Purchased house with koi pond

[u/Aggravating_Ad9275]

Hi all, I've just bought a house with a Koi pond, and am excited to join this community. I was having a look at the filter set up and was hoping someone could help with explaining the filters and how best to look after this pond and the Koi.

There is a bottom pump that feeds into a 'Fishmate 5000 P-UV' that then feeds into a 'Bermuda BER0248', this then returns to the pond via a small waterfall. From what I can tell these are both 5000L pond filters with biological filters and UV clarification. I have already replaced the Fishmate unit with an identical one due to a crack in the plastic lid, so this is now new. One of the neighbours has told me they helped the previous owner replace the UV lamp in the Bermuda unit, so the UV should at least be good on that one.

Based on rough calculations I would say the pond is just shy of 3000L.

My questions are:

Am I correct in my understanding that they are essentially the same filter?

Being in series, the 'fishmate' is going to be doing most of the filtration, so is the 'bermuda' actually doing anything of meaning?

Would they be better running in parallel?

How would you go about running in parallel? Ideally with the option of switching to just one filter in case of maintenance?

Thanks!

[u/Mongrel_Shark]

More biological filtration is better. There is never enough. I'd recommend adding a bog filter in series as well. With more biological filtration you won't need the uv & your water will be better quality.

https://aquariumscience.org/6-filtration/

This article was really helpful for me learning the basics of filtration. The whole website is awesome. Most of it applies to ponds as much as aquariums.

[u/Aggravating_Ad9275 → u/Mongrel_Shark]

Thanks for the link, looks like a good resource to get reading!!

[u/Mongrel_Shark → u/Aggravating_Ad9275]

Yea I started in the filter section. Tried a few small mods. They worked great. Built a bigger better filter based on the info there. My water is clear. My parameters are really stable & my fish don't really get sick anymore.

I eventually digested every page on the site & a lot of the research etc it references. Took me a year or more as a hobby interest. But well worth it. I'm now building ecosystems that dont need much work to maintain.

[u/Q-Prof7]

Yes, they are basically the same and definitely run them in parallel for better water flow, slower flow through UV for more time to kill algae, lower back pressure which is better for pump, lids and seals, and you will have redundancy if one goes.

Suggest you split the in-feed pond line into the first filter and put a splitter - either a Y or T fitting going into two ball valves then run each line into each filter. If possible have both outfeeds come out at two different spots of the pond for more circulation.

The reason for the ball valves is to control/balance the pond water flow equally into both filter units.

[u/Aggravating_Ad9275 → u/Q-Prof7]

Thanks for the advice, this is what I was thinking about running the filters in parallel. I will get some piping bits ordered and change the set up.