On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:27:46 CST, "Bill Stock" wrote:

I'm considering a skimmer and the no niche skimmer looks interesting. I see
that some of you have this gravity fed (Jan), which suits my needs. But I'm
wondering how much suction this will generate and how it is effected by
water depth, etc. (Physics lesson required) I will likely have about 3000
gph split between the bottom drain and skimmer.

That should be plenty. I only have half that. We removed edging inside the
floating part so the bubble isn't so big. It is really only good, with my
gph, to keep the surface clear of small stuff, dust, pollen, bits of
leaves. Once in a while I'll find a whole leaf in there. Lots of times the
few I get just collect along the outside. With good flow they work really
well, just make sure you don't do this U shape design close to the pond
edge. People with large koi have had them get stuck between the pot and the
sides of their pond.

Also I imagine the skimmer should be as far away form the waterfall as
possible? How do you deal with the freezing issue since the pipe to the
bottom drain will funnel cold air to the bottom drain pipe? I had planned to
run the pipe from the skimmer outside of the pond to minimize leakage, but I
suppose the inside route might solve the freezing problem.

I'm not sure what you're asking. In winter my bottom drain is plugged, and
just the skimmer runs. To keep ice away from it I have the stock tank
heater next to it.

In the lily pond the floating part of the skimmer will be removed as I'm
not planning to run that filter all winter. ~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us