Pond Skimmers ... also called Surface Skimmers

I don't think I have ever discussed pond skimmers.

A pond skimmer is designed to remove (skim) floating debris by suction and thus remove some of the potential biological debris polluting the water or making it cloudy. The skimming action is created using a pump which can be attached to what is a fixed or floating device ... for those people with swimming pools the skimmer is almost always in a fixed position and is normally an overflow point.

Inside a pond skimmer is normally a plastic mesh or wire basket which catches the debris sucked into the pond skimmer unit. The size of the mesh determines what size of solid can pass through the pond skimmer ... this means a solids handling pump matching the mesh size must be chosen.

Fixed pond skimmers sit on the bottom of the pond or on a brick to elevate them depending upon depth. This type of pond skimmer will normally have a base which can somehow be weighted with stones to prevent it moving. There will be a device for
connecting a pipe leading to the pump at the base of such a pond skimmer.

Some pumps have a separate nozzle to attach a pond skimmer to.

Pond skimmers are normally not an essential part of an average
garden pond.