TetraPond Bio-Active Pressure Filter with UV Clarifier

Prior to me buying these pond filter for the Koi pond I have in my backyard, I use to use a submerge filter that sat on the bottom of my pond. This submerge filter also did not have UV light, and I had to pull it out of the pond every 2-3 days to rinse the filter off, and let me tell you, it was a pain to do that, especially at night or during a rain storm. I was contemplating getting rid of my Koi fish so I don't have to clean the filter.However, I was doing some reading on the internet and came across the Tetra Pond Bio Active Pressure filter. Before I go on, I have 10 Kois (I started with 6) but they had babies and my pond is about 10 feet long by 6 ft wide by 4 feet deep. When I received this, you need to put in the plastic bio active filter in and put some pond water in the until before closing it. You need the water so that you can close it otherwise you won't be able to.Anyway, I have this set above the pond and I had to buy a new water pump to handle the water flow for this unit. Both the water pump and this unit were expensive but for the convenience, for me, was worth it. I have the filter set above the water. Cleaning it is really easy. There is an outflow which I attached a hose so that it runs into a storm drain. All I need to do is, remove the outflow cap, attach the hose to it, and then I turn the filter from pond to clean, and the water gets cleaned. You are suppose to let it flow 30 secs and turn it back pond for 5 secs, and alternate until the water is cleaned. I also turn it to out flow when I'm draining the pond 10% to clean the water. Before, I used a bucket and empty the water out that way, and it was a back breaker, stoopping over. It got old really quick.This filter made this chore quick and easy. No more stooping over to clean the pond. I would definitely get this again if you manually cleaning your pond. It use to take me about 15-20 mins to clean my old filter, and with this new one, takes about 5 mins, and no manual labor.

I have had this filter (2500 w/ uv) running for about a month on a 1000 gl. pond and I'm very impressed with its ability to clear up my green colored water. The only complaint I have is the fittings that come with this unit to attach the hoses/pipe to. The inlet and outlet on the filter come with plastic barbed fittings that are 1 1/2" OD tapered to 1 1/4" OD. The filter (and pump recommended) suggest 1 1/2" ID pipe. Once you cut the 1 1/4" tip off the plastic fittings you are left with only about 1" of barbed fitting to hose clamp your tubing/pipe to. I had nothing but problems getting the pipe leak free clamped onto the 1 1/2" barbed fittings. I finally gave up, after trying multiple options (Teflon tape on the barbs etc) to get it to seal. What I ended up doing (which I should have thought of to begin with) is buying 1 1/4" threaded pvc fittings to thread onto the existing filter threads on the inlet and outlet. Then a 1 1/2" pvc coupling over that, to then pvc glue my pipe to. After all said and done, I'm very happy with using the pvc pipe to route the plumbing into the pond w/o using any hose clamps. The black flex pvc pipe I used was very strong and reinforced. I bought it at DRFosterSmith.com, which was a true 1 1/2 ID, and once I received it. I knew there was NO chance of this pipe kinking or leaking in the long run. It is black PVC and fits standard PVC fittings. Overall I'm very happy so far with the filter and I'm recommending it as a great filter for large ponds. Followup: It is now 4/23/2013 .This filter is simply amazing! The UV light has been so effective. My pond water was pretty green and at only 18" deep, I couldn't see the bottom. Now it is CRYSTAL CLEAR and I can see everything in the pond. Highly recommend! Thanks

I bought this but the hose I bought Hydromax black flexable PVC tubing 50 ft by 1.5” is to big for the inlet/ outlet. So off to the hardware store I go to see if I can rig something up to make this filter work. Also you have to put in the bio-activators in then put on the lid. I found this to be a joke since the bio-activators are in the way of the UV tube when putting the lid back on. So far I am not happy with this purchase, that’s why I only gave it a 2.

Ok, bought this filter back in April, Got a good price, and was really excited that it had a backwash system. (NO MORE FOAM PADS!) Set it up, Installed a new pump to go with it. Bought new hoses and clamps. April, May, June all is well. Come July, water is getting a little green. ( To be fair we did have a lot of rain) So I Backwash a bit more often, but the water is not clearing. Went to my local pond guy,got my water tested, all fine except for fine algae particles. So now I'm checking the light, (the indicator tells me the bulb is on) I open it up to find the light bulb is sitting in water. The glass tube that is suppose to protect it leaks. I tested it in a bucket of water, the seal does not work. So on the phone with TetraPond, just to be informed that there is NO replacement part and I need to send the entire unit back. (at my cost) hmmmm,Would I recommend this product? Maybe if everything worked,.... but if I had dropped that glass tube, when the unit was out of warranty, I would have to shell out another 300 or so to replace the unit. I cannot believe in this day and age a simple e-mail cannot be sent to the manufacturer to get the parts needed.

Just got the filter set up, so no long term review yet. A note on the fittings is that there are 3 male 1 ¼ " threaded ports (input, output and clean out). I was under the impression that they were 1 ½ " so wanted to make a note for others. It also comes with 3 adapters to reduce down to slip on fittings that you might be able to use PVC cement or hose clamp. I added 1 ½" unions and ball valves to make it easy to remove and regulate the flow through the filter. Also added a 1" bypass (in parallel) with a ball valve to increase total flow if filter starts giving too much back pressure. I just turned on the UV light and will see how well that works (bulb already included and installed btw).

Works exactly as advertised however I think it is way overpriced.

It has fulfilled my expectations and more. Our pond was so green and nothing that was done was making it any better. This filter is fantastic and works! So nice that a product actually does what it says it will do. Well done!