# waterfall,skimmer and pump I am confused



## Gemologist (May 9, 2011)

I am confused and I have few questions.

For making outdoor Koi pond with waterfall, do we need skimmer and pump.

I read skimmer is to be located opposite the waterfall so it collect the dirties from the pond, is it collecting the dirties in a place like a hole so that we remove these dirties from the skimmer,is it like this or there is something more.

But what about the pump,is it just sending the water from the pond to the waterfall and then the water comes back to the pond.

And where the filter will be, will it be in the skimmer or waterfall?

Is it must having pump or some waterfalls having pump by themselves.

Thank you all.


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## ChloeElizabeth (Aug 14, 2011)

This sounds very similar to the Koi pond we have at home. 

Do you mean a surface skimmer or a protein skimmer? A surface skimmer simply removes all of the gunk, dead leaves and skims off surface protein. 

Our Koi pond has a bottom drain which takes water to the filter. A solids-handling pump is then used to return water to the pond. A drain is more effective than a pump as it's less prone to clogging up with the amount of waste that big fish like Koi produce.

There's also a side-drain in the wall of the pond which includes the skimmer - meaning we have two drains.


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## Gemologist (May 9, 2011)

ChloeElizabeth,

yes, I think surface skimmer is put for few seconds then it is removed or it will be there for ever. I saw in you tube showing this skimmer works.

Ok,if we speak about your koi pond, so you are having a drain instead of the pump and this drain is sending the water from the pond to the filter.Is the purpose of the drain is only sending the water to the filter.

Ok, now you are having 2 drains and 1 filter.

what is the purpose of the side drain.


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## ChloeElizabeth (Aug 14, 2011)

The skimmer is permanently mounted inside the pond wall. Look at the surface skimmers on here.

The drains take the water straight to the filter. A pump is put in the last chamber of the filter itself to carry water back to the pond via a UV (Ultra-Violet) clarifier to keep algae under control.

We have a bottom drain in the floor of the pond to make sure that detritus which settles there doesn't accumulate. It's a very good idea to have the floor of the pond sloping slightly from both sides in a very shallow V-shape so that solid waste actually 'rolls' into the drain - preventing it from settling in one place. The side drain removes floating objects such as leaves and skims off protein which otherwise wouldn't be removed by the bottom drain.


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## Gemologist (May 9, 2011)

ChloeElezabeth,

Thank you.


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