Skippy leak

[Jonna]

Hi all, we just arrived back in Cat City at the pond after our summer travels.  The skippy filter was leaking from the drain valve at the bottom.  This is a hole with threaded insert that I believe came with the skippy.  I planted bananas behind the skippy so that the drain valve went out into them.  Well, they liked it too much and some banana sprouts pushed the bricks under the drain up into the pipe and broke the threads on the insert.  We've just spent 2 days in hot weather digging out the area and trying to patch the drain but it didn't work.  So, today we pulled the skippy out and took out the insert. It's a big crack and we can try and patch it but I'd love to just buy another one.  Does anyone know whether these are things that are sold at a regular plumbing/hardware store or if they are sold somewhere else?  I looked on the Skippy site but I don't know what it is called.  It's black and one piece goes through the hole at the bottom of the skippy while another piece screws on to it from the outside.  There are 2 washers, one on each side.  Any advice? 

[Jerry]

Jonna yes you can find it at a good store.  Take the old one with you.
I trust the female part is intact.
Also try gene at koi village or AZ Ponds

[Monica]

Try Tractor Supply or another farm store thats where i got mine.  Mine is called a rubermaid stock tank.  Very durable and reasonable I paid something like $66 for a 100 gallon one.

[Jerry]

Monica is correct.  i got my tank from OSH !  Special order. Price about the same

[Jonna]

I didn't mean I wanted to buy a new stock tank, just the drain valve.  I did find it on the Rubbermaid commercial site http://www.rcpworksmarter.com/rcp/products/detail.jsp?categoryID=507&subcategoryID=555&rcpNum=5050-12 but they probably won't sell a single one to me.  I will call the Skippy site tomorrow and see about getting one overnighted.  Right now, we're attempting a glue job but it's a pretty long crack and I'm dubious.  We will also take it down to the hardware store (home depot and lowe's) as well and see if there is something that will fit.  The hard part I think will be finding one that is square on the outside or that will bit within the space allowed. 

This is a pic of the outside with the original plug.  http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofil02.jpg

I have the plants from the skippy sitting in the pond now, I doubt most of them will do well but they were too big anyway.  I had taro and canna in there that were at least 5' tall.  The roots had gone throughout the skippy, it was just a mass of roots.  It was working really well though, the water has been clear as long as it was running.  Even now, with all these plants laying into the pond, the water is clear.  It's not an optimal situation though and I want to get the skippy online and the plants out of the pond as soon as I can. 

Oh, the waterlilies that I got right before we left in June are all blooming, gorgeous.  The fish are fine and the Roy the Koi seems happy with his Wakin friends.

It was the banana.  Whoa! That thing took off like I can't believe.  We took out 6 trunks that were a foot in diameter and there are still 5 that size and a few small ones.  We dug down where the banana sprouts had pushed up into the drain and put some metal flashing against the wall behind the skippy.  We're hoping that plus more vigilence will keep it back. 

[Jonna]

Thought I'd update this.  We glued it back together and put it in and foamed around it.  It's holding so far and the skippy is back together and the waterfall running as of this afternoon.  It was about 110* and high humidity here today, not a great day for working in the sun.  I finally got in the pond and started cleaning out dead lily pads to cool off.  I wish I'd taken a picture of the skippy before we tore it apart as the canna's and the taro were so huge and so jungley looking.  I've put some taro back in, cut way back, but I don't think I'll put the canna back.  It's just too tall. 

Tomorrow I've got more pond cleaning to do, vacuum the detrius that fell off all the plants from the skippy I had stuck in there.  I've got a lot of canna to plant somewhere as well.  Through all this the tropical lilies are blooming away. 

Anyone know a reason I couldn't put a lotus in the skippy?  Do they have to have dirt?  If so, can it be in a pot?

[Rocmon]

In the future you could try a plumbing supply store and get a metal threaded plug, if not plastic.