Best Pond Waterfall Filter | Great for Koi and Garden Ponds

When you’re designing your outdoor water garden or backyard fish pond, you’re usually going to want to find the right mix of aesthetics and functionality. Using a good pond waterfall filter is a great way to get the best of both worlds.

On the one hand, you get the filtration needed to keep your water clean and clear. On the other hand, you’re getting a water feature that will give you ambient noise and add to the design of your pond.

This all happens while you’re saving money by reducing the amount of equipment you need in your pond. This guide is designed to help you find the best pond waterfall filter for your specific situation, so you aren’t wasting time or money searching through them all yourself.

What Is The Best Pond Waterfall Filter?

We’ve taken care of the hardest part of finding the right equipment for your pond. The pond waterfall filters below were hand-selected based on a few different factors, along with reviews from other customers just like you. Each is picked specifically for different types and sizes of ponds.

How To Choose The Right Sized Waterfall Pond Pump

Choosing the right size waterfall pond pump can be based on three different factors:

• The purpose of your pump.
• The size of your pump.
• The type of your pump.

The purpose of your pump will need to move water through your filtration system and have enough pressure to keep water flowing through the waterfall. This means you will need to size the pump slightly larger than the number of gallons inside of your pond.

The size of your pump is determined by how many gallons-per-hour it needs to move. With a waterfall, that rating is going to be higher. For instance, if you have a 500-gallon pond, you may need a 1,000 gallon-per-hour pump to support your waterfall correctly.

The type of pump you choose will be determined by how you intend to power it and where you’re going to install it. You can either purchase a submersible pump or an external pump. Both types can be hardwired or powered by solar panels and a battery backup.

Benefits Of Waterfall Filtration Systems

In case you needed a little extra push to help you understand why pond waterfalls work so well, and why they’re so attractive to pond owners, we’ve collected a handful of added benefits. Each additional benefit below is what you’re also buying into when you purchase a new waterfall kit.

1. It creates a beautiful waterfall effect

   This is probably one of the most apparent benefits, but you’re not just getting the waterfall effect, you’re also getting filtration. The combination of both the filter media and the waterfall come together to give you the best of both worlds.
   
   

2. Allows increased filtration

If you have a large pond or large numbers of fish, you may be required to add secondary filtration into the system. A good waterfall filter kit can give you the extra filtration you need while also providing you with a unique water feature.

3. Incredibly easy to hide

   The waterfall filter kits we have featured not only function well, but they’re also incredibly easy to hide. They can blend into your landscaping while still providing the waterfall that you’re looking to achieve. This can’t always be done with most secondary filtration systems.
   
   

4. It helps provide increased oxygenation

   Your fish and plants require significant amounts of oxygen to stay happy and healthy. If you want to increase the amount of oxygen they’re receiving, installing a waterfall kit can help deliver extra oxygen into the water.
   
   

5. Improves current in the water

   Flowing water is essential to keep algae from being able to bloom. It also prevents foul odors from collecting in your pond. Installing a waterfall filter will help improve the current moving through your water, so you don’t have to deal with algae or foul-smelling water.
   
   

6. The ambient noise is relaxing

   After you’ve put all the hard work into building and designing your outdoor pond or water garden, the next best thing to do is sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Adding a waterfall kit to your pond adds one more layer of beauty in the form of ambient background noise.

Different Types Of Waterfall Pumps & Filters

Just adding your waterfall filter kit isn’t enough. You’re also going to need a pump that is capable of moving water through your waterfall. When you’re shopping for a pump, there are a few different types that you’re going to encounter.

The first type is your submersible water pumps. The second type is external pumps. The third type is hybrid pumps. Finally, you have a direct drive and magnetic drive pumps.

Most waterfall kits will use submersible pumps to help keep the pump out of sight. Submersible pumps can run 24 hours per day, seven days per week, while keeping your pond’s water properly oxygenated. These pumps are relatively maintenance-free.

The pump you choose should be designed for use with waterfalls because they are going to run on a continuous cycle. Compared to other pumps that run during specific times of the day, a submersible pump can keep itself adequately cool to extend its lifespan.

One thing that you will want to consider when selecting a pump is that the cheapest pump to buy may not always be the cheapest pump to own. Many of the most inexpensive brands available are using large amounts of energy, which you’ll see in your electric bill each month.

