A few years back I built a garden pool and have been waiting ever since for the water to clear. It holds around 1500 gallons and is home to a small school of goldfish, maybe 20, all less than 6 inches. Each spring I stock with lots of submerged plants but I can't imagine they get much light through all the green water. They don't really grow much, except the hornwort a little bit. Plenty of waterlily shade by August but that doesn't help much. So I have given up waiting for the elusive natural balance and am ready to put in a filtration system.

I've read a lot here and elsewhere on filtration systems. Before reading much on the forums I figured I would install a pressure filter with built-in UV light, mainly because it would be easy to hide. They do seem awfully expensive but I was ready to bite the bullet.

However, on this forum it seems that many opt for a DIY system like a Skippy filter or similar. I like the idea of spending less money and I'm reasonably handy. My issue with one of these is that I don't see that I could easily hide it. My pool is partly raised (I'll add a link to the bottom to some pictures) and I have a good spot for hiding next to the pool, but well below the water line. Hence the pressure filter idea.

Is it possible to pump the output of a DIY biofilter? Or I might be willing to put an above waterline filter where the steel sculpture (see photos) is sitting now, but I don't want to put something that looks like a large plastic tub in that spot... unless I could conceal it somehow.

Here's a link to photos -- I hope it works.

Thanks!

Herv

http://herv.smugmug.com/keyword/garden%20pool#914980152_2YPbc