Best skimmer on a budget

[rodger]

We are going to put a pond in this spring. What is the best skimmer if you are on a fairly tight budget? It will be a medium size pond, about 24 X 14 ft and about 2 1/2 - 3 ft at it's deepest. My budget for this piece is about $200. Please tell me why you think your recommendation is a good one.
Thanks

 

[duanes]

Do you mean surface skimmer, or protein skimmer, or something else, skimmer is a bit vague.
I make my own DIY protein skimmers, AKA foam fractionators, from plans on koiphen.com
where they are called phoam phractionators
click on pic to start video

 

[rodger]

I meant surface skimmer. I already have plans for the protein skimmer I am building.

 

[kiupuriash]

Internal or external pump? Ive used this on my 1000 gallon for about 2 years, near trees and it always grabs leaves and anything that goes in there, i have a bubbler that i only turn on whwn i feed , to avoid food going in it.

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[Rachel.Cody]

It looks kinda tacky but you can do the diy surface skimmer. Take a powerhead, turn it upside down and put a water bottle on the intake. Cut the water bottle to where it's barely above the surface, cut vents or slits at the top to allow water in but not big enough to where a fish can get in if you have small fish. Put some filter floss in the bottle and bam surface skimmer for next to nothing if you have the material. Hope this helps. There's a video on YouTube about it. Just search diy aquarium surface skimmer.


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