Avoid this skimmer

[dustboy]

If you have smaller fish, whatever you do, don’t buy one of these PondMAX skimmers. It eats goldfish. Bought it at my local pond store a few years ago and it was about $120. I’ve gotten in the habit of checking the basket every day for fish, usually they survive if I get them quickly. Still, I’ve lost a lot of goldies to this thing.

I’ve tried reducing the flow (have dual inlets) but then the basket doesn’t get pulled down and the fish get sucked between the float and the main column. I just decided to shut it off entirely and skim the leaves by hand.

The other problem is that visiting children love to pull out the basket, when that happens there’s just a huge black hole that sucks up fish. Can’t blame the manufacturer for that, but still it’s a problem.

 

[Corgi Mom]

I had that issue with my skimmer/pump - not the same brand. It looked like a frog/fish mush of a horror movie in the spring. I tried everything and finally covered my pump with a netting bag with mesh large enough to access debris, but not suck up fish or frogs. Not sure this will solve your issue but it helped me.

 

[poconojoe]

I dont use a skimmer.
I got rid of mine.
It was just not worth the hassle.
I just occasionally scoop any floating stuff out with my net. I'm out there twice a day enjoying the fish and feeding them anyway, so if there's a rare occasion of floating stuff, I can get it with the net.

I have a LOT of trees. During Fall, I cover the pond with a net. I use pvc pipes as a frame for the net.

 

[eich09]

I dont use a skimmer.
I got rid of mine.
It was just not worth the hassle.
I just occasionally scoop any floating stuff out with my net. I'm out there twice a day enjoying the fish and feeding them anyway, so if there's a rare occasion of floating stuff, I can get it with the net.

I have a LOT of trees. During Fall, I cover the pond with a net. I use pvc pipes as a frame for the net.

Do you have an external pump? If not, where is your pump and how do you keep it off the bottom? I’m considering buying a pond kit, liner, pump, skimmer, waterfall, plumbing etc.

 

[brokensword]

Do you have an external pump? If not, where is your pump and how do you keep it off the bottom? I’m considering buying a pond kit, liner, pump, skimmer, waterfall, plumbing etc.

I'll chime in while waiting for PJ to give you his setup;

Make sure any 'kit' you buy has either an EPDM or HDRPE liner. Anything else is taking a huge chance it's not going to last very long at all.

MOST here have submersible pumps but a few have externals ( @addy1 can give her 2 cents). Yes, keep your pump OFF the bottom; I have mine 12ish inches, suspended by a rope/nylon cord and tied to the bank--you can also mount it to a milkcrate; the reason is this way you don't suck up so much of any acculations that will clog your filter that much faster. If you have that much bottom muck, use a a long poled net and SLOWLY bring it up. A lot here use bogs for their filter (do a search; there's literally hundreds of threads to help you learn about them) and this helps keep them from clogging in a similar way.

I'm also assuming you're looking at a preform plastic pond kit; realize, they are problematic within a year or two as the weather can cause them to become unlevel (hard doing this initally too, from reports) and many crack with a few seasons under their belt.

Hope this helps and PJ can give you further info.

 

[eich09]

Thank you for your reply. The kit I am planning to get does have an EPDM liner, and it’ll be about a 1500-2000 gallon pond. The kit comes with a skimmer with the pump sitting in the skimmer housing. If those that don’t like using a skimmer, how do they house their pump? I would like to integrate a bog to help filter, and had toyed with the idea making the stream, bog, and waterfall out of concrete, with the main pond being the liner.
Is there a good book that gives good visuals of bog filters, not just the design of them, but also how they are integrated into the entire pond structure? I’ll continue to scour these pages for advice and ideas. I’m hoping to order my supplies within a week or two, then start the pond next month.

 

[Mmathis]

@eich09 It looks like you joined GPF back in 2016, and back then you were asking similar questions. Curious, did you ever actually build that pond, or are you just a procrastinator like me?

 

[Lisak1]

You can build a pond without a skimmer - ours had a negative edge that dumps into an underground cistern which replaces the skimming action. I wouldn't want a pond that had NO SKIMMING though - I think skimming the surface of the pond gives it an extra sparkle that just makes my heart happy!

