"BenignVanilla"
wrote in message ...
"Theron" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003 15:50:57 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My current plan does not include a skimmer. Do you think
I'll regret it?

Depending on how big your pond will be. 2 or 3 hundred
gallons,
probley not. Larger than that you need the skimmer and a
bottom drain.

My estimate, based on what I have seen in my friends yards...is
that I will
end up with 2-3000 gallons. What issues arise without a
skimmer? A bottom
drain too? I had not even planned on that at all. The skimmer
was a possible
idea, but the bottom drain never entered my mind. I'd hate to
cut my liner.

I've got a 3-year-old 1000 gallon pond with a skimmer and no
bottom drain(it was a kit). The skimmer helps keep leaves and
such from sinking to the bottom where they will rot. I can't
speak to any benefits of installing a bottom drain, but I know
this: They ought to take convicts off the rock piles and chain
gangs, and put them to work digging ponds. ;-)