Where ever you are draining your pond bottom drain to will be at the same water level as your pond and by removing water from this pre filter the law of gravity is pulling water from the pond through the bottom drain line to fill the pre filter back up.
Bottom drain gravity fed pond filter setup.
They should be more aptly referred to as a bottom filter feed or supply while a pump in the pond is aesthetically unattractive and can t remove large debris a 4 inch bottom drain can take large leaves as it continually vacuums your pond.
You then have a pipe from the ponds bottom drain sloping downwards underneath the filter then up and into the top of the filter.
There is a waterfall 2 venturis v 2 bottom pushes bp a surface skimmer sk and 2 bottom drains bd in the pond.
Over a 1000 gallon pond powered with 55 watts and 25 watts waterpumps.
All chambers except ch4 have 3in.
Dig out the trench for the 4 bottom drain pipe and run it all the way to where the rest of the filter system will go.
The main filter consists of 5 chambers ch1 to ch5.
Constructing a gravity fed bottom drain pond filtration system the theory is fairly simple really you basically have two areas of water the pond and the filter whose water levels need be parallel.
If a straight shot is not possible use 45 degree elbows to raise or turn the pipe rather than 90 s.
Put the bottom drain and all the pipework in place to check all the measurements before gluing.
The fewer bends the better.