You can install a backflow device in the system, that way water goes in to
the filter but not back out of the inlet pipe.

May I strongly suggest that you dump the water from your bottom drain into a
bio/mechanical filter first, then from that into your veggie filter. This
way the biofilter gets all the muck and stuff first before going into your
veggie filter. If you don't, and you get leaves into your veggie filter,
when they decompose, they will generate ammonia and nitrates that will
affect your pond, and you will also need to mechanically clean your veggie
filter more often.

Please learn from my mistakes.

--
_______________________________________
"Architecture is the ultimate erotic 'object'."
Bernard Tschumi, "Architecture & Transgression"

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino
"BenignVanilla" wrote in
message ...
"Justin" wrote in message
om...
"BenignVanilla" wrote in
message ...
I am planning on a having a large veggie filter that will be fed by a
pump
and will then flow back into the main pond. I am now considering a
skimmer
and a bottom drain. What kind of pump set would you use? Three smaller
pumps? Can one or more of these functions share a pump?

I'd use one pump for the bottom drain and veggie filter. My setup is
an upflow filter design that pumps into a veggie filter.

Justin
http://www.geocities.com/justinm090

That was my next question...can I just dump the bottom drain output into
my
veggie filter. Seems like it makes sense. I am pumping water up to the
filter anyway. Why not suck it from there?

I guess if something fails though, this could empty the pond, because the
bottom drains are so low...


BV.