Sand Filter to Bead Filter Conversion

It's a common misconception that 'Sand filters' will work just fine in ponds, and many landscapers and pond builders will install these on ponds, because they just don't know any better...

But a sand filter is just about the WORST kind of filter for a pond.

There are many reasons, but basically a sand filter is designed to 'polish' the relatively clean and waste-free water in a swimming pool. These work great in pools, but are not designed to effectively filter water with organic waste (fish poop) and other suspended solids in the water.

The result is usually a filter that needs to be backflushed almost daily, needs the sand replaced every year (a big job) and that can start to grow anaerobic bacteria in the filter itself, which can be problematic for the pond and negatively effect fish health.

Fortunately, the conversion is a relatively simple one - once you've made the wise decision to get rid of your old sand filter and invest in a biological filter, like the Aquabead.

In this series - we'll take you through a recent installation we did for a lady down here in Florida who was unhappy with her current filtration system on her pond.

She had an old sand filter installed on her pond, that really wasn't doing a good job.

The first thing we did, was come out and determine what she needed, and what had to be replaced. All of her plumbing was very old, and many of the valves were cracking also, so we decided to just replace everything, including the plumbing.

The first thing we did, once the new filter arrived was to begin cutting out all the old plumbing and removing the old filter system, which wasn't too difficult with the right tool.

  
      Spaghetti Plumbing                             Ryobi Cordless Saw

Cuts through pipe like butter... much better than a hacksaw.

After removing the base plumbing, and separating the pump and filter we also determined that her old UV sterilizer was not operational and also had to be replaced.

  
Old Pump                                                       Old Filter

Fortunately, the pond owner had removed all the sand from the filter before we arrived, but what a mess was left behind inside the filter...

Next, we removed all the components and cleaned the area to make room for the new filter system.

 
Clean and ready to install          New Aquabead Filter

Next, we unpacked our boxes and began assembling the filter system in place.

 
Clearing the space                All the external plumbing
 
Attaching the multi-port with a couple simple twists of the fittings

 
Each piece is clearly numbered and labeled for easy assembly

Next, we began the pump installation and hooking it up to the old plumbing inlets.

 
Lining everything up right to connect with old pond water inlet

 
Cleaning the old pipe to prepare for the new glue

 
Measure twice, cut once...                  Perfect Fit!              

   
   Hooking up main drain line

 
          Getting down in the dirt...       

In these final pictures, we can see a much more functional layout and new plumbing installed. Instead of using standard 'ball valves' which get sticky and difficult to turn after a year or so - we installed top of the line Jandy valves which can easy control the in flow of water from the two main sources, the skimmer and the main drain.

  
Final plumbing installed including one-way check valve

In the pictures above, you can see that we installed a clear, one-way 2" check valve to keep the pump primed and functioning properly. This is a much more energy efficient pump (3.8 amps) than the swimming pool pump we removed (15.1 amps).

Next, we filled the filter with water and beads, and installed the high-pressure cap...

  
Topping off with water after adding beads to filter

 
Installing pressurized cap with included special tool.

And that was pretty much it! The whole install took a little over 2 hours, and was a vast improvement over what was there before.

 
Final Installation Photos of her Aquabead Plus filter System

Her new Aquabead System included a new single-bulb high intensity UV sterilizer, energy efficient 2-speed pond pump, and top of the line Aquabead biological pond filter with air blower/bead agitator for efficient backflushing.

Which means one happy pond owner!  (her fish look pretty happy too..)

 
 
Pond Owner Hand feeding her hungry Koi

Just to recap...

 
Out with the old...

In with the new...

For more information about our best selling Aquabead Pond Filters
and Systems, please click the link below:

Aquabead Pond Filters

Optional Skid-Mounted Pre-Plumbed Unit