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Black Hole Skimmers
Do it with peers.
Do it with Black Hole Skimmers.
BHS DIY Membership
The evolving Black Hole Skimmers DIY ecosystem
Projects grow through experimentation, feedback, and refinement.
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Full access to all Black Hole Skimmers DIY projects
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Why DIY
I’ve always been a DIY builder — long before inventing the Black Hole Skimmer. It’s a great skimmer, but I’m not trying to compete with large corporations and their armies of paid influencers.
Here I build and share effective filter, water gardening, and pond designs, and work with the community to improve existing DIY systems or create new Black Hole Skimmers DIY filters and projects to enhance your pond or aquarium ecosystem.
I add new content regularly, respond to messages, and take part in community discussions. This is a place for open, honest conversation focused on building better solutions — not hidden agendas or sales pressure.
This is where innovation and community converge.
Do it with Peers. Do it with Black Hole Skimmers.
Why Charge a Fee
We’re creating innovative DIY designs and systems, some inspired by the same engineering behind our retail products. Our goal is to dedicate our time and expertise to developing and supporting these DIY initiatives, offering retail products only when requested and available. This allows us to focus fully on designing new DIY solutions.
We choose to stay independent from paid influencers and marketing pressures so we can concentrate on building practical DIY products that we can support, maintain, and improve together as a community.
DIY PondLift Bottom Filter - Rev A
Bodies of water — including lakes, ponds, backyard ponds, and water gardens — naturally develop a thick layer of muck on the bottom over time. This layer forms as organic material such as fish waste, uneaten food, and leaves sink and decay. As the muck accumulates, it degrades water quality by increasing phosphates and nitrates, both of which are harmful to fish and significantly increase the likelihood of algae blooms and green water.
One of the most effective ways to reduce bottom muck in any body of water is by increasing oxygen levels at the bottom. Higher oxygen concentrations allow beneficial aerobic bacteria to thrive and break down organic waste more efficiently. In addition, removing suspended organics before they fully decay greatly reduces the formation of muck in the first place.
The DIY PondLift Bottom Filter is designed to accomplish both — and more.
In this project: We show how to build a simple but effective bottom filter using a small storage container, a bucket, and a high-head submersible pump. The design is flexible and can be adapted using most storage containers or buckets, allowing you to tailor the system to your specific pond or water feature.