OASE BioSmart 10000 Pond Filter

Two weeks ago we could not see our koi in the water it was pure mud, all 8000 gallons of it. Everything they claimed about this product is correct and better, super easy to install and works fantastic! We purchased the 10000 gallon filter for our 8000 + gallon pond. We have 12 Koi, some very large We could not see our fish at all. Removal of an orchard directly behind our house and construction of a new housing project for two years now, high winds has filled our pond with dirt and muck 6 -12 inches + deep. Water quality was very poor no matter how much we changed water or vacuumed we could not get all the dirt and muck out of our pond. Three years ago we spent $7000 emptying cleaning and adding new pumps, lights, fountain etc. so we could have a clean and healthy pond for enjoyment. But now We have spent $1000's on bacteria and chemicals, eco-safe and not so eco-safe to clean it. Koi got ulcers even though we have a very expensive bead uv filter system with two pumps, it was here when we bought the house 10 years ago. It could not do the job. I ordered this OASE BioSmart filter without telling my husband because it was the last resort to try to save our koi and be able to enjoy the beautiful backyard, he was ready to give the koi away and fill in the pond, which would have been 1000's of dollars also (google it, very expensive for a huge pond). The pond has two waterfalls and two creek beds, they also full of muck and dirty water. I only wish I would have taken a picture of before our OASE BioSmart filter. Our pond is now clearing, muck is disappearing, and the pump has only been up and running for a little over 2 weeks. We noticed it clearing in only one day and everyday since it is better. As you can see in the pics we have some more to go before crystal clear but now We are enjoying our koi and they are loving it and starting to spawn as soon as the water started cleaning up. Thank you, thank you and thank you for saving our koi and cleaning up our pond. PS: We did not add the UV unit but may do so down the road. A happy life now!

Allow me to set the scene: I have four rescued pet ducks who have taken up residence in a large run I’ve coined “Duckingham Palace”. Like any palace, it is equipped with a large pool (aka a 300 gallon stock tank). As one may imagine, the ducks absolutely love spending time in their pond. However, ducks are quite messy and poo quite literally every two to three minutes. This can make keeping their pool clean quite challenging. Enter this filter! I purchased the filter in combination with the corresponding 18v UV light attachment, a high efficiency pump (Little Giant 566407 WGP-95-PW, 4280 GPH) and an aeration system (Aquascape Pro Air 20). With my prior filtration system (an all in one pump and filter), within 5-6 days, their pool would need to be drained, power washed, and refilled. Their filters were replaced weekly because of how gross they were (they otherwise required hand washing - no thank you!). We are one week out and the water is still running crystal clear and I can still clearly see the bottom of the pond. I also have not noticed any algea, likely due to the UV light attachment. I have cleaned the filters every couple of days, even though the gauge doesn’t always indicate I need to do so. I just do it as part of my chores now to ensure the cleanest possible water. I do have advice for those that purchased this though! Some users noted that they experienced leaks or connections that didn’t fit tightly. The key for me, was the incorporation flexible PVC couplings from Lowes (shown in picturespictures). The first is a 3”-2” coupling that goes to the front. The 3” side attaches to the filter, the 2” side to the 2” PVC pipe that returns water to the pond. The other is a 1.5”-1.25” coupling. The 1.5” side attaches to the sludge drain insert, the 1.25” end attaches to my tubing. The tubing I used for my pump and sludge drain is from the Star Water Systems plastic kit sold at Lowes. It’s important to ensure your hose clamps are as tight as possible too! My setup is leak free and did not require any PVC cement to work. Another tip: this filter is gravity dependent - your tubing needs a downward gradient to work. My filter is raised and on a table, the PVC pipe is slanted slightly downward. The return hose is zip tied to the duck run at a downward slope, with the end in my garden bed - this allows drained water/sludge to filter out there and naturally fertilize my plants. I’ll update this review if my opinion changes, but so far, I do highly recommend this system. My next investment may be a pond hose to vacuum up debris at the bottom in between fillings, but I’m waiting to see if it will truly be needed.

I've had to take over for my mom caring for the outdoor pond. She used to clean the filter bi-weekly and had two filters running (3000 galfilters) Problem is we have goldfish and Koi in our 2500-3000gal pond... so we needed 6000-9000 (no fish) gallons to keep it clear. Me and my dad said screw it and went 50/50 in on this filter and a 3500GPH pump and in ONE DAY you could see the difference. However... that is our issue, the filter is overkill for my pond and is just doing it's job, so for the stress test it passed with flying colors. Onto the cleaning, I will say the sludge drain is leaky and requires a LOT of force to get it to a drip... I ordered more tube clamps since the filter only came with two... so my drain hose can be on permanently, but lead back into the pond when not in use. This is your best option to save your wrists ever time you clean the filter, just secure the drain pipe and move it when you drain. The other suggestion I have is a 3" flexible rubber gasket instead of gluing the output as instructed, the rubber gasket will let your output sag slightly for good flow and can be removed in the winter easily if necessary. TL;DR Pros: Works very well Easy to clean... once setup Cons: OOW MY WRIST Needs more Hardware for proper installation No UV Expensive I do recommend this filter because it is so simple but works so well, no pressurized chambers, no bio balls, it's just sponges with handles to wring them out... Which just makes it more annoying that it's so expensive and they dont even give you a few extra clamps and gaskets. I will probably add the UV attachment in the future, maybe next spring since my wallet has been lightened. It isnt necessary though, coming from a really dirty start this filter does the work.

