a friend and don't know exactly what to call it. The gravel will pour into this.
Gravel is placed in barrels
My pea soup water is flowing...
I gotta go...I'll try to detail it better later. Any thoughts comments or tips are appreciated. I will be putting a bunch of hyacinth on top of the barrel soon.