Alternative to commercial skimmers

[HIROHITO99]

Hi All,

I am building my first pond and have made the very wise decision to place said pond partially underneath two trees. That being the case, I feel that I need a skimmer to keep leaves from the surface. My question is, would it be possible to use a pool-skimmer for this as it seems that they generally run about half the cost of what pond skimmers run.

The pond that I'm building will be 5x10 and around 2 feet deep with 750 gallons of water in it. I plan to run the filter through a waterfall featur with a 2000 gph pump. Are there any special configurations that I would need to consider for the pump if using a pool skimmer is possible.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!

 

[koiguy1969]

there is, i believe, on this forum someone who used a pool skimmer, says it works good. i skim by hand myself.

 

[HIROHITO99]

Thanks Koiguy. I found that thread and it did answer the question as to if I could use one or not. Still, I'm not quite sure how I would configure the pump or if mu pump would be big enough as I don't think that pool skimmers allow enough room to submerge the pump in their housing. Maybe someone will know. If it's too much trouble then I will definately be hand skimming just as you do but I'm trying to go as low maintenance as possible.

 

[Quantum673]

I think a pool net would be easier just skim the surface by hand and you can also use the net for the leaves that sink before the skimmer had a chance to do its job. A daily dose of the hand skimming and you should be fine.

 

[HIROHITO99]

Thanks to both of you I will now save about $100 by not buying any kind of skimmer. I didn't think I needed one when I initially set up my plan but I kept seeing them included in all the kits so I started to second guess myself.

Might not be able to skim everyday as I have a job and a three year old that require most of my attention but perhaps every other day :beerchug:

 

[koiguy1969]

i do it first thing in the morning with my coffee...only takes 1 or 2 minutes if you do it daily ive been releasing fish daily into the outside pond from the basement pond, and they are freaking out seeing the skimmer net,after just being chased down, netted, and put in a bag for 20 minutes then released into a new larger enviroment.

 

[Quantum673]

That should be good. You will probably want to cover the pond with some type of netting in the fall when the trees are dropping all their leaves to keep it in check.

 

[HIROHITO99]

Good idea Quatum!

I know what you mean Koiguy. Currently (in my pre-pond life) I use my mornings for pruning the roses and checking on my vegetables. I usually do this before my family has woken up because, once they get started I'm lucky if I have two seconds to do anything. I suppose a quick skim of the pond while I'm outside wouldn't hurt either.

Fortunately both my wife and daughter want this pond so I should have time to devote to getting it installed.

 

[koiguy1969]

you'll all love it. enjoy the process

 

[DrDave]

I purchased a skimmer net, very fine material, works great to keep the surface clean. More importantly, no lost fish to the skimmer.

 

[mister2driver]

Since your daughter is 3 she'll be fine watching you net up any debris.
She'll probably want to help you too. I have a 3 kids and they can't wait till our pond is done.
Let's see some progress pics.

 

[HIROHITO99]

You're probably right mister2driver. I'm lucky in that my little girl loves helping me out in the yard. Some days, she doesn't want to go back inside once the day is done!

I'll try to get some pics up this weekend. I'm going to try to pick up some rocks at lunch today and get the liner laid this evening so that should be fun.