So, as i'm working through my pond upgrade, i'd like to include a skimmer. Trying to find one with a small footprint that is big enough to fit my pump (Laguna 2900) for a decent price seems impossible. For starters, I was thinking of giving an in-pond skimmer a try (don't want to cut the liner unless I have to and would like to keep all plumbing inside the pond if at all possible), plus the ideal skimmer placement is right in the walking path around my pond.
The whole weir door thing was throwing me for a loop, until I started watching the Pond Digger YouTube videos and got a look at the Helix skimmer. This skimmer uses a "fish safe" circular weir. Here's a YouTube video of the skimmer in action:
This got me to thinking. What if I fashioned my own skimmer similar to this? I could use some sort of garbage can (thinking either a tall kitchen can or a small outdoor garbage can), cut out a window for water to flow in, create a platform for the inside with a hole in the middle to compartmentalize the can, and then use either the helix basket and weir, or a similar pool basket and weir (I've spied them on Amazon for relatively cheap (around $35 for both pieces). The pump would go in the bottom of the garbage can, the rest of the space filled with mat material, and the piping would go through a bulkhead in the side of the trash can and on to my bog.
I would place this inside the pond liner in a niche that I would pre-build. I know there would be a little dead space in the back, but i'm ok with that as I could stuff it with plants and whatnot.
What do you guys think? Some stats on my new pond: It will be an oddly-shaped 14 x 10 -- i'm calculating around 1500 gallons for the new part. 3 foot deep max. There's also a separate bog (5x4) and middle pond (5x7 and around 450 gallons), that are all looped together via waterfalls. This new pond will be my new "lower pond". Here's a rough sketch:
I've never used a skimmer before, so am not really sure whether this is feasible or not. If it ends up not working, i'm not out much $$ and could resort to something a little more traditional, but the thought of trying to rig something like this together seems appealing to me.
What do you think?
The whole weir door thing was throwing me for a loop, until I started watching the Pond Digger YouTube videos and got a look at the Helix skimmer. This skimmer uses a "fish safe" circular weir. Here's a YouTube video of the skimmer in action:
This got me to thinking. What if I fashioned my own skimmer similar to this? I could use some sort of garbage can (thinking either a tall kitchen can or a small outdoor garbage can), cut out a window for water to flow in, create a platform for the inside with a hole in the middle to compartmentalize the can, and then use either the helix basket and weir, or a similar pool basket and weir (I've spied them on Amazon for relatively cheap (around $35 for both pieces). The pump would go in the bottom of the garbage can, the rest of the space filled with mat material, and the piping would go through a bulkhead in the side of the trash can and on to my bog.
I would place this inside the pond liner in a niche that I would pre-build. I know there would be a little dead space in the back, but i'm ok with that as I could stuff it with plants and whatnot.
What do you guys think? Some stats on my new pond: It will be an oddly-shaped 14 x 10 -- i'm calculating around 1500 gallons for the new part. 3 foot deep max. There's also a separate bog (5x4) and middle pond (5x7 and around 450 gallons), that are all looped together via waterfalls. This new pond will be my new "lower pond". Here's a rough sketch:
I've never used a skimmer before, so am not really sure whether this is feasible or not. If it ends up not working, i'm not out much $$ and could resort to something a little more traditional, but the thought of trying to rig something like this together seems appealing to me.
What do you think?
