From the ball valve, mine is gravity fed to 55 gallon barrels that house filter media and then to an external pump and up to a 300 gallon stock tank veggie/bog/waterfall.

I have mine go to a settling chamber. Is this what you are thinking?

I am watching with interest since I hope someone took some pics of their plumbing so I can see too, lol.

Same here, haha. Thanks for the feedback, folks. A settling chamber sounds like a great idea -- I'm just not sure how to create it. I'm also a bit puzzled about how I'm going to route the water into the filters and then back up to where the waterfall is. The water, from the bottom drain, would have to be pumped vertically 3 feet to get to ground level where the filters and what not will be, and then from there it will have to pumped uphill another 2 feet or so get to the top of the water fall. That's 5 plus vertical feet, and I'm wondering how to achieve that.

Ok, you only really have 2 vertical feet when talking about had loss. As far as I know, you have no head loss to get water from the bottom to the top of the pond.

If you want a settling chamber, it is actually quite easy, but I had a hard time grasping it at first, also. Hopefully this will help.

First, I will just describe how mine is set up. I have both a bottom drain and a skimmer, but they are not attached. I think this is important.

I have a 3" bottom drain that is 4' below surface of the pond. The drain has 2 parts that screw together and form a seal with the rubber liner so that the pipe is run outside of the pond and below the liner. The drain is attached to a 3" 90 degree elbow to go horizontal, then immediately to a 3"-4" coupling. Then I have about 4' of 4" pipe, followed by a 4" 45 degree coupling angled upwards. At about 1' below water level I have another 45 degree coupling to get the pipe running horizontal again. After about a 6' run, the pipe goes through a hole on another liner (settling chamber) with a hose clamp creating seal. Right after the pipe enters the chamber, I have a 90 degree elbow that is deigned to move water in the chamber in a counter-clockwise direction.

Here it is again...
3" drain -> 3" 90-degree -> 3"-4" coupler -> 4" pipe -> 4" 45-degree upward -> 4" pipe -> 4" 45-degree horizontal -> 4" pipe into chamber -> 4" 90 degree elbow.

The chamber is set in the ground with the top at the same level as the pond so that the water level in the pond equalizes with the chamber. Now, whenever water is removed from the chamber, water will flow through the pipe from the pond to feed the chamber. In the chamber, I have a submersible pump that pushes water through a 1.5" pipe back into the pond. I do wrap the pump in a screen, but all debris that enters the chamber has already settled to the bottom of the pond, so it now settles again at the bottom of the chamber. The 4" pipe allows the debris to move more slowly when entering the chamber so it settles faster.

Now, at the bottom of the chamber (about 1.5 feet deep), I have another 2" shower drain that is connected to a pipe that runs just outside of the chamber. I can hook a shop-vac up to the pipe and suck all debris out very easily. The chamber is sort of cone-shaped so that debris settles near the drain.

Back to the skimmer...

The pipe from my skimmer immediately goes from 1.5" to 4" to minimize friction loss. The 4" pipe goes for about 20 feet before going into a skippy filter, waterfall, bog and about 10' of creek before re-entering the pond at the opposite end. The top of the skippy/waterfall is probably only 2'-2.5' above the pond level.

I know this was lengthy, but I hope I answered more questions than I created. Fire away!

Brad

Thanks for all of the input, folks -- I'm really soaking it all up. From what I understand, if I keep my pump BELOW the water level of my pond (in a dry, underground enclosure), then I won't need a self-priming pump, but if I want the pump to be ABOVE the level of the water in my lower pond, I would need either a self-priming pump, or a pump with a priming pot. I am talking about external pumps -- I may use my big submersible for a skimmer (no sense wasting it), but for my fine filtration, I'm going with an external pump.

Is what I just posted about pumps true, and if so, which set up is more advantageous all-around -- the above water level setup or the below water level setup?

I have mine above water level. Even with all the foot valves and a priming pot, it can be difficult to start even though it is within a foot of the surface.

If it is below water level, I would be afraid of water siphoning out. I am sure others can chime in.

What do you mean by your fine filtration?

I don't know the actual jargon, but I figure that the skimmer is for big and small things on the surface (leaves, bugs, grass, etc.), and basically takes big chunks off of the surface of the water, and catches it in a basket, while the bottom drain sucks dirty water through a finer type of filtration (all the media, filter pads, settling tanks, etc.), before recycling it back into the pond. That's why I called it fine filtration, but it probably wasn't the best choice of words.

My bottom drain typically gets plenty of large items through it, along with all the fine stuff. Even with the 4" pipe, it can get clogged.

i UNDERSTAND THE INSTLATION OF THE BOTTOM DRAIN, WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR IS AN ILLISTRATION SHOWING HOW TO CONNECT THE DRAIN TO THE PUMP IN THE SKIMMER