Advice on the mechanics of [water flow] and plumbing exteral prefilter to a Skippy

[Mmathis]

Did you get a chance to read that book I''ve mentioned before - Ecology of the Planted Aquarium?
It displays a cutaway of the biofilm layer and explains why the biofilm forms where it does.

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No, I haven't but I will. Just trying to keep my head above water...... Bad joke!

@Meyer Jordan Will have to go back and read those articles as well -- as long as they are written in very simple language.....that my brain can comprehend.....

My pump actually doesn't have a way to connect anything in front of it. There is a piece at the intake that juts out about an inch that looks like it would be to attach something to, but that "piece" is a "slip" [not threaded], it isn't very long, and so far I haven't found any plumbing or "pond" fittings that work with it. It has a small "cage" that snaps on. It's a Home Depot (whatever their brand is) pump, 3600gph. So, as a result I used to keep it enclosed in a crate or bucket with all the various, recommended things people put around their submerged pumps. But I stopped doing that and now just leave it at the bottom [well, it's not on the bottom, bottom...] without anything -- because every time I would pull it up to clean it or move it, all of that gunk was being loosened and going back into the water column! It's a debris-handling pump. Which means it is now pumping directly into the turtle-bog and the Skippy.

Just to see if it makes a difference, though, I might go ahead and put it back in a bucket for a while and see if that helps anything. My idea of the "perfect mechanical filter/pre-filter" is something that catches AND contains the debris (such as a settlement chamber or S&G) so that It can simply be emptied and released via a valve -- NOT something that allows it to go back in the water. Thus, the reason for this thread.....

Thanks for all the responses so far from everyone! I'm learning a lot about things I didn't know that I didn't know about......

 

[Meyer Jordan]

My idea of the "perfect mechanical filter/pre-filter" is something that catches AND contains the debris

A skimmer. Not the in-pond variety. Perimeter installed.