Anyone with 5,000 + gallon pond and larger then 16x20 ft?

[waynefrcan]

I also can say I have no muck at the bottom and have not cleaned the pond last year or this year. The skimmer and a half way decent pump is the key really.

 

[callingcolleen1]

My ponds gets tons of leaf litter, but most of it just get consumed by bacteria and plants. In the spring, after all the huge amount of leaves that fall into it, no Skimmer would even keep up, it would get clogged very fast. There are many very big old trees that grow very tall, and this huge one two doors down is twice the size of any other tree around for blocks, rains leaves in the fall that cover the neighborhood, for houses around. In one day, the whole pond could disappear, covered in leaves. I got a very large netting system that I string from the house to the trees to keep most leaves out. After several years you all get sludge build up in between the rocks. the rocks themselves will go green within a month in the full sun too.

Don't get me wrong, Skimmers work great, but they have to be shut down for winter and would not handle the leaf load here. The bottom pond has very large plants too, that act like a marsh, and in the spring I really only net out little.

 

[waynefrcan]

No it's the dying truth, no sludge in 2 years. Only a thin layer of algae on rocks and a layer around them. My skimmer picks up everything.

Whatever system you got going, it works!

 

[callingcolleen1]

OK, I believe you!! .... as long as it's the dying truth, ha ha ha! . You must not have many trees, huh?

Las Vegas Here I Come!! I got some awesome pictures just tonight, of my pond's newly adjusted lights, some inside and some outside of pond. Give you an idea of what your pond might look like. How's the lights coming?

last two pictures are of under water light.

 

[waynefrcan]

Real nice, maybe too much edge lighting? Some lights I bought locally and some I ordered online. Which is ok as I'm about to dig 35' trench for the wires and do electrical hookup.

When I get pond plants I will install more inpond lights as you gals have done.

 

[addy1]

I don't even have mine on right now, by the time it is dark enough to need them, we are usually sleeping (early risers) But in the winter they turn on around 4p

 

[callingcolleen1]

I'm a night hawk during the summer, can't get to sleep, love to sit by pond, and I love to see what's happening at night. If I don't have so many lights, it would be so dark and hard to walk around at night. I just love my lights that are underwater, their my favorite right now!

 

[addy1]

lol colleen, we are usually up by 4-430 or so. Never have been a night owl.

 

[waynefrcan]

Night hawk as well. I even slept outside beside the pond on a 3 seat swinging chair. God I'm weird. Not all night, just until 2-3 AM. Now with these pretty LED's, I'm not ever going into the house to sleep!

Lets just say some investments we had really came through and now on my own time, so night hawk it is :razz:

 

[waynefrcan]

This is the skimmer I have 2 of.

http://www.pondsonline.ca/Pond-Products/Pond-Skimmers/Savio-Skimmerfilter?product_id=2819

 

[addy1]

nice skimmer, I used a hayward pool skimmer, works great. It has a nice large weir, think 16 inches off top of head, or bottom of feet......lol

 

[callingcolleen1]

Looks like a good Skimmer, should suck in everything in sight, little fish maybe too!! I prefer gentle filters in water that won't suck my Pond life up. I know, lots of people like them, they work great, but I would be looking for babies in the filter all the time.
Wayne, I too like to sleep outside, but in the sun after work in the afternoon, on my "zero gravity" chair, and stare at the trees and birds that fly above the tree tops, and watch the blue sky and white fluffy clouds overhead.... good therapy!

 

[mtpond]

I also am a night hawk. Sometimes it makes it hard to get up and go to work. I have an led spotlight that shines down on the pond which is a soft glow, very calming. I also had a spot light on my waterfall which needs replaced. Around my pond I have LEDs that change color and some that don't. I love to go out and sit on the deck and listen to the calming effect of the waterfall and just watch the lights. I also love to go up and watch the fish swimming sound.

 

[mtpond]

Whoops around.

 

[addy1]

Looks like a good Skimmer, should suck in everything in sight, little fish maybe too!! I prefer gentle filters in water that won't suck my Pond life up. I know, lots of people like them, they work great, but I would be looking for babies in the filter all the time.

I have not yet pulled a fish from the skimmer, it has a huge leaf basket, anything that goes in sits there, never makes it to the pumps leaf basket. So far just a few tads and some baby trap door snails. The pull is gentle enough they don't get harmed. It saves my when the maple is dropping its seeds and when the three trees start to drop their leaves.

In the spring and fall I have it doing almost all the pond draw, even then no fish has been sucked in.