Bills Pond Skimmer Box

This is the home made skimmer box for my pond. I started with a 64 gallon industrial garbage can I used a industrial grade as the thickness of the can is much thicker than a house hold grade can. I didn't want it to bend in under the pressure of the soil and the water. In the first picture the can is over half buried in the soil. Note make sure to pack the soil under the can and around it as it will settle after the water starts pushing on it.

 

In the picture below I have the rubber draped over the can and also have the plastic strips attached with some stainless steel bolts, I also put 100 % silicone under the rubber. I made the plastic strips from some old shipping crates that I had.

In the next picture I have the intake for the pump inside the box.

In the next picture I have built a skimmer net I used 1/2 inch pvc pipe for the frame and plastic fence netting. I used zip ties to secure the net to the pvc. You can't tell from the picture, but there is a hook attached to the bottom of the opening that the pvc pipe attaches too. You can see it has already caught some leaves.

I still need to build the skimmer door and place some rocks around the box and trim off the extra rubber, or fold in under the rock.

Took some time to fit and secure the door that I made.
I used a piece of plastic from a tub, some scrap rubber, zip ties and a piece of styrofoam. The hard part was punching a hole in the rubber under water and then getting the zip tie to go thru the nail hole.
   

I hope this will keep the goldfish out of the skimmer box, It is skimming the leaves off  much faster than without the door.