"Pond Addict" wrote in message
...
The basket is in the pre-filter of my out of water pump that connects
to my bead filter. It's maybe...40' from the pond drain, so it's a
long ride with an abrupt end. The basket is very small for a large
fish. It's really intended for leaves and such, much like a swimming
pool pre-filter.

You can see it he
http://www.performancepropumps.com/Artesian.htm

I found another fish in there today, by the way. Roughly 6"x3"x1".
Alive, but its fins are a tattered mess like the last one I rescued.

It occurs to me that one solution would might be to have a larger, out
of pump, pre-filter. I'm pretty sure that it's the initial smash and
then the scraping about in the plastic strainer basket that's doing
the most damage, so If there was a separate larger, gentler, pre-
filter basket that they got deposited in, that would work well. Is
your pre-filter separate or part of the pump like this one? I'm
curious what's available out there...

The dead fish was definitely killed before it got to the basket. Based
on what's been coming through the line, it happened somewhere
else. : /

You really need to get a settlement tank between the bottom drain and the
pump. The commercial ones are vortex filters (which are cone bottomed), but
you can use a 55 gallon drum, These filters catch so much stuff before it
goes through the pump and is pureed. The top of the tank needs to be just
slightly higher than the water level of the pond. The bottom drain pipe
enters about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the tank with an elbow to
make the water swirl in the tank. The exit pipe to the pump goes out near
the top, preferably at the center. If the exit pipe comes in about 1/2 to
2/3 of the way up, an elbow can be put at the center of the tank facing up
and a verticle pipe installed. This allows adjustment of the height for any
drawdown of the water level due to pipe friction. I cover the verticle pipe
with a piece of hardware cloth or a piece of matala to keep frogs from
taking the ride to the pump. The very bottom of the tank needs a drain to
open to waste or a trash pump to discharge the solids that collect in the
barrel.



--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
Zone 7A/B Virginia