What You Need To Know About Installing Pond Skimmers

Pond skimmers are necessities for every pond. A skimmer is a type of mechanical filter, where some sort of net, basket or screen is used to capture debris as water goes through the equipment. As ponds are located outdoors, there are many types of debris that can fall in easily, such as branches, leaves, twigs, grass, flower buds, mulch, garbage and all sorts of other waste. These must be collected because they would otherwise sink to the base of the pond and decay, adding excess nutrients to your pond. As a pond is a closed system, unlike a river which constantly refreshes itself with flowing fresh water, there is nowhere it can get a fresh supply of water, hence debris needs to be collected by special equipment known as a pond skimmer. In this article we will introduce to you what you need to know about installing pond skimmers.

How To Choose The Right Pond Skimmer

Pond skimmer options depend generally on the size or type of pond that you have. If your pond is small, you might go for the Atlantic Oasis Series, or the Pondbuilder Serenity with a natural-looking cover lid. A medium to large pond would be better suited for the Atlantic Big Bahama Series. And if you would like to have a waterfall, you might get the Pondbuilder Crystal Falls waterfalls along with their compatible Crystal Falls Skimmer. Another point to note is the pump size, you should choose a skimmer rated to a similar flow rate as the pump you have or intend to purchase, and most of the time there are pumps that are matched to skimmers so you would be advised to purchase them together.

Where To Place A Pond Skimmer

Skimmers are usually installed at the surface of the water, to capture any sticks, leaves or other floating debris. It needs to be placed where the flow of water, or current, encourages debris to go into the skimmer. In a closed system like a pond, this is usually achieved by using a pump. A submersible pump can be placed inside the skimmer box, and for an external pump, the pump intake needs to be inside the skimmer. The skimmer might therefore be located wherever it might be suitable to hide an external pump. As water flows into the skimmer, the water will enter the pump and leave behind any floating debris in the filter basket.

Other Factors To Take Note Of

Once you have a pond skimmer, you have to bear in mind several factors. Firstly, the skimmer needs to be cleared regularly, just like a trash can, so you may wish for it to be located in an accessible spot and that would be easy to empty fairly often. Skimmers also come in different quality ranges, if you get a low quality one, the plastic may become brittle in cold weather, or the basket may not slide in and out smoothly, getting stuck instead when you are trying to empty it. Finally, if you have fish you may wish to consider a skimmer with some sort of floating door on the intake, so that fish do not accidentally enter and get stuck inside your skimmer.