20 Gallon Skippy

[mingus2112]

OK. . .so i'm building two 20 Gallon Skippies (1 each for my 300 Gallon ponds). I've got the "barrel liners" from lowes. . .got the shower drain hooked up. . .pvc all ready. . .and i've got the light grate ready to cut up.

I've got 40 bags of dollar store scrubbies ready to go in these puppies. I couldn't find anywhere nearby to buy the "commercial" 1" thick pads. Should the dollar store scrubbies work as well alone?

-James

 

[koiguy1969]

they will do the job, add some furnace filter media from home depot its blue and its made for you to cut to size. its corser so put it on the bottom so the filtration gets finer as it travels up. they are 20x25x1 inches, flanders is the brand.natural aire is the style name...very good starting media.they are about $5.00. and those barrel liners are kind of shallow arent they...i would consider 'brute' 20 gallon trash cans or tough stuffs 20 gal cans home depot carries both, as long as your there getting the filters.

 

[mingus2112]

forgot to mention that I also picked up those flanders filters at home depot (on your recommendation, actually). Yeah, the barrel liners are shallow compared to a trash can. i'm going to give it a go, though, as I don't have a lot of room and i can't dig into the concrete and brick that surrounds the ponds to bury it.

-James

 

[BlakeA]

keep us posted, and could you post some pics when you get finished?

 

[mingus2112]

so i'm going to be finishing this thing up today. looks like there are actually two DIFFERENT dollar store scrubbies at the dollar tree that are in identical packaging (with identical thickness listed) and one is thicker than the other. you guys with dollar store scrubbies, are they about the same thickness as the scotchbrite pads? or a lot thicker?

i also got the flanders natural aire furnace media to cut. how small should i cut that? and how small should i (or shouldn't i?) cut the scrubbies?

 

[koiguy1969]

if you got enough of them cut them round to fit the filter 2 layers thick then quater all the scrubbies put the furnace ones as the bottom layer. whats left, cut up like the scrubbies. make sure you use as much as possble. the dollar store scrubbies are probably irregulars..thats why theyre at the dollar store.
p.s you may want another light grate for on top to keep the media in where you want it

 

[bsr8129]

like to see some pics and how are these working?

 

[mingus2112]

I'd like to see some as well! Unfortunately I haven't finished them yet! Too much other stuff going on. Right now i'm cleaning patio pavers after my deep fryer exploded a few weeks ago. Maybe this weekend i'll get them finished up!

-James

 

[FredrikAnderson]

I built this one from these directions. I used a 16gal muck bucket that I got at the local hardware store. I also added a 2" pvc shower drain in the center bottom(removed grate) used a 2"to1.5" bushing , piped in a 90 degree elbow followed by a 1.5" ball valve. So now I can back flush it when needed. I got 1x12x16 wood floor buffing pads from the same hardware store for 4 dollars each. Needed 3 sheets cut in 3"x4" pieces to fill it up. Just got my Microbe-Lift/PL Gel Filter Pad Bacterial Inoculant today. I had it piped into the rocks on my water falls but had to tear it all apart today due to a rip in the linner directly under the waterfall boulders. So I get to wait a little longer to see how well it does.

 

[bsr8129]

Fredrik how big is your pond?

 

[FredrikAnderson]

Just over 300 gal. you can see the design in the Newbie forum under a heading "Tell me what you think about this 350 gal pond" or something like that.

 

[FredrikAnderson]

Here is the Pond Design so you don't have to go look for it, plus I can see if I have learn how to put my pictures into the text properly yet.

 

[DrDave]

Very nice drawing.

 

[Lockylew]

WOW good work. i like it.

 

[FredrikAnderson]

I made a simple diagram for anyone wondering about the 20gal skippy (mine is 16 gal). From start to finish including the scrubby pads and a 16 oz bottle of Microbe-Lift/PL Gel Filter Pad Bacterial Inoculant it cost me under 90 Dollars. I got some good prices on some things so it may cost a little more for someone else but not much.

Can anyone tell me from my pond design if its a good idea to try to add more air to the water. I would think that with the falls and the fact that the pond is small I would be fine but was just wondering.