Since the weather is now starting to warm up in N. PA I have been thinking of setting up a Rubbermaid type pond. I was wondering if anyone has done this? If so, what did you use for a filter? I was thinking a diy powerhead filter would work, but I'm not sure if the weather would affect it. I am mainly concerned about the power cord. Any advice is appreciated.

What kind of fish are you wanting to keep? I like to use sponge filters as I can run the air pump in my garage and run a long airline hose out to my pond. Keeps the pump dry and pumps in warmer air keeping the pond a touch warmer.

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Thanks for the reply. :D I'm going to be keeping livebearers of various assortments. Probably mostly platies and guppies.

I keep a few shallow containers outside myself.I dont ususally keep anything in it,but I raise betta fry in there.

With livebearers you can set a sponge filter up in there.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

So the general consensis seems to be sponge filters... maybe I will just symphony and water change every week. I heard green water is good for fry.

What you want to do sounds like 'tubbing'. With plants (floating plants are good) you may not need a filter although some water movement might be a good idea.

Yep, that's the plan. I haven't been able to find any pond pumps anywhere around. Maybe walmart will now that the weather is warming up.

We've been making our own bio-filters for years. The one that has worked the best for us is the downflow. We have a great diagram and help with any questions that you have.

Your's Koily, Lorraine

I just went to lowes got a small pond filter for 20 bucks had the sponge 3 different diffusers for fountain and the pump the plants is where iv found I had to spend some money lol good luck

sounds like you have a plan.post some pictures when you can.good luck hope all goes well.

I have a great design for a bio-filter. The window screening at the top traps all debris from the pond so that the bio-media keeps clean and houses large colonies of good bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrites.
We normally use 25 gallon plastic rubbermaid garbage cans but they can be unsightly. Now we are using the recycled horse troughs which are black in colour.
This filter can be difficult to figure out so I have improved it so that people can get a better chance of understanding how it works.

Lorraine