Question about Skippy Filters

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I purchased the 300 gallon Skippy kit about a month ago. At first the water pressure on the egg carton was so strong I had to place heavy rocks to keep it manageable. Its been up for about 2 weeks and tonight I went out to take a look and it had sunk in at the middle and some of the srub pads had flowed over the waterfall. I removed all the rocks and its staying level. Is this just part of the process of settling? I’m trying to find a way to balance the egg carton so it doesn’t have to be constantly monitored. How do you guys handle this?

I want to put a large rock on top to cover it up but I dont want to do it until I know the level will stay constant.

This is a pic when I first put it in

20141130_105325_zps6f28e7f9.jpg
 

koiguy1969

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kind of teetering on the brink of disaster there aren't ya? you just removed the lip of the tank? I would cut up the media into 2"- 4" squares. you can fit more in and you don't get all the open area along the walls. which is here the water will tend to flow due to it being the path of least resistance. might I also suggest that you swap that elbow on your inlet with a sweeping tee. because as yours is, if your pump is stopped, your filter can, and likely will syphon back into the pond, including some of the crud in the filter. the "T" allows air into the down pipe, and breaks the syphon effect. not to mention introducing some aeration into the system as it will have some venturi effect.
sany0836-jpg.31235

notice the sweeping downward of the inlet... using a standard "T" isn't recommended.
 
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When I employed the Skippy style filter on a pond, I used some rocks the weigh down the grate. Evenly distribute the weight on top and you should have nothing to worry about.

Koiguy has a good point about the T on top, you will likely have a siphon is the pump turns off, and all the sludge will go back to the pond.
 
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kind of teetering on the brink of disaster there aren't ya? you just removed the lip of the tank? I would cut up the media into 2"- 4" squares. you can fit more in and you don't get all the open area along the walls. which is here the water will tend to flow due to it being the path of least resistance. might I also suggest that you swap that elbow on your inlet with a sweeping tee. because as yours is, if your pump is stopped, your filter can, and likely will syphon back into the pond, including some of the crud in the filter. the "T" allows air into the down pipe, and breaks the syphon effect. not to mention introducing some aeration into the system as it will have some venturi effect.
sany0836-jpg.31235

notice the sweeping downward of the inlet... using a standard "T" isn't recommended.

I'm not sure I understand how the T works. Why wouldn't the water just spill upwards through the open hole?

And how could it flow back into the pond when the pump turns off if the only exit is at the top? I'm just trying to understand the principles here since I'm new to this
 
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When I employed the Skippy style filter on a pond, I used some rocks the weigh down the grate. Evenly distribute the weight on top and you should have nothing to worry about.

Koiguy has a good point about the T on top, you will likely have a siphon is the pump turns off, and all the sludge will go back to the pond.

The problem I had with the rocks was the pressure was uneven so different rock weights were used. It was the implosion I didn't understand.
 
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I'm not sure I understand how the T works. Why wouldn't the water just spill upwards through the open hole?

And how could it flow back into the pond when the pump turns off if the only exit is at the top? I'm just trying to understand the principles here since I'm new to this
The water would go back through the pump if the pump because it will be a siphon. The T would allow air in and break the siphon effect.

The water would not pump through the top of the T because it will follow the path of least resistance (down).
 

koiguy1969

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TEX... it's a easy test. go turn off your pump and watch the water level in your filter for a minute.... you'll more than likely watch it drop as the syphon takes effect. just like syphoning gas... assuming your pond water level is lower than your filter outlet, which it must be if its a waterfall and gravity return.
just a thought.. if you don't like the sweeping tee...you can install a one way valve on the plumbing between the pumpum and filter.
 
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