Why Use A Pond Filter?

Within a pond ecosystem, waste is accumulated at the bottom of the pond, this waste will be things such as fish waste, decaying vegetation and uneaten fish food. These turn into a thick sludge on the bottom of the pond which will quickly dissolve into the water. This will create ammonia as its end product, which is extremely poisonous to fish and other pond wildlife. This can also cause an odour, and can be quite unsightly.

Sunlight can also be a major cause of a pond becoming unsightly, it will leave the pond a pea green soup consistency. This is because the sunlight feeds the tiny algae cells within your pond and allows them to photosynthesise and reproduce at alarming levels. These algae cells will feed on all the nutrients from the fish food and decaying waste and will then quickly suffocate the pond and its plants.

With the introduction of a pond filter such as the Lotus Green Genie and a filter pump you can eradicate the above problems. Filter pumps are designed to pick up bigger solids than a fountain pump so always try to use a filter pump if possible, if you are unsure which filter pump and filter to select please just give us a call.

The first stage of filtration within the lid of the unit is when the pond water is passed through a UVC (Ultra Violet Clarifier), this is practically the same for most modern combined filter boxes. The job of this UVC is to flocculate (clump together) the algae cells. It does this by using a UV bulb which is located inside the protecting UVC body. The bulb also radiates the algae which damages their outer cells, which in turn makes the algae cells tacky and allows them to clump together. These cells which were initially tiny will have now grown dramatically in size as multitudes of them have flocculated together.

Once the pond water has passed through the UVC, all of the solids including sludge, fish waste, decaying plant matter, uneaten fish food and the new bigger formed algae cells will now need to be mechanically filtered from the pond water.  To do this the Lotus Green Genie uses foam layers, and depending on the size you purchase will determine how many foam layers are within the filter. These foam layers trap and block all the solids stopping them from returning to the pond.

Once the water has passed through the foam layers within the filter it drops in to lots of flocor These are cylindrical ridged pieces of pipe that have a huge surface area. They're designed to have a huge surface area so that friendly bacteria can grow in large colonies on them. These bacteria help to change nitrite into nitrate and make the pond water healthy for wildlife. They will also help to break down the solids that have been trapped by the foam filter layers.

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Vari Flow Inlet

The Lotus Green Genie comes with a vari flow inlet as show in the picture below. This is ideal if you need to slow down the flow of your pond pump. The new style filter boxes such as the Green Genie can filter bigger sized ponds than older filters due to the amount of biological media contained in them, so if you are upgrading your filter and your old pump is too big this is when the vari-flow comes into good use. It can also come in handy when your filter foams need cleaning but you don't have time to do them straight away, you can turn the pump flow down so that your filter doesn't over flow.

Spray Bar

The Lotus Green Genie comes with a spray bar fitting. A spray bar is a piece of rigid plastic with holes drilled into it to spread out the flow of water (see image below). This helps to spread the flow of water across the foam layers. This means that one area of the foams isn't taking all the flow and debris sent from your filter pump, which helps make use of all the surface area of the foams. The spray bar can be removed and cleaned very easily, it pulls out of place and then you can just rinse it clean under a tap.

How Do I Change the UV Bulb on a Green Genie?

Every spring you will need to change the Ultraviolet Bulb which is in the lid of your Green Genie filter box. Even though a bulb will light up for a number of years it does not mean that it is working to its optimum efficiency. A standard life time for a UV bulb working at its full efficiency is 7000 hours, that's nearly 292 days, so if you change the bulb every March it means that you will have a working UV bulb for the time of the year when it is needed the most. The particular model I've used to demonstrate is a Green Genie 2000. This model has two screws on the under body that once removed will allow you to remove the lid and change the UV bulb. Once inside you will see all the electrics and the plastic bulb and quartz protector. On either end of the bulb you will see the electrical end caps. These both need to be removed to replace the quartz as shown in the 2nd picture below. Once these have been removed you can slide the old bulb out of place and slide the new one in and then remove both electrical end caps.

Return to the Lotus Green Genie Pond Filters product page.