If you are focused on saving energy while saving money on the purchase of your pump, both magnetic drive pumps and hybrid pumps are great options. Direct-drive pumps are another option that saves money each month on your electric bill.

Magnetic drive pumps are designed to be compact while saving as much energy as possible. A magnetic drive pump, however, is not usually used when your waterfall is more than 4 or 5 feet from the surface of your pond’s water.

Direct-drive pumps are capable of moving more water to higher elevations, but you are going to face slightly higher energy usage. This is where hybrid pumps come into the equation.

Hybrid pumps are a combination of both magnetic drive and direct-drive. They’re capable of flowing more water than a magnetic drive pump while also using less energy than a direct-drive pump. That means you can save money purchasing the pump while also saving money on your energy bills each month.

Hybrid pumps utilize a mixture of internal magnets with an impeller and are capable of flowing water efficiently at nearly every power level imaginable.

Even though they are slightly more expensive than both magnetic drive and direct-drive pumps, the added cost savings will more than make up for themselves in your reduced electric bills.

The type of pump you use for your waterfall will, ultimately, come down to the height of your waterfall, the size of your pond, and how much you can spend on the initial purchase of the pump. Spending slightly more on a hybrid or submersible pump can dramatically reduce your maintenance while ensuring your waterfall has sufficient pressure.

Spillways vs. Filters -- Which & Why

When you’re trying to add a unique waterfall and its effects to your pond, you’re going to come across a few different terms. The first is spillway, and the second is filters. While waterfall filter kits are relatively easy to understand, many people get hung up on the term “spillway.”

Spillways are typically a more basic design that allows water to spill down into your pond from the filter box. The spillways utilize internal filtration systems, while basic waterfalls will only move water from your pump back out into the pond.

A waterfall spillway will usually not include an internal filter system. The pump supplies water to the waterfall spillway and then, once full, will allow water to begin pouring over the edge.

For most people, a simple waterfall is going to be enough. However, if you have a fish pond or a planted pond, a waterfall filter is going to be what you want. It’s nearly impossible to add too much filtration to a pond -- more is usually always better.

Increasing the amount of filtration in your pond will ensure that healthy bacteria have enough room to grow while you’re also keeping debris out of the water. Getting these benefits while also being able to enjoy a waterfall feature is just icing on the cake.

Will Your Pump Be Strong Enough?

When you’re thinking about adding a new waterfall or other water features to your pond, you’re going to need to think about how well your pump can handle the added stress. If your pump is already nearing max capacity, adding a waterfall feature to it could damage it.

To understand how big your pump needs to be, we have a simple formula you can use.

First, you’ll want to start by measuring the maximum height your waterfall requires. This is how far off the surface of the water that the waterfall will be before flowing back into the pond. You will also need to take the waterfall’s width into account.

To achieve the greatest effect, you’re going to need to be able to flow at least 100 gallons-per-hour for every inch of width on the waterfall spillway. If you want more flow, you can increase the size to 200 gallons-per-hour for every inch of width on the spillway.

To measure the specific size and flow required by your pump, you’ll want to think about how many gallons are inside of the pond and work from there. For a 500 gallon pond, you’ll start the equation with a 500 gallon-per-hour pump.

Here’s a quick example of using the formula to quickly determine how large your pump will need to be to flow enough water for your filtration and the waterfall, itself:

Let’s assume you have a waterfall that is 10 feet tall with a spillway that is 1.5-feet wide.

To determine how many gallons-per-hour you’re going to need, multiply the width by 30 and then multiply that number by 60 to determine how many gallons-per-hour are required.

For a 1.5-feet wide spillway that moves water 10-feet into the air, you will take 1.5 times 30, which is 45, and then multiply 45 by 60 minutes. That gives you a total of 2,700 gallons-per-hour. Add that to your total gallons of water, which is 500 in this case, to get a total of 3,200 gallons-per-hour.

If your current pump is not rated for at least 3,200 gallons-per-hour, you will need to upgrade it with a newer, more powerful unit. You want to ensure that the flow rate the pump is rated for is closely tied to the amount of flow you need for your waterfall.

Purchasing more pump than necessary isn’t always a good thing. It will increase your budget without giving you many benefits. However, using a pump that is being pushed too hard will cause the pump to fail prematurely.