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aladatrot

Size of cleanout valve in bottom of Skippy

aladatrot
11 years ago

Hi all. I have tried googling this and did search previous threads here, but I have thus far been unable to find the answer.

Currently have a couple of 40,000 gallon ponds out back behind my horse facilities, as well as a half barrel in a flowerbed. The half barrel has a pump for.movement and aeration, but otherwise is kept clear by the plants I have in there. I have it chock full of lilies, pickerel, cattails, and oxygenating plants (drawing a blank this.morning on the name). Water stays clear, but almost no fish load most of the time.

Just put in a preformed pond next to my henhouse which is the largest one lowes/ home depot sell. It has a couple of shelves for shallow pots, then a deep basin and is irregular in shape. Working on getting the plants off and running in there, and won't be adding fish until it gets the filter and water levels lined out. I did go ahead and fill it even though we have not built filtration so the plants could get going - my half barrel was temporarily housing both its own plants as well as some I had already purchased for the bigger pond.

Anyway, planning on a skippy mini me filter in a lined whiskey barrel elevated upon a tower to resemble a cistern. Going to pipe the return water through a pipe to fall back into the pond like you would see filling a stock tank on an old homestead, and have purchased mini calla lilies to grow in the cistern. Bought a 550 gph pump for this, but may end up needing a bigger one even though the rise will only be around 8' and the pump says it can go 14'. Now I know skippy says you don't need a drain, but reasoning and reading tells me that vortex of sludge can't just keep building up in there. What size drain do I need on the bottom to let it out, and what do you think the best way to plumb it on the whiskey barrel so as not to spoil the old fashioned look of the unhidden " decorative " filter?

[IMG]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee228/aladatrot/IMAG1571.jpg[/IMG]

In this photo, the filter will be raised on a tower and tucked between the hen house wall and the cypress tree.

Many thanks.

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