- Joined
- Jun 6, 2021
- Messages
- 206
- Reaction score
- 115
- Location
- Hollywood, FL
- Hardiness Zone
- 10b
- Country
So here you go. With a cheap pool skimmer, they have threaded outputs on the bottom. Just get a PVC Female->Slip adapter and then plumb it. You can use Schedule 40 tight ones or DMV wider ones. The wider turns means things are less likely to get caught.
The bucket needs to be higher than the pond, while the pipe should be around the bottom of the skimmer. You see the black water lines.
This is "gravity fed" so the bucket and pond will be at the same level. If the bucket vanishes, water will dump out of the pond until the bottom of the pipe. If the water in the pond drops below the bottom of the pipe, water will not flow to the bucket and the pump will be dry. If the water in the pond is "above" the bucket, water will flow into the bucket and out the top.
You can uniseal/bulkhead both the pump's outflow, or go over the top. The pump will pump water out of the bucket, into where-ever you want it to go. I pump it into the bog, but you can do your filtration there. If you put a shelf over the pump, you can filter it with filter pads and filter right there. You could fill it with bio-balls if you want. Whatever you want can happen there.
The bucket is a "pre-filter", you can pump the water to wherever you want. I'm pretty proud of this setup I did. I actually have two buckets. One with Skimmer, one with Bottom Drain, and both filtration systems are completely independent, so if one fails the pond remains okay. Both filtration systems have enough turnover and power to run the entire pond.
The bucket needs to be higher than the pond, while the pipe should be around the bottom of the skimmer. You see the black water lines.
This is "gravity fed" so the bucket and pond will be at the same level. If the bucket vanishes, water will dump out of the pond until the bottom of the pipe. If the water in the pond drops below the bottom of the pipe, water will not flow to the bucket and the pump will be dry. If the water in the pond is "above" the bucket, water will flow into the bucket and out the top.
You can uniseal/bulkhead both the pump's outflow, or go over the top. The pump will pump water out of the bucket, into where-ever you want it to go. I pump it into the bog, but you can do your filtration there. If you put a shelf over the pump, you can filter it with filter pads and filter right there. You could fill it with bio-balls if you want. Whatever you want can happen there.
The bucket is a "pre-filter", you can pump the water to wherever you want. I'm pretty proud of this setup I did. I actually have two buckets. One with Skimmer, one with Bottom Drain, and both filtration systems are completely independent, so if one fails the pond remains okay. Both filtration systems have enough turnover and power to run the entire pond.
