This is my setup. An above ground 3000 gallon pond with a bottom drain and
Oase 200 skimmer feeding a Sequence 3800 pump. Then the water is being
pumped into two one hundred gallon skippy filters back into the pond. The
problem is the p-trap keeps getting clogged I have to unscrew and clean
twice a day. There is stuff that gets though the skimmer and sucked through
the bottom drain into the ptrap basket and clogs it. The daily cleaning
doesn't bother me but makes it almost impossible to go on vacation. I am
thinknig of putting two bulkhead adapters into the side of the pond one for
the skimmer and one for the bottom drain. Then running these lines into a 55
gallon drum towards the top. Keeping the water line a few inches below the
top of the drum. Then hanging a 5 foot long mesh bag over each line so the
bags will catch anything that comes in. The bags can be purchased down to a
micron of my choice I think around 40 would be good maybe smaller if they
don't clog to fast. Then plumbing a two inch line to the ptrap of the pump.
With bags this size I think I would not have to worry about the bags
clogging and I think they would provide adequate flow. Not to mention they
are easy to clean. I could have a couple of spares on hand and change them
and clean the dirty ones as needed. Does anyone see a prblem with this idea?

Chris, this sounds like a reasonable solution. Our pond doesn't have a
bottom drain. Our pump (a Little Giant sump pump) sits in a basket of
lava rock, and grinds up small debris that makes it way through the
"prefilter" of rock. In the spring and fall I have hung mesh bags (with
various sizes of openings) to catch this debris. I've also used the
nylon socks that you can sometimes find at hardware stores that are used
over slotted drainage pipes to prevent sand or dirt from filling them. I
just knotted one end and secured the sock to the pump outlet in the
first barrel of our filtering system. It's great for catching small
debris and algae in the spring. Let us know how your new system works.
--
Kathy B, zookeeper
3500gal pond (Oregon)

Ponding is not exactly rocket science.

Why do you have a P-trap in the setup?





On Thu, 29 May 2003 19:51:18 -0500, "Chris" wrote:

This is my setup. An above ground 3000 gallon pond with a bottom drain and
Oase 200 skimmer feeding a Sequence 3800 pump. Then the water is being
pumped into two one hundred gallon skippy filters back into the pond. The
problem is the p-trap keeps getting clogged I have to unscrew and clean
twice a day. There is stuff that gets though the skimmer and sucked through
the bottom drain into the ptrap basket and clogs it. The daily cleaning
doesn't bother me but makes it almost impossible to go on vacation. I am
thinknig of putting two bulkhead adapters into the side of the pond one for
the skimmer and one for the bottom drain. Then running these lines into a 55
gallon drum towards the top. Keeping the water line a few inches below the
top of the drum. Then hanging a 5 foot long mesh bag over each line so the
bags will catch anything that comes in. The bags can be purchased down to a
micron of my choice I think around 40 would be good maybe smaller if they
don't clog to fast. Then plumbing a two inch line to the ptrap of the pump.
With bags this size I think I would not have to worry about the bags
clogging and I think they would provide adequate flow. Not to mention they
are easy to clean. I could have a couple of spares on hand and change them
and clean the dirty ones as needed. Does anyone see a prblem with this idea?

I want to make sure nothing big gets sucked into the pump. I did this
originally to catch the big stuff so it would not get sucked into the pond.
The problem is it has to be cleaned to often. I want a big prefilter and
would not even need the ptrap at that point.
"." wrote in message
...

Ponding is not exactly rocket science.

Why do you have a P-trap in the setup?





On Thu, 29 May 2003 19:51:18 -0500, "Chris" wrote:

This is my setup. An above ground 3000 gallon pond with a bottom drain
and
Oase 200 skimmer feeding a Sequence 3800 pump. Then the water is being
pumped into two one hundred gallon skippy filters back into the pond.
The
problem is the p-trap keeps getting clogged I have to unscrew and clean
twice a day. There is stuff that gets though the skimmer and sucked
through
the bottom drain into the ptrap basket and clogs it. The daily cleaning
doesn't bother me but makes it almost impossible to go on vacation. I am
thinknig of putting two bulkhead adapters into the side of the pond one
for
the skimmer and one for the bottom drain. Then running these lines into a
55
gallon drum towards the top. Keeping the water line a few inches below
the
top of the drum. Then hanging a 5 foot long mesh bag over each line so
the
bags will catch anything that comes in. The bags can be purchased down to
a
micron of my choice I think around 40 would be good maybe smaller if they
don't clog to fast. Then plumbing a two inch line to the ptrap of the
pump.
With bags this size I think I would not have to worry about the bags
clogging and I think they would provide adequate flow. Not to mention
they
are easy to clean. I could have a couple of spares on hand and change
them
and clean the dirty ones as needed. Does anyone see a prblem with this
idea?

"Chris" writes:

I want to make sure nothing big gets sucked into the pump. I did this
originally to catch the big stuff so it would not get sucked into the pond.
The problem is it has to be cleaned to often. I want a big prefilter and
would not even need the ptrap at that point.

Yep. I retrofitted a settling tank (a 32gal plastic trashcan)
to my filter, loosely stuffed with bird netting. ALL the visible
stuff is caught and I clean it once a year. The bird netting acts
to slow the water flow so the particles drop out. The mesh is so
large (3/4 inch) that it just never clogs :-)

The next stage is a biofilter with plastic gutter screening and then the pump,
through the UV and back to the pond. Once a year maintenance.