There are lots of varieties of skimmers out there - if you plan to use one, I'd read lots of reviews and see how others feel about them who actually have them on a pond.

 

[eich09]

@eich09 It looks like you joined GPF back in 2016, and back then you were asking similar questions. Curious, did you ever actually build that pond, or are you just a procrastinator like me?

Hahaha, I put it on the back burner and it never happened. Fast forward 6 years, my son is 11 now, we have a hole started for the pond, and he asks me about twice a week about the pond.

 

[Mmathis]

Hahaha, I put it on the back burner and it never happened. Fast forward 6 years, my son is 11 now, we have a hole started for the pond, and he asks me about twice a week about the pond.

Oh, you don’t have to explain — I TOTALLY understand! Been there, done, that….and still there

 

[brokensword]

Thank you for your reply. The kit I am planning to get does have an EPDM liner, and it’ll be about a 1500-2000 gallon pond. The kit comes with a skimmer with the pump sitting in the skimmer housing. If those that don’t like using a skimmer, how do they house their pump? I would like to integrate a bog to help filter, and had toyed with the idea making the stream, bog, and waterfall out of concrete, with the main pond being the liner.
Is there a good book that gives good visuals of bog filters, not just the design of them, but also how they are integrated into the entire pond structure? I’ll continue to scour these pages for advice and ideas. I’m hoping to order my supplies within a week or two, then start the pond next month.

think of a bog this way and your options are almost endless; a bog is an exterior filter box. You can put it almost anywhere, including OVER your pond; tis up to you, the engineering gets more complex but can be done. MOST will put them right next to the pond and let the uprising water overflow and pour as a waterfall BACK into the pond, so you get dual purpose. I have 2 bogs and one pours into a stream which pours into the pond. Now, I'm enclosed, so it's a small stream but the principle is the same.

So, you don't have to get fancy or complicated; just design your pond shape, figure where the best visual would be to have a 'garden' which would be your bog filter, put it next to your design, and voila! bob's yer uncle! There are a few considerations so it operates best and doesn't cause you issues, but you can cross that bridge after you decide this is what you want and plan for it. Then post something up and we can then give the details that will give you the most success. Or of course, you can read the hundreds of threads about bogs...I mean, tis YOUR time, heh heh.

There are some pics in my showcase; just look for year 2019 and I outline a portion (in pics) of my bog v2.

Hope this helps. And realize, there's a couple different ways of doing a bog with the simplest being 12" of pea gravel in a box with piping under the stone. You don't even need to dig as you'll want this 'box' higher than the pond if you want a waterfall.

 

[addy1]

MOST here have submersible pumps but a few have externals ( @addy1 can give her 2 cents).

I LOVE my external. Yeah turn it off in the winter, drain it, let it sit till spring, no biggy. It never gets clogged up needing to pull and clean. It just runs. I, personally, would never have a submersible as my main pond pump.

So what if some pipes come out of the pond, easy to hide it if bothers you.

I have two small submersibles one in my hot tub pond, one in my deck pond. They are a pita. I have prefilters on them, yep pull off and on during the summer clean, the pumps quit working , muck builds up on the parts . They are laguna pumps so decent quality.

 

[Lisak1]

A submersible pump IN the pond would be a pain. We have our submersible in the rain exchange - never gets clogged, never has to be cleaned. All it does is pump clear water.

 

[eich09]

Hahaha, I put it on the back burner and it never happened. Fast forward 6 years, my son is 11 now, we have a hole started for the pond, and he asks me about twice a week about the pond.

Oh, you don’t have to explain — I TOTALLY understand! Been there, done, that….and still there

Mmathis, well I have finally assembled all (most) of my pieces. I picked up what I hope to be the last of my rocks. I’ve been watching the Pond Advisor on YouTube and I think we’re ready to start construction. Oh, but now that I have everything, my wife wants me to build a chicken coop for our silkies. We already have a coop that houses 25 birds, but the silkies need their own space. She’s been nudging to bump the coop up on the priorities list. We’ll see

I’ve included a picture of our site. The left side is lower, so I’ll have to build up about 12”. The black square will be my skimmer and the blue thing will be a 15’ stream and falls.