The pond is about 4,000 gallons. I live in West Central Florida. The pond will get 4 - 6 hours of sunlight and will also have fish. I plan to add plants as well. In the past, I have used a Pondmaster pressurized filter with a 40 watt UV bulb. The water was very clear.

When I refill the pond I am thinking about not reconnecting the filter. I am expecting the water to initially become cloudy but then to clear once the chemistry of the pond becomes balanced. Can you give me the pros and cons of not using a filter?

Thanks.

In aquaculture, sewage treatment, high end Koi ponds, etc., there is no concept of a "filter" as a generic, fixes everything, gadget. In these cases results are highly desired, sought and performance is measured and debated.

This isn't at all the case in water gardening. "My water is clear and I have a filter, so therefore my water is clear because of my filter" is the extent of measurement. A debate...forget about it. Dare to say a certain filter is not as good as another and you'd think someone's kid was insulted.

Filters are not important in water gardening because it's OK if water isn't clear. I mean no one likes it, and people love to complain about it, but not to the extent of actually learning about filters, how they work, or installing one, at least for the most part. If the fish in a water garden die it's very sad, but not so sad to stop another trip to the pet store for a another $2 worth of feeder fish. When someone has $20,000+ worth of fish, or the health of fish impacts a person's income...filtering becomes a VERY important subject.

With that kind of standard in water gardening I think it's completely hit or miss, just a guess, as to whether adding a filter to your pond would yield some undefined result. It depends more on whether you'll willing to "see" some result whether real or not.

If you want the pros and cons of having a "filter" you first have to define what it is you want to filter out.

If you have ammonia the pros of adding a bio filter is that it would convert the ammonia and you wouldn't have to do water changes, binders, or replace fish every few months. The cons of adding a bio filter to a pond that never measures any ammonia is added expense, complexity, maintenance, and loss of yard space without any benefit.

If you have suspended particles or you want to limit suspended particles in the future the pros of a mechanical filter is that it would lower suspended particles. The cons are expense, complexity, maintenance, loss of yard space, and the very real risk that it wouldn't work at all. Especially true if the mechanical filter design comes from the water gardening world where filters aren't tested, they only have to sound good.

Same basic deal with green water, cloudiness from clay or tannins, etc.