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Sheryle,

I’ve seen a DIY skimmer made of a 20 gallon tub (can be larger I guess), a smaller tub with holes (like a colander to function as a leaf basket), a pump, and tubing. Wasn’t the prettiest thing, but it worked okay to trap leaves and trigs. Note the skimmer did not contain a weir door.

What they did was cut a 5” wide x 1.5” high rectangle in the side of the large tub. The size of the opening may need to be adjusted depending on the size of your pump.

At the opposite end of the large tub, cut a 1.5” hole for the inlet hose to the pump. Hole may need to be bigger or smaller depending on the size tubing you’re using. A bulkhead was installed to keep the tube in place. Likewise you may want to put some sort of intake screen over the tubing.

Set the tub in the water. The tub can be held down with some large stones or bricks. Put the smaller tub with the holes inside the larger tub in front of the 5” x 1.5” hole. Tilt the smaller tub so its lip is below the cut out of the larger tub. Place a stone or something underneath the smaller tub to keep it propped up and to maintain the angle. Likewise place a larger rock inside the smaller tub so it doesn’t float around.

The debris will flow through the hole of the larger tub and be trapped in the smaller tub that is functioning as a leaf basket. Depending on the size holes in the smaller tub, you may want to line it with some sort of netting to catch finer debris.

You can probably enhance this skimmer further by placing some sort of filter pad inside the larger tub behind the smaller basket in order to catch even finer debris that gets through the smaller basket. You could probably construct some sort of frame that holds the filter upright in place so it expands the entire width of the larger tub.

A more exotic DIY skimmer I’ve seen was someone modified a plastic utility sink to function as a skimmer.

Because you have an existing pond, if you decide against the DIY skimmer, you may want to consider an in-pond skimmer or a no-niche skimmer.

OASE makes several in-pond skimmers. They’re simple to install as it just sits on a flat section of the pond floor. You can anchor it with a rock or something. Many can be adjusted to be used in water depths from 14" to 28”. An example of one of these is their Swimskim25 (If you can’t find it PM me).

One thing to consider about surface skimmers, fish could end up in them (not a large fish) and will die if no one is around to get them out.

Another add on skimmer that seems pretty neat, not expensive, and eliminates the worry of a surface skimmer is from Cal Ponds. They make two models that use hanger straps so you don’t need to puncture the liner. Check out http://www.calpump.com/products.asp?category=24

We have two box skimmers. Once in a while I found one my fish hanging around near the weir. Had me worried that one would swim in and get all banged up while trying to get out. With the use of some PVC tubing I installed some bars across the opening of the skimmer to prevent the fish from entering, but sill allow floating debris to freely enter into the unit.
Good luck
Steve