Installing a New Water Feature and Pool Skimmer
After spending the last couple of months studying our natural pool after building it last year, I’ve recognized a problem. We’ve had crazy weather this spring and summer, thereby making it difficult to keep the algae growth to a minimum. We clean, stir it up and count on our skimmer to help suck it off the top.
However, our walkway is causing a division that the skimmer can’t overcome most days. So, I decided to build another smaller skimmer on the regeneration side of the pool to see if that would fix our problem. And, of course, with that, I was able to fit in another cool water feature!
Skimmer – Step 1
We built this skimmer in the same way as we did our original skimmer. I prefer a DIY project over an expensive, ready made product any day, so we rolled with it. It begins with a heavy duty plastic storage bin that you can get at Walmart, or just about anywhere.
We cut what would be the front side of it down a bit with a grinder. We cut a decent chunk out because we will also be adding a 1×4 to it in the end to get it to the proper level. The main point here is that you want a heavy drag off of the top of the water, which means that you want the front lip, where the water enters, to just be barely below the water level.
Skimmer – Step 2
We used 2 heavy blocks to weigh down the bin and screwed in a 2×4 piece behind the blocks. This creates the division between the front, where the filter will attach and the back where the pump will be. We then placed the pump in the bin and attached the filter in front, over the blocks, screwing it to the 2×4.
Constructing the Water Feature
This Project has DIY written all over it! This is the kind of thing that you can basically just design and put together yourself with minimal effort. Make it what you want it to be!! The sky is the limit here!
We simply got a couple of pieces of iron pipe and fittings and put them together to look like a spigot. At the bottom end there is a fitting that goes from iron to pvc and has a hose attachment. We also used a 3/4″ water hose for our hose because it was way less expensive. (All of these parts can be purchased at Lowe’s) We ran the hose down the width of the pool, underneath our walkway and then into the bin.
A Note on the Pump
The size of your pump, obviously has a lot to do with how much water you are wanting to move, however, there is something else that you have to keep in mind as well. Every pump will tell you how much maximum head it can deliver. This is a very important thing to consider.
There are formulas that you can find online to help you figure it. It involves how high the water is needing to be pumped as well as how far, the size of hose and fittings, etc. For our needs, we used a pump that pumps about 560 gallons per hour. When we turned it on and got it running, the visual was terrific. The water flows from the pipe into a feed bucket in the bog and then on to the pool.
How it Worked
Ever since we got the new skimmer in and working, our problem is solved. This skimmer assists in pulling floating debris off of the top of the regeneration side of the pool, plus any algae that is in that zone, while the main skimmer is able to work more effectively for the swimming side.
I truly love our natural pool…and I even love working on it! If you would like to see how we went about building the pool itself, check it out here! Get out there are do some DIY of your own! …And let us hear about it! I would love to feature some DIY projects from some of our followers!
NEVER MISS A THING!!
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