Built-in surface extractor BioSys Skimmer plus

It performed very well. I used it to skim the surface of a 7 metre diameter garden pond. I used an ease pump in the bottom connected to a biosysfilter box to re.ove smaller items from the pond and to return clean water to the pond

Love this makes such a difference

I repaired it myself to save sending it back and reordering. So that I could use it for my pond.

The media could not be loaded. Thank God for Amazon’s returns policy. Returned and refunded after 3 months of constant issues. Oase technical advisor wasn’t able to help or make good on the ‘5 year’ warranty, so don’t be seduced by the warranty offer. I’m going to get a bit detailed with my review as whoever is installing will understand my woes.The problem in the UK is that there isn’t a competitive market of surface box skimmers to choose from so you are stuck with the ‘Oase biosys skimmer +’ or similar more expensive ‘Aquascape 400 signature series’ which I believe only has 1 or 2 distributers in the UK at the moment. I went for the ‘cheaper’ Oase skimmer which is still too expensive for my liking as it really is only a plastic bucket. Unfortunately on many fronts you are left on your own to understand how this thing should be made water tight. There are no instructional tutorials or any written instructions and you won’t find anything on youtube or the internet for guidance by Oase or Oase users. You are provided with a picture instructions page that tells you where things go but no advice regarding adhesives required or how tight screws should be made etc. Since installing there have been continuous issues with water loss. My pond’s water level kept on dropping and after much investigation I found that water was leaking from the faceplate underneath the skimmer box into the ground due to an element of bad design with the skimmer that causes water leakage at the faceplate. Most pond contractors advise running a bead of silicone or polyurethane between the skimmer and liner where it folds up against it so that’s what I did. Oase provide a gasket for the pond side between the liner and the faceplate, but no gasket is provided for the interface between the liner and the skimmer box, therefore you are left to your own ingenuity to use a bead of glue at this point. Their instructions make no comment on using glue and only show the liner being put up against the skimmer without any gasket or adhesive. This is the point where water leaks so I’m amazed that it’s been left out. It seems that the pond liner acts as the gasket but dependent on the material of the liner this can be a problem as if its too thin or most glues won’t stick to it i.e. HDPE (high density Poly Ethelyn) then you would really need a gasket and bead of glue at this point. Hope my frustrating experience with this skimmer helps you.