Pond vacuum?

[hendo]

Sorry if this is a beat to death question!

We have a small pond in the backyard - about 12' x 5' - it was here when we
bought the house 8 years ago. There is now much sludge on the bottom, most
likely due to my poor pond-keeping habits!

So my question is do any of the pond vacuums really work? I'm not interested
in trying to build one myself from a Shop-Vac or similar - just want an easy
way to get rid of several years worth of dead leaves, fish waste, etc.

[Charles]

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:50:07 GMT, "hendo" > wrote:

>Sorry if this is a beat to death question!
>
>We have a small pond in the backyard - about 12' x 5' - it was here when we
>bought the house 8 years ago. There is now much sludge on the bottom, most
>likely due to my poor pond-keeping habits!
>
>So my question is do any of the pond vacuums really work? I'm not interested
>in trying to build one myself from a Shop-Vac or similar - just want an easy
>way to get rid of several years worth of dead leaves, fish waste, etc.
>


My Muck-vac works, except for all the pots and stuff getting in the
way. I just empty the pond and clean up the mess from time to time

--
Charles

Does not play well with others.

[Reel McKoi]

"hendo" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry if this is a beat to death question!
>
> We have a small pond in the backyard - about 12' x 5' - it was here when
we
> bought the house 8 years ago. There is now much sludge on the bottom, most
> likely due to my poor pond-keeping habits!
>
> So my question is do any of the pond vacuums really work? I'm not
interested
> in trying to build one myself from a Shop-Vac or similar - just want an
easy
> way to get rid of several years worth of dead leaves, fish waste, etc.
====================================
Don't get the kind you have to pump by hand as they're worthless. They run
around $50. Everything jams the flap and most of the sludge ends up
suspended in the water, not in the vac's exit hose. I threw my $50 away.
Now we simply drain the whole pond, suck the mud off the bottom with a
shop-vac, hose, re-vac and fill. Nice clean clear water.... :o)
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:50:07 GMT, "hendo" > wrote:

>Sorry if this is a beat to death question!
>
>We have a small pond in the backyard - about 12' x 5' - it was here when we
>bought the house 8 years ago. There is now much sludge on the bottom, most
>likely due to my poor pond-keeping habits!

Once you get a lot of sludge, 2-3 years worth, it's better to just drain
and shovel or shop vac it out, imo.

>So my question is do any of the pond vacuums really work? I'm not interested
>in trying to build one myself from a Shop-Vac or similar - just want an easy
>way to get rid of several years worth of dead leaves, fish waste, etc.

After you clean it, when it starts to build up a bit use the Shop-Vac on
Wet Vac (without the paper filter). Most debris tends to go to one area of
the pond "usually". YMMV. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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