fish in skimmer ?

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This may be a dumb question but not having one, I need to ask.. how do you keep fish and floating plants from getting into the filter?
 

Mmathis

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No question is ever dumb, no matter how dumb it is....

That comes up every once in a while and there have been various solutions offered. Lots of people never have an issue. Some people will make a barrier that goes before the skimmer, stopping larger plants from going inside. Some people string pool noodles across the pond or make noodle loops to contain floating plants. I have used stretchy line that sits just at water level to contain plants.

I don't have a real skimmer, just a floating Oase one, and I have had a lot of problems with my goldfish getting inside -- they do it on purpose -- I've watched them. They know there's algae and good stuff to eat in there! And they always seem to get back out (against the current), but I was worried so I rigged some plastic mesh around the opening to keep the fish out. Small debris can still get through.
 
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I considered putting plastic mesh over the skimmer box opening after one of our koi "swam upstream" and died in the skimmer net. Haven't tried it, though.
 
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Covering the weir opening with mesh or screening of any kind defeats the whole purpose of having a skimmer.

We don't have a skimmer, but I was thinking the same thing. People warned us that our negative edge would be a problem for our fish, but it's rare that anyone swims over. But we did originally consider a screen or net over the opening to prevent any accidents. Then it occurred to me that we would be doing nothing but cleaning debris away from the opening. So we just live dangerously!
 

addy1

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I put a small window screen across my skimmer to keep the tads, fry out of it, over the summer months. I kept it running to add circulation to the pond. Nothing was falling that needed to be skimmed. Spring and fall it is on full skim mode, maple seeds, apple flowers in the spring, leaves in the fall.
 

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