First bottom drain was a vertical 2 inch pipe going from the skimmer to the
deep area. When I retrofitted with a vortex, I put in a new 4 inch vertical
pipe. Both ended about 1/2 inch to an inch off the bottom. They have been
known to pick up rocks out of the deep area. The small pond still has the 2
inch vertical pipe through the front of the skimmer. The large pond has
always had large volume Sequence pumps on it. The small pond has two
submersible pumps in the skimmer. Both started out being 1200 GPH but one
has been replaced with a 1800 GPH.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Nedra" wrote in message
ink.net...
Rich,
about how far from the bottom of the pond does the pipe sit?
How large a pipe are you using? And what size pump do you
have for this configuration?
Nedra

"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:yflec.14094$xn4.33119@attbi_s51...
The smaller the pipe, the more friction, and consequently the less water
flow. There is a table showing the friction values for different sizes
of
pipe at http://www.mdminc.com/friction_loss_chart.htm. I have looked at
Beckett to try to find the efficiency curves that show flow at different
heads, but they do not post them. You should be able to see the amount
of
head loss due to friction for different size pipes and see that there is
a
point of diminishing returns on pipe size.

As for the PVC liner, I have never heard of anyone having long term
success
with it. The majority of ponds are made with the heavier EPDM, though
there
are a couple of other materials that you can research by doing a Google
of
rec.ponds.

My bottom drain is just a pipe that runs to the lowest part of the pond
and
it works fine. It might have been better to have a true domed bottom
drain,
but the vertical pipe into a deliberately created low spot has worked.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"DAN" wrote in message
om...
Hello all,

I have a few questions and hope someone might be able to help.

I have a Beckett pump, forgot the rating, but its outlet is 1.5 inch.
I've read that you need to push the water through 3 inch pipes. So if
I use adapters I can go from 1.5 to 3 inch. Would this be ok for the
pump, would I gain anything from doing this or should I just leave it
at 1.5 inch.

Home Depot sells 20 mil PVC liner. Is this any good. 17x18 for $169
Can I get something better and cheaper.

A pond store guy told me that instead of a bottom drain, I should just
run a pipe to the deepest part of the pond. The end of it would just
be a strainer/grill that prevents fish from getting sucked in. This
way I don't have to put the drain through a liner and worry if it
leaks. Any opinions/advice about this.

Thanks in advance.