Just exactly like ALL of the others who left reviews, I agree that the instructions are worthless so read the booklet, all four pages of it that are in the language I'm using here, then toss it in the bin because it will make no sense to you whatsoever. It comes with a lot of what seem to be extra parts that are not explained in the booklet, I've kept them just in case it should strike me one day what they might be for. It was a BOOGER getting it assembled properly and I got a pump for it that was so powerful it actually blew the lids off of the top of the thing. So if you want advice: Use a smaller pump than recommended. I just took one of my fountains out and used it's pump, to save some time and a few bucks. It is a third of the size of the pump recommended for this filtration system box thing. ************* Now. All of that having been said, I have a 2600 gallon Koi pond that was so filthy I couldn't see my fish until they were eating at the surface of the water. It was like going to the lake. IN THREE DAYS not only can I see my fish again, I can see to the bottom of the pond and perfectly. The water is CRYSTAL CLEAR. I found things sitting at the bottom of the pond that I hadn't even know had fallen IN there, a small statue and some other things... I even found my glasses that I'd lost and never thought I'd find again, it turns out they must have fallen out of my shirt pocket and into that once-dirty pond. They are better quality glasses than the ones I got to replace them with too, so I'm doubly glad I found them. The pond had gotten bad. It was months that I was in hospital and out, and had no energy to do anything other than feed the fish so it suffered as I did, and got filthy with algae and ...just muck I guess. Detritus, dirt that had blown in, who knows what makes them so dirty when the barrel filters stop working but this was a FILTHY pond. The fish all seemed fine, fat and happy, so I tried very hard to concentrate on getting better and NOT worry so much about the fish. Once I got some energy back, I began working on clearing that water. I bought enough UV protection for a pond twice the size of mine, and all it did was turn the water from green to brown (and THAT took over 3 weeks). THIS BOX with all of it's sponges and filters cleaned that brown water and turned it clear as glass in THREE DAYS. I **DO** recommend this filtration box; and highly. VERY highly. It just needs better directions for assembly and usage. You'll figure it out though, if *I* can figure it out and make it work, ANYONE can. It's worth the money. Buy one, and you will be very glad that you did.

We were on the point of giving up. Our pond water was totally green every summer, and we could only see the fish when they were within the top foot or two of water. We tried different filters, barley, and algicides. Nothing worked. Our pond is 8'X10', with half of it 2 feet deep, and half 4 feet deep, so there's a lot of water in it. Previously we had an Aquaviolet filter, but it just didn't do the job. We were going to give our fish away and fill in the pond. Purchase of this filter was a last attempt. The results have been amazing. The water is crystal clear, and we can see right to the bottom of the pond. We used to have to pull the pump out every second day to wash the algae off the mesh bag protecting it, and we changed the pond water every second week. UV lights, different filters, nothing seemed to work. That's all changed now. It was difficult to pipe in. I used 1.5 inch plastic hose with spiral re-enforcing. It has nearly impossible to find connectors for it. I had to purchase things for toilets and use steel hose clamps. I used a splitter to get the full volume of water pumped up to the two inlets on top of the filter. My initial impressions were that it looked flimsy and I was disappointed to see that the filter media was only a few sponges. That all changed as we began to see how effective it is. Clean out of it is really easy and quick. I just shift the filter a bit so that they clean-out port is over the edge and let it drain. With the larger diameter piping that it's designed for, we can run much more volume through it than anything we have had previously. The water is so clean now that we only need to even clean the mesh bag over the pump about once a week. I only changed the water once during this whole season. The sponge filters only need to be squeezed about every couple of weeks. I highly recommned this product.

Hands down the simplest and the best filter I've ever had!!!........ I went through countless pond filters all pressurized uv power-operated each and every one had a leak each and everyone eventually had a power shortage and each was three times the price not to mention how difficult it was to clean it. In The five years I've had my pond I've never had a filter that made the water crystal clear until I purchase the oase biosmart 5000, in a matter of hours the water was crystal clear clear than the day I filled up the pond for the first time my pond is roughly 2000 gallons Plenty of Fish at about 2 feet deep I can't believe how clear it is right now I can see the way to the bottom the fish seems happier the plants look healthier all in all a wonderful purchase highly recommended super easy to install I don't get the people to write the installation is difficult, all you have to find is a 3in rubber sleeve to adopt into the outlet took me exactly 1 minutes to figure it out people need to learn how to improvise and you got to do the same thing for the second inlets and attach rate post shut off so when they're water rises it won't drain out from the back, literally altogether five minutes of installation. Cleaning is so easy one minute to squeeze the sponges rinsing inside where the hose connection is and put the lid back on couldn't ask for a better more efficient filter. Those of you who have really murky water to begin with you might have to clean the filter on a daily basis in the beginning until the water condition adapts and then all you have to do is maintain it maybe once a week depending on how much sun exposure you have and algea buildup. I hear some reviews about people who complain about maintenance, you're pond owners there's no such thing as Carefree or maintenance-free ponds it always requires some cleaning no matter what. To do it to minutes a week won't hurt anyone.

