Aqua UltravioletAAV50011 Ultima Ii 10000 Filter, 5bxs

This is my second pond using these type of filters -- the first being a 2000 Gal version. I just installed a much larger pond at my new house using this brand again. I highly recommend them!

How are you I wouldn’t buy this pump for your pond

I have an Ultima II 10,000 on my 3,700 gallon koi pond and so far (6 months into it) it’s been pretty good. I say ‘pretty good’ because it took much longer (4 months) than expected to fully cycle or develop/stabilize the bacteria colony in the filter. This is most likely because I have a very low fish load (4 koi). The reason I bought this filter: I bought an Ultima II 2000 and was very impressed by its ability to convert ammonia and nitrite effectively without any prefilter in a well-stocked 1500 gallon koi pond. So when I expanded my pond, I felt comfortable with this brand to deliver based on that experience.As a rule of thumb, please ignore the rating on the filter when dealing with koi ponds. It’s rated at 10,000 gallons but should really not be used with a well-stocked koi pond over 5000 gallons. . It’s better to double or triple the filtration when used as the main source of filtration. So an Ultima II 10,000 is better used with a pond around 3000-6000 gallons (so an Ultima II 6000 is suited for a roughly 3000 gallon pond).There are a lot of people that will tell you that bead filters really aren’t great bio filters etc., etc. Well, technically this isn’t a bead filter because it uses a sinking, hollow media of various lengths to prevent clumping. It’s best used with a proper prefilter (a sieve, rotary drum filter or a settlement chamber) and a well-matched external pump like Sequence 4000 series (6800gph or 8200gph). The Ultima media has the most surface area of the popular pressurized filters out there and really does a great job as a combination mechanical and bio filter.I like it because it is so easy to clean and use, it doesn’t need a blower to backwash the media like typical bead filters. It’s also very effective as both a mechanical and bio filter in one. And you really don’t get your hands wet.What’s not to like? It adds 8ft of head to your pump requirements so it take a little bit more electricity to run than a gravity fed filter system. That’s the cost of convenience.

This is an awesome filter and I will definitely recommend it. Cleared up my Murky 9000 gallon pond overnight.