I am not sure which brand I have but as for bottom drain I highly recommend them, I hate seeing pipes in the pond, plus its almost invisible now that the algae growth has covered my pond. I am not sure how one would be better than another, its just a hole in the bottom of your pond with a cover on top..

Hi kevip711,
I agree that a bottom drain is a must if you want easy maintenance. I'm getting pond parts together for the "Big-Dig" this winter. Trying to find deals/sales. When I found the easypro drain I liked how it was designed (smoother with built-in elbow/90). It seems not many people use it or even know about it. Mostly Tetra is all you hear about in 3" drains. I like the way it is built much better than the tetra though. So it looks like I will be going the easypro way. Xing fingers;D
Thanks,
Michelle

Mine didnt have any angles, I had to buy the pvc and glue it all together. The top has a moon cap, My only complaint about it is the cap blew off a couple times and I had to go swimming to put it back on. Wasnt easy, I wish mine had some sort of securing mechanism for the top. You might want to look at that, if the top comes cover comes off, its impossible to put it back with out going for a dip.

The top coming off would be a real pain. We want to go as deep as we can in this petrified Texas topsoil but hoping for about 4 feet when all finished. So any dipping in the winter would not be any fun at all. You said the cap "blew off" What made it blow off?

I wish I could of gone 4ft, I hit bedrock at about 39 inches so had to stop. I had to jackhammer the bedrock to install my drain or I would of lost about 6 inches of depth. Hopefully you dont have that problem.

I turned my agitator on one day and it blew air back out the pipes instead of going into my aqua bead filter. I now have to close the check valve when ever I turn it on for fear it might happen again. When it happened it was almost like an explosion in my pond, everything got stirred up and my fish did not like it a bit. Some even got pop eye for a few days due to all the settlement stirred around. All is fixed now but I still make sure to close the valve when I turn it on as its blown off the cover 3 times on me. I cant imagine having to take a dip now in the 60 degree water. Anyway bottom drain is the way to go, I would almost recommend sealing it so the cap never comes off but not sure if thats a good idea or not. Might cause problems if something is stuck in the drain and you needed to get to it..

Here is a link that might be useful: Pond project you can see my installation

WOW!!!! That is a wonderful pond! I LOVE your rocks. What kind are they? You are lucky you had all those nice people to help move them. Still, I'll bet your back was sore for a week. Your fish are beautiful too. We will just have comets at first, but maybe a couple of koi later on. Who knows. I want to have some nice plants and I'm afraid they might become Koi-toys. Plus our waterfall will be a small one. How long did it take you to build your pond? I don't think we could dig down 4 feet either. But our pond will be on the side of a little hill and built up with cinder blocks on one side with a deck beside it. That's the plan anyway. Our set-up will be quite a-bit simpler than yours so I don't think we will have any explosions, at least I hope not.

It took months to build the pond as I dont have a truck to move the dirt or rocks so had to rely on a Home Depot truck and a few friends for help. All the work was done almost all by me which has caused me all kinds of problems. Nerve damage and other problems as well. I dont recommend doing what I did the way I did it. I out-did my body and I have been paying for it for almost a year now. Doc visits every month and lovely medications for pain. I do like the results and love what I did but it came at a high price that I am still paying for. Got lots of advice here some good some bad. Sometimes hard to get things across correctly in forum format.

Bottom drain cover today came off, not happy as its too cold to go swimming to put it back. I seated it back over the top but its not sealed in its holes. Not happy as I will have to wait months to put it back. Just have to keep a eye on it. Currently have a slight blanket weed problem but not sure if I should even treat it or not as its about to get cold here. I scooped a bunch out today, my biggest compaint is its clogging my filter daily. Water is clear as can be and is good and only certain areas have a build up of the algae.

I am sorry to hear that putting in your pond caused you to see the doctor. (I'm not a big fan of seeing docs) We will be DIY'ers also but luckily we have an old truck. We will take it slow, can't take it any other way these days, but it might take alot longer than we figured. It seems the bottom drain pops it's top alot. I hope it goes back on as easily as it comes off. Maybe you could design something with a long handle that would help people replace the top and make millions. You can't be the only one with this problem.
Our pond will be in full sun also, we will plant a tree and some taller plants to block some of the sun and wind but probably will have to devise a shade structure or get used to very green water. Not that blanket weed is very pretty but I have heard it helps clean your water. I always leave some in our little pond's waterfall, but clogging your filter puts a strain on everything,pump,fish, peace of mind.... I know a pond is alot of work and you may think I'm crazy but I wish I was pulling out blanket weed right now.

Should I leave the blanket weed in or try and remove it? Its about to be winter so I would think leave it as food for my koi. Its is a bit of a pain as it clogs my filter daily. It doesnt look bad but I guess inside my filter its causing problems. I have almost from the start of my pond had to do almost daily backwashing and agitator treatments to keep pressure up and the waterfalls and jets going. I hear so many say they run this once a week and I am wish my pond was the same. Not really sure why I have this problem and have to do daily flushes. Sometimes the pump basket has nothing in it and it still has no water coming out of the two water falls I have..

As for docs, I hate them, they give me no answers or fixes, just more bills, scans, xrays, MRI's, Nuclear Scans and BS. I do have to blame myself for my condition as I did overwork my body building my pond. I was so stubborn to get it done and finished no matter what the cost, I didnt bother to care about what it was doing to me physically. I am fairly young but I have turned that body into a 60 yr old in a matter of months..

I am by no means one to give anyone advice on their ponds but it sounds to me like you have something more going on with your pump if your basket is clean and still you have a low flow. Maybe air bubbles getting in somewhere or if you have UV maybe very fine dead algae particles blocking flow. I do know what you mean about docs passing you back and forth between them, turning you into a lab rat, and getting to know your insurance receptionist on a first name basis. But on another note, dry blanket weed crushed up makes a nice addition to the garden soil :D

I use the algae as fertilizer now, works really good. I guess I will leave the algae in place. Yeah not sure why the pump loses pressure. The gauge pressure doesnt change but the water flow does. It slowly dies daily. Its possible there are some leaks but I have no way of finding them as there are no water leaks anywhere. After I run the agitator and backwash flow is really good for a few hours but then dies off. I have had this problem since I have had the pond. Some days I will get 2 days out of it but mostly I have to run the agitator and backwash daily, sometimes twice a day. Not sure how to find the problem, if you know would love to hear it. Digging up all the pipes and redoing the plumbing is not something I can really do. The last coupld days basket has been somewhat empty after each change but the past couple weeks it was full of debris. One not I have to turn the check valve going to the waterfall and skimmer off when I run the agitator as the air will come out these pipes rather than go into the filter??

As for docs, thats really my problem, prolly shouldnt have even mentioned it, but to clarify I have been to 7 different docs in the past year and none have helped really. All types of tests but no real answers.. Anyway if you know how to find leaks without having to dig everything up or how to tell if I have a leak let me know.. thanks..

Sorry, I'm no help to you. You have a much more sophisticated system than I do. I have no doubt that you will figure it out tho as there are some very knowledgeable people here.
Take care,
Michelle

I talked to my local pond guy today and Mikeil from the Chicago area; he is the resident expert on the Pond forum. Whatever it is he knows how to fix it. The guy is really smart and never calls any question or person stupid. Blanket weed stays but it will get a haircut ;)