Aquarium Water Filter

Whether you’re an aquarium hobbyist or a backyard fish pond enthusiast,  the water that goes into either ecosystem needs to be safe and clean for aquatic life. Local water districts use a variety of chemicals to disinfect water that could pose a threat to the overall health and well-being of the fish in your aquarium or pond. Though there’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend money on the best filters, lights, and decorations, it would be a wise decision to also invest in something that will actually protect aquatic life.  

One of the best ways to do that is to ensure that the water going in to replenish or fill a tank or pond is free of contaminants. In fact, the water you use should be clean enough for you to drink. Think about it, if it’s safe for you to drink, then it’s safe for the fish, right?

So how does one achieve this level of water cleanliness? 

First option

A 3-Stage Aquarium Reverse Osmosis System 100 GPD by iFilters.com. This compact system has a total of stages, starting with sediment and carbon pre-filter cartridges then followed by a 100 gallons per day reverse osmosis (RO) membrane to provide contaminant-free pure water.

As mentioned above, there are 3 separate stages that perform a specific task to filter water. The first stage is a sediment cartridge. Believe it or not, but tap water does contain some sediment that it picks up along the way as it travels from the water district and to your home. At this stage, the filter will trap rust, dirt, silt, and other particulate matter that can be found in water. 

The second stage is a carbon cartridge that removes any leftover sediment at the same time reducing and eliminating chlorine, chloramines, odors, and other contaminants that could be detrimental to fish life. 

The final stage is the RO membrane. This is comprised of a semipermeable thin film composite (TFC) membrane that doesn’t allow anything to pass through except pure water. It is quite effective at removing 95% of contaminants from water. And unlike traditional RO systems where you need a storage tank, this one doesn’t require it since it can be connected directly to an aquarium or a feed atmospheric water tank. So this means if your tank or pond needs to be replenished, you can simply attach a garden hose to the adapter, and place the product hose into the water. 

Included with the package are the following: mounting brackets, canister cap wrench, garden hose connector, mounting screws, hoses, and installation and maintenance guide.

Second option

The iFilters LWHGAC Whole House Water Filter is a great choice for fish ponds or larger tanks due to its high-volume capabilities. Rated with a flow rate of 3 gallons per minute, it is designed to reduce and filters sediment, rust, chlorine taste and odor. Originally designed as a whole house filter, but has universal uses for applications that need to have the water filtered. This makes it a perfect setup for fish ponds since many pond owners will just take their garden hose to either fill or replenish the water. 

There are two problems with using just a garden hose, for starters that’s tap water. As we discussed above, unfiltered tap water isn’t ideal for fish since it has so many contaminants, especially chlorine. Second, the garden hose affects the water. Have you ever taken a drink from the garden hose? Do you recall the awful taste and odor? Well, if you use that in your pond, then your fish will be exposed to those contaminants. 

The LWHGAC filter is equipped with ¾” NPT ports and can be easily connected to a garden hose with the use of these garden hose brass fitting adapters.   

Once a unit is connected to a garden hose, it is recommended to flush out the filter for a few minutes to allow any carbon dust to come out of the system. And when the water is running clear, then it’s ready for use. This filter can be used to fill a complete pond or to replenish the water that has evaporated. We have customers who mount this filter on the wall, right next to their spigot, and run a short hose to the unit, then connect their long garden hose directly to it to fill their pond. The recommended filter replacement interval is every 6 months, but if you’re specifically using it just for your pond once or twice a week, then you can easily extend that time frame to 9-11 months. Replacement filters come in a variety of bundle sizes. You can buy them individually or as bundles of 2,4 and 6 straight from ifilters.com

Now that you’ve got two choices for aquarium and fish pond water filters, which one will you pick? They both will filter the water so that what ends up in their tank or pond is better than what comes out of the tap. Though you could technically use the RO system for a pond, it’s highly recommended that it’s used for fish tanks due to its smaller volume capacity. But for larger ponds, then the LWHGAC would be the best choice since it can filter a larger volume of water, at a rate of 3 gallons per minute, which equates to 180 gallons per hour. Remember, no matter which filter system you choose, your fish and other aquatic life will be healthier because of it.