TetraPond 26596 Waterfall Filter, Up to 1000-Gallon

Tetra Pond makes good products and this a great for the price. It's simple and effective and makes a lovely waterfall. I was going to have it cascade down onto another rock but when I got the rock in place it splashed too much. Turns out the water falling directly into the pond forces a lot of oxygen into the water to benefit the koi.

I had a pond in a home I bought where they took out the feature and filtration before the move. I'm guessing the pond is around 150 gallons. This filter really cleared it up fast. You could see a noticeable difference the first day. Seems to have a good flow with a 1000 gph pump (tetrapond brand). I also used tetrapond brand tubing due to concerns over fit that appear in many other reviews. This tubing fit perfectly. I've had it about 2 weeks now and am not quite done building out the waterfall but it holds the large flagstone on top well with no cracking. I have the filter that is included, a small barley bail, and bioballs in the product. So far so good! I really like this setup as I think an in pond filter would take up to much room. Go for it!!

I love this waterfall filter. It's fairly straightforward to position and connect. It's much quieter than the fountain I had before, yet seems to aerate even more water than the fountain. The waterfall filter comes with a foam mechanical filter, and I have some biological filter media on order. Eventually, I'll replace the box mechanical/biological filter that's in my pond with a nice pre-filter, and see if this new waterfall filter can keep the pond clean - the biggest difference between the two filters is that the new one sits above ground and should be much more accessible & easier to clean than the old one. I hope to provide an update after a few months of use, especially after I remove the old filter from the pond. So far so good.Oh, before I purchased this waterfall filter, I read a number of reviews that mentioned how hard it is to remove the four Tetra stickers that come with the waterfall filter ... yes, the stickers are a pain to remove! ;( That's the main reason I give it four stars.

It was easier and just as cost effective for me to buy this as it would have been to get the PVC and other parts to assemble my own filter. What you see in the description is exactly what you get with this filter. It is working fine for me. I would say that using this for a 1000 gallon pond would be pushing it, I would keep it to 500 or less for adequate biological filtration. My photos show the flow that you can expect over the weir at a 1200 GPH flow rate.

I have been trying to troubleshoot this filter for over year now. I’m using this for a small (200 gallon ) duck pond which serves 6 ducks. I started with relatively small pumps, 600gph and then 1000gph. The flow was so weak that the filter did not adequately clean the water. I moved up to a 3500gph max pump with 1” line, but the line constantly got clogged with feathers. I upgrade to a 1 1/4” line (pump is rated for 2” max line) and now the volumetric flow is So great that it pushes the filter out of the housing. I have to completely fill the bag with lava rock to keep the filter in place, but when I do that the waterfall overflows on all sides and I quickly lose all of the water from the pond. So I’m short this thing has never worked correctly and the specs are incorrect. It is poorly designed, as without adding the lava rock there is nothing to hold the filter material in place, even just some weight the filter can tip in the housing, allowing most of the water to bypass the filter.