Hi Megan,

I think setting up a filter like you describe would require a lot of maintenance, would most likely clog up a lot, and overall would be a giant pain to deal with. (I have done similar experimental things in the past at my house, so I speak from experience 🙂 You could probably get this to work for a while, but then the silt and gunk would build up and start clogging. Of course, it would depend on how much greywater, how clean it was going in, etc, but generally speaking I would not recommend this. I’m assuming you are considering this for a residential scale system.

It’s much easier to filter greywater in the ground in mulch basins, biological filters, that won’t overflow or clog in the same way an enclosed filter will. You also don’t need to filter greywater prior to a mulch basin unless you’re trying to send the water through drip irrigation, and then you’d want a filter that is easy to clean.

If you want to clean the water for toilet flushing it requires a different level of filtration and disinfection than for irrigation.

If you want a water feature use a higher quality water, like rainwater. Greywater is not a good choice for a water feature and it is also illegal in most states to have exposed greywater due to its potential health risks.

All this said, if you really want to try something out, I’d recommend doing it at your own house and waiting to see how it works for at least 1 year (2 years is better) before you make any conclusions about its effectiveness.

My main advice is to keep your system as simple as works for the situation and you will have more success and less headaches with your greywater system 🙂

Best of luck with your system!