Hey! Lighten up. I'm on a well, my water cost is next to zip and the nearest
sewer is in town, 12 miles away. I don't care about being efficient with
water changes. My system adds about 75 gallons daily to the large pond and
if half of that goes down the overflow, I don't care, because the other half
stayed in the pond and displaced 'old' water. This system has worked very
well for me for 4 years now. My water ALWAYS tests great, I have zero muck
(mulm) on the bottom and I have NEVER cleaned the pond out, oh did I mention
that I've not had a single fish die in 4 years? Oh and I forgot to mention I
have never had green water either. I'm not saying that everyone should set
their pond up like this, like you say, it wouldn't work for all situations,
but for me it works great. The only reason I even mentioned it was that I
figured someone may get an idea that may help them.

Paul

"Cleveland Ponder" wrote in message
m...
If your method is to just overfill your pond, I have two things that
come to mind. 1.) It is an inefficient method of doing water changes
because the overflow is already 'diluted' with the new water. Also,
if the pond is near a house with a basement, such a method could cause
problems. 2.) Either water is very cheap where you live or you have
money to throw away. Where I live, sewer charges are based on water
usage and are about 65% of the total water bill. It would be cost
prohibitive to do your method. Also, for a lot of people, fresh water
is not an unlimited commodity. Many areas have restrictions. For
most, I don't believe your method is a viable option.

"Paul in Redland" wrote in message
...
Solve that problem by having a valve on a timer to add water to the pond
daily and an overflow to carry away surplus water. The advantage is that
the
water level in the pond never varies, ( hence the skimmer doesn't need
the
door thingy ) and water changes are automatic. I have both of my ponds
set
up this way and the third one that is in the planning stage will also
have
this feature.
Paul

"Cleveland Ponder" wrote in message
om...
I disagree. The reason for the door/flap is to maintain a constant
spillway height adjusting to changing water levels. It causes the
water to move faster at the opening causing it to pull floating debris
in. If the spillway gets to shallow, debris can catch at and block
the opening. If the spillway gets to deep, the flow gets to slow and
doesn't draw the surface water.


"Paul in Redland" wrote in message
...
Forget the door thing if your skimmer will run 27/7, it won't be
needed.

Paul