Radaar,

There are a few good skimmers out there and quite a few not go good. First lets get a little more information. First what is the size of the pond? What size and the model of the pump that will be used with this skimmer? What are you expecting this skimmer to do? What side of the pond will this skimmer be installed on(East,west,north or south? What direction do the normal winds blow from? Having worked with or seen just about every skimmer on the market I can tell you that there is a big different in some.
Mike

Hi Mike,

WE are undergoing a pond renovation to make the pond deeper....we hope to make it 4 ft deep if we can get thru the rocks. It has to be minimum 3 ft in depth for our winters.
So we could have a capacity of between 1100-1500 gal...its a crescent shape so I don't have the exact figure. We will fine tune that once we know the depth for sure.
As for your other questions:
We have a Laguna Max Flo 2000 and a smaller Laguna don't recall the size.
Skimmer will be on the east end of the pond.
Winds come from the north.
I like the idea of having the pump in the skimmer instead of on the pond floor. According to our local pond people here the savio has superior filtering and would be all the filtering I'd need.
I'm also hoping to buy the pondmaster submersible UV sterilizer....but want to figure out the filter part first.
I'll look forward to hearing your opinions on the skimmer/filter. I'm just reluctant to spend the money on the savio if there is something as good for less. Or even if the savio is as good as I've been told.

Radaar,
I have a Savio full size skimmer and really like it. Currently, I fit two submersible pumps in the bottom of it and it works well for keeping my water clean (also have a biofalls, but no pressure filters).

A couple of things about the Savio. First, they have two sizes of skimmer boxes. Second, the lid on this is pretty darn strong, so you can keep it in the landscape without special coverage... we do a little incidental walking over ours and it has handled it w/out problems.

Next, Nate at PracticalGardenPonds has many skimmers to choose from but recommends the Savio too. He has been in the business for a long time. Thing is, you can bet that if you call or email him he can get you best price on the Savio... he can't advertise lower than low-threshold agreed-upon price.

That's just what I know. If I had to put another one in the ground I'd probably do the Savio again.

Radaar,

My question is are you wanting to use this skimmer as a biological filter? There are none that will do that. The Savio is a good skimmer. Do not try to use a Savio UV light in the skimmer. If you want a UV in the skimmer use an Emperor Aquatics. It is far safer. Savio makes two models, standard and the compact skimmer. I do not think that you will be able to use the compact just because of two pumps and the flow required. Other skimmers that I would look at would be an Easy Pro small or mini skimmers. The old Pondsweeps 700 pro now sold by Aquascapes model Pondsweep SK pro 700.
Mike

Our pond is under 2000 gal and we invested in the Savio compact skimmer @ 6 years ago when we enlarged the pond and added a bottom drain and skimmer. The Savio has been well worth the extra investment for us as it is VERY DURABLE. I've replaced the original filter pads with filter material I purchase on a roll and cut to size. (I have also used the blue furnace filter material and cut it to size.) I remove and rinse out the filter pads regularly. Last year, I bought 2 extra frames for the filter pads which make it convenient to pull out the filter frames(w/ the dirty filter pads) and immediately slide in frames w/ clean filter pads. I highly recommend the Savio!

Hi Mike ......We were hoping to use the savio for the biological filter but I have since been doing more research and the savio is recommended for ponds up to 1000g if it is the only means of filtration. Is this what you meant when you said it wouldn't do the job? I planned on using my smaller pump for the submersible pondmaster UV. We are thinking of possibly using a cheaper skimmer and hooking up the Laguna filter box or our larger DIY filter at the waterfall as much as I didn't want to as I was really hoping to simplify things.

Pondbucket ....I did email Nate the other night after reading your post but didn't hear back from him. It may not be the right choice for me after all but thanks for the info I enjoyed looking at his website.

Ronnie......Thanks for responding....you didn't mention whether used ran anything besides the savio for your filtration ....can you let me know I'm really curious to know ????

>>>you didn't mention whether used ran anything besides the savio for your filtration ....can you let me know I'm really curious to know ????Radaar, when we enlarged the pond @ 6 yrs ago we invested in a the Savio skimmer, an external pump, a vortex from SuburbanPonds.com, Tetra bottom drain AND a skippy filter kit from Skippystuff.com for a 70-gal stock tank. My husband plumbed it so that the BD empties into the vortex, the skimmer bypasses the vortex and merges w/ pipe coming out of the vortex which empties into the external pump then empties into the skippy "filter fall." Sooo.... additional filtration is in the skippy filter. After a few years I replaced about 2/3 of the commercial floor scrubber pads that came with the skippy kit with Springflo media. I now have three of the those laundry mesh bags inside the skippy, two have the Springflo media in them and one with the original floor scrubber pads from the skippy kit. Every spring I empty and clean the skippy filter fall. This plan has worked well for us and the water stays pretty clear!

Radaar,

A skimmer is a very poor biological at best and a Savio skimmer would be one of the worst. If I was going to try to use any skimmer as a biological filter it would be one with two rows of brushes. Why two rows of brushes? With two rows one can be taken out and cleaned and the second row can be moved to replace the first row. But this is poor at best. You are wanting a skimmer to do something it is not designed to do.
Mike