Actually I was slightly wrong with my observations. The pipe leading from the overflow to the skimmer was actually inclined away from the skimmer - a couple of degrees...

I removed 32mm of wood from the skimmer's base support and replaced it with 25mm polystyrene. It seems as if I have a slight downward slant now. Will start the circulation back up in an hour's time.

Yesterday evening I could not wait longer. At midnight I needed about 40l of water to close the loop. That takes about 2 hours to make, so I decided to go to bed instead.

This morning I filled the remaining water and voila - everything worked. No leaks (touch wood). However my durso standpipe was not working. Water was oscillating up and down vigorously. I decided to remove the top and cut off a 4cm piece to lower it (it was too high). Since I dread leaks I cut it in place - and did not remove the pipe from the overflow.

Once cut, I placed the durso head back but no luck - same thing.

One aspect of autumn that really captures my attention is the spectacular scenes the combination of a changing sun and the falling coloured leaves of trees produce.

Some quick equipment shots from yesterday:

It is not every day that Microsoft comes out with something having awesome possibilities - Surface