OASE 706759500401 Swimskim Floating Pond Skimmer

These pond skimmers work great for water lily ponds!! Just put it in the pond, plug it in, and let it do its thing. It will collect dead leaves, pine needles, bugs, and other debris. It does need to be cleaned out periodically, but all that usually entails is removing the collected debris and rinsing out the filter sponge. We have used these items for years, and, so far, none have failed. Excellent product.

I have a small outdoor 300 gallon pond the I run from May to October (We live in upstate NY) . It has a high flow pump and waterfall and I keep fish in it. There are a lot of trees around it with branches that overhang and drop lots of debris into it. Pine needles are the worst because they would jam up the impeller on the pump. Every few days I had to pull the pump out, take it out of the cage that is suppose to keep stuff out, and use needle nose players to pull the pine needles out - big pain. I got this skimmer the beginning 2021 and it was a game changer. So easy to set up and use and it collects all debris that falls into the pond. I just empty the skimmer basket every couple days - very easy. My pond stays so much cleaner now. I did have to put a little floating ring into the pond to drop the fish food into so to keep the floating fish food pellets in so they wouldn't get sucked into the skinner before the fish could eat it. I have a wire tied to the skimmer that keeps it to one side of the pond where I can easily reach it and the floating ring is tied to the other side. Still works great after almost 4 years.

I have a 500 sq ft surface area and 22,000 gallon total pond so really did not think this filter would do much. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean it keeps the surface. Even after hand skimming there is always some small stuff I can't seem to reach or that slips through the netting. With this filter nothing remains floating around the pond very long. I arranged for it to hang out pretty much in the middle of the pond and it does a great job. Seems to grab anything that falls in the pond within a couple hours. The first week I had to clean the basket and filter 2x per day but after that it's pretty much once per day and my pond is in pretty rough shape (confession: bought the house with this pond and NO working filtration system. Therefore lots of algae. Lots of house fix up to do and the pond is just starting to come toward the front of the budget priority line). So, I'm asking a lot of this little filter. So far it's delivering.The aeration system is pretty minimal and I wouldn't really count it unless it's a tiny pond. Easy to clean the system but not easy to grab and lift out of the water. The only thing you can grab is 1 (and only one) of the 3 "wings" on the top (the other two pull out). I wish there was a black plastic strap attached on top or something to make it a bit easier to lift out. May have to create something. The basket is OK but with pretty big holes so lots of stuff goes through to the small filter. Easy to rinse out though.When it operates, the aeration system is creating some bubbles on one side. When the bubbles stop, it's telling you to clean the filter because water isn't getting through. Occasionally when it gets clogged the system "rides up" high in the water too. I haven't had any problems with it riding up during normal operations though. Just place it in the water, push it down until the basket is full of water and plug it in.Overall, glad I got It.

Loving it so far. It's been 2.5 weeks since I placed it in the pond. I used a string to tie one side down to the bottom, to keep it from spinning. Without, it does want to suck itself to the side and then won't pull anything off the surface. With the string on one side and power cord just hanging off the other it stays perfectly in place and works great. Keeps the surface of the pond very clear, and the water stays very clear too. I'm running a pressurized bio-filter from Tetra and a small cheap fountain/filter that's placed on the bottom for some extra mechanical filtration, and that's it. (2) small goldfish and (4) 5-8" koi. Every few days I'll check on it and notice one of the fish is caught in the skimmer, and they're always trying to jump out. I push it underwater and they swim right out. If I didn't catch it they would probably jump out eventually, with the exception of the goldfish. I just yesterday had to spray the filter pad out with a hose, the first time since I put it in the water. A couple days ago I noticed the bubbles had slowed, and yesterday they had stopped. I noticed flow was greatly decreased as well, so I checked the outlet fittings on the pump which were clear, and then the filter pad which was pretty clogged up with algae and whatnot. Sprayed it out in about a minute, put it back in, and it's as strong as ever.Some reviews I read concerned me about it floating above the water and eventually sucking air. Mine did it once, after I had my grass cut (it was REALLY overgrown) and a ton of grass clippings ended up in the pond. They clogged the inlet and caused the pump to drain all of the water, and make it float. Other than that, it hasn't once wanted to pop up. The string might help, but I seriously doubt it because I didn't use that from the start, and never even had to focus much on getting it to the right level. Fill it with water, and it drops perfectly to the height it's supposed to.