Intake bay, how small can it be?

[dinm]

How small can an intake bay be? i've little space to work with left. indeed if i had much brain i'd have simply left a corner for it. but ive been wondering how small can it be and still work?

 

[hamstermann]

How small can an intake bay be? i've little space to work with left. indeed if i had much brain i'd have simply left a corner for it. but ive been wondering how small can it be and still work?

Ed the pond professor recommends that the volume be 1 minute of pump capacity.

So for example if you have a 600 liter per hour pump, the volume should be 10 liters. (600 liters divided by 60 minutes=10 liters)

 

[YShahar]

It seems to me that the real question is what rate of flow you need to cope with the amount of debris you have. And that would depend on the total surface area on which debris falls, and the number of trees dropping stuff into the pond. So I would look at the size of the intake bay as a function of the size of the pond and go from there. Ozponds has a video on intake bays, where he shows how to make a tiny intake bay with a pump in a bucket.

 

[GaryMoz]

Surely an intake bay is doing the same job as a skimmer and so can be a similar size as long as the flow rate through it is enough and doesn't block up to quickly?

I'm building an intake bay, inspired by ozponds, in my pond, I want the pond to be low maintenance, so making a intake bay that will have a very large basket in, compared to a skimmer, so I can leave it a few weeks between cleans.

I also have a large bog the intake bay feeds, along with two bottom drains via a drum filter

 

[hamstermann]

here's a whole play list about intake bays:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_aESA2Neltwzt76YH5LBbKviABz5aPFT

 

[dinm]

should have planned for it when i built it, had plenty of liner as well. now my options probably either floating skimmer which i dont imagine would work that well (guess from reading posts here) or an inpond skimmer.

 

[GaryMoz]

should have planned for it when i built it, had plenty of liner as well. now my options probably either floating skimmer which i dont imagine would work that well (guess from reading posts here) or an inpond skimmer.

I guess by inpond you mean something like this Oase aquaskim

 

[GBBUDD]

An intake bay by all the videos that I have seen is part of the pond it is open to the pond with next to no reduction. This is where I feel intake bays lack. The opening of an intake bay is just a narrowed opening on the side of the pond. A SKiMMER IS similar but draws strictly off the surface. A key difference in my opinion.
When debris falls on the surface of the pond a timer starts. It won't be long untill it gets waterlogged and sinks. This is where skimmers have the advantage they pull from the surface and collect the debris with a net. An intake pulls in the surface plus how ever deep the opening of the intake bay is so even at a foot that's a lot of water and very little draw from the surface. So can An intake bay be small should it be small I say yes.
My intake is a hybrid of intake bay along with a vanishing edge. I have a shallow and narrow opening at the joining to the pond but. Once the water gets pulled into this area primarily from the surface. The water slows down again as the intake bay opens up and gets to 30 inches deep by 17 feet long and 8 feet wide.
Now I get it it's the size of some ponds but I have two giant maples and a hickory that hang over the pond. Not to mention the dirty acusia tree. This is where all my leaves get pulled into. It also alows that timer to run out and allow debris to sink. We call this area dead pool. A simple netting of this area is all it takes. To efficently collect the leaves and any other debris. And in the spring maybe a little vacuuming.
The size here for this conversation only has to be that the intake opening be large enough to allow in more water than what's being pulled out by the pump.