We have a 2000 gal pond with 20 or so fish and had a horrible turbid water problem, couldn't see through it more than a couple of inches. Tried every chemical and barley product know to mankind and nothing worked completely, water would improve slightly for a day or two than revert back. I decided to give this BioSmart 5000 a try. Within a day or two I noticed and improvement, in less than a week I could see clear down to the bottom, had fish I din't even know existed! This thing worked great, turbid water was gone. Wasn't necessary, but 3 weeks into it I ended up adding the OASE UV attachment as well to help fend off the algae. * Installation was easy, just need a pump (or tap into an existing source) and make sure the filter output is lower than the filter it's self. I took another reviewers advice and purchased a flexible rubber 3" fitting to use on the filter output. (see photos) * I thought the drainage door on the filter looked flimsy, so I installed a ball valve on the drain just in case (see photos). BUT turns out I was wrong their drainage door works great, not a leak anywhere. * I was bit skeptical of the whole push/pull to clean the filter sponges... BUT wrong again, it works pretty well! When the red float pops up,, I push/pull the sponges and it's good for another week or so. Only once so far have I actually detached the sponges and sprayed them out. * A couple of very minor dislikes: The water temperature thermometer is in celsius (Hey, I can't help it that the US never converted!). When push/pull cleaning the sponges some dirty water does end up going back into the pond... Like I said very minor. Photo Notes: * Don't be confused, I painted my BioSmart 5000. It's normally black, it's now green and ready for combat! ;) * Photo's show the BioSmart 5000 with the Vitronic 18 UV attachment, sold separately. * Pond output, in the photo showing the waterfall, BioSmart 5000 output is small fall on the left. * Fish photo: Seriously, this clarity is 100% due to the BioSmart.

This might work, if we can ever put it together. The instructions are horrible. Nor did they send all the parts we need. I’ve been searching for a video. When I finally found one, I realized that they expected us to figure out what goes where on our own. Also, we should have already installed a 3” rubber hose with parts they did not send. Edit: We finally got this put together. It took several trips to the hardware store and a lot of trial and error, but it is finally together. Now that it is operating, it is doing a great job of clearing our pond. So I would give it five stars. But I still am upset with the lack of logical instructions and lack of parts. Basically, the user needs to somehow attach two of the three hoses to the box on their own, without parts or instructions. Lotsa luck. Edit again: this unit is FANTASTIC for cleaning a pond. So I just rated the unit three stars instead of one. It does need to sit at a level above the pond because it relies on gravity. It does need to be insulated in winter. If the manufacturer would just address the lack of good instructions AND provide parts to attach to standard hoses, it could easily earn five stars and be a favorite for pond enthusiasts everywhere.

Did the job and solved the filtration problem I was having

Excelente sistema de filtración, fácil de instalar y el uso

JUST bought and installed June 2020, BUT! It has worked VERY WELL so far! Our pond went from looking like a MUD HOLE to being so clear I can see the bottom! In just a matter of days. The fish are much more active and happy; there are now a ton of frogs/toads and snakes...a very thriving pond, thanks to the filter. It seems very well made. I've already done a thorough clean and backwash (and used the backwash to feed/water surrounding plants, trees, shrubs...they love it). I did the cleaning before it was indicated, just to see what it was like. It is easy to install, easy to maintain...perfect for elderly pond owners or those not wanting much filter maintenance. Hints/tip: drain/backwash prior to trying to lift the sponge filters out. I tried before draining and they are extremely heavy...and our filter is elevated. Also, I added beneficial bacteria and some hornwort plants. Already had lilies and hyacinths in the pond I will update again end of summer and next year if this product fails or doesn't perform as well but in all honesty, it seems like a MONEY WELL SPENT! Great value and a healthy, crystal clear pond in no time! Highly recommend (NOTE: local pond retailer has several of these filters and swears by them; and has had their filters for YEARS, FYI...so the product likely lasts).

Installed this filter to my pump and the water in my 2,100 gallon pond (8,400 litres) is crystal clear. Filter is very easy to maintain and the output drain easily feeds my 4' waterfall feature. Only change I'd suggest is the output drain is 3' which can be a pain to adapt if you have a smaller output requirement (2",1.5") hose.

.Works as it should