You Can Spend Hours Fishing 'Floaties' Out of Your Pond, or You Can Have it Done for You

A pond skimmer is there to work for you, so you don’t have to.

A pond skimmer can help you maintain clean, clear quality water in your watergarden. A pond skimmer is not required in a backyard pond, however, by incorporating a pond skimmer into your water garden or pond you can definitely keep your pond free of debris which eases the work of other pond equipment.

Skimmers will catch up to about 80% of debris in the pond before it sinks. Skimmers not only keep the pond surface looking neat, but they will also remove the debris and foliage before it begins to decompose and release toxins into the water. The debris is collected in a basket at the top of the unit and can be easily emptied. It is good to check the collection basket and empty it once a week. This task is much simpler and takes less time than netting out debris off the water surface or dealing with the consequences after it settles on the bottom.

Because the skimmer collects the debris on the water surface it can greatly increase the life of your filter as it acts as a pre-filter to your filter system. The opening to the skimmer is at the surface of the pond and acts as the intake for the pump and can also provide a safe, concealed place to house a submersible pump or intake valve. Skimmers allow easy access to service or maintain a submersible pump and you don’t have to worry about camouflaging it within the pond or fish it out’ if it needs to be removed for any reason. The skimmer incorporated in the watergarden in such a way that the input is at the same level as the surface of the pond. Each skimmer design will be installed slightly differently.

Consider incorporating a skimmer to your pond or water garden at the time of construction as that will be much easier than adding it to an existing pond.  One can be added after the fact, but is difficult and will require you to drain the pond and re-dig along the shore line completely disrupting and destroying the ecosystem you have created and been maintaining. 

The old saying, ‘do it right the first time’ completely applies in this situation.  Spending a little extra time and money up front and in more ways then one, you will be glad you did.