Shop Vac for cleaning pond?

I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Thanks for any help.

My shop vac has a pump that will drain the water out of the vac. You
sometimes see them advertised for clearing flooded basements. The discharge
pump is rather small and requires the intake of water to be turned off for
periods of time to allow it to catch up. If you overfill the shop vac,
their is a switch that shuts the pump off, and you have to hold the start
button down for a while to get the water level down enough for the shut off
switch to stay reset.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"camper" wrote in message
. ..
I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is
there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Thanks for any help.

My shop vac has a pump that will drain the water out of the vac. You
sometimes see them advertised for clearing flooded basements. The discharge
pump is rather small and requires the intake of water to be turned off for
periods of time to allow it to catch up. If you overfill the shop vac,
their is a switch that shuts the pump off, and you have to hold the start
button down for a while to get the water level down enough for the shut off
switch to stay reset.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"camper" wrote in message
. ..
I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is
there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Thanks for any help.

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:07:18 -0500, "camper"
wrote:

I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

I have one of those Rich is talking about and they are a pita to
operate with a garden hose that pumps out through a 5/8" diameter hose
and sucks in through a 1" hose. It takes quite a bit longer to pump
out than to fill up sucking in. I use mine, but I mostly use it to
clean out the filter barrels and dump it each time it fills. I saw a
real pond cleaner on Dr's Foster and Smith catalog the other day but
it sells for over $300 so I don't have one, but I've thought about
building something like it with just a pump and hoses.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

I'm not familiar with AlgaeFix, but most chemical cures for algae is
temporary. The best fix is to balance the pond with plants and
filtration, unfortunately that isn't always as simple as it sounds.
Some ponders never see any green water and others struggle every
spring. Keeping the bottom clean is a good move toward clear water
and lots of growing plants is another.

Regards,

Hal

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:07:18 -0500, "camper"
wrote:

I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

I have one of those Rich is talking about and they are a pita to
operate with a garden hose that pumps out through a 5/8" diameter hose
and sucks in through a 1" hose. It takes quite a bit longer to pump
out than to fill up sucking in. I use mine, but I mostly use it to
clean out the filter barrels and dump it each time it fills. I saw a
real pond cleaner on Dr's Foster and Smith catalog the other day but
it sells for over $300 so I don't have one, but I've thought about
building something like it with just a pump and hoses.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

I'm not familiar with AlgaeFix, but most chemical cures for algae is
temporary. The best fix is to balance the pond with plants and
filtration, unfortunately that isn't always as simple as it sounds.
Some ponders never see any green water and others struggle every
spring. Keeping the bottom clean is a good move toward clear water
and lots of growing plants is another.

Regards,

Hal

I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond.

Get at least a 12 gallon unit, any vac that would blow the water out, is
gonna cost ya and probably not pick up the big stuff you want to use a vac
for anyway. Though a shop vac will fill up in 15-30 seconds, you'll be
surprised how much stuff you can suck out of the pond in that little of
time.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Algaefix is an Algaecide, poison. Your algae is filtering your water, kill
it and it drops all those nutrients right back into the water column to
feed the next generation of algae. As others have said, you simply need
more of the higher plant forms, or artificial shades helps too. Then there
is the UV crowd that will probably chime in about now. ;o) ~ jan

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

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond.

Get at least a 12 gallon unit, any vac that would blow the water out, is
gonna cost ya and probably not pick up the big stuff you want to use a vac
for anyway. Though a shop vac will fill up in 15-30 seconds, you'll be
surprised how much stuff you can suck out of the pond in that little of
time.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Algaefix is an Algaecide, poison. Your algae is filtering your water, kill
it and it drops all those nutrients right back into the water column to
feed the next generation of algae. As others have said, you simply need
more of the higher plant forms, or artificial shades helps too. Then there
is the UV crowd that will probably chime in about now. ;o) ~ jan

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

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

"camper" wrote in message
. ..
I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is
there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

I feel your pain. You can minimize wasted dumpings by being sure to have the
nozel where you want to suck before you turn the vac on. Seems like a silly
thing to point out but it makes a huge difference.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Three words...plants, baby, plants.


--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"camper" wrote in message
. ..
I am thinking about buying a small Shop Vac to help clean my pond. Is
there
a model that will blow out the water rather than holding it in the tank?
That way I will not have to empty it every few minutes.

I feel your pain. You can minimize wasted dumpings by being sure to have the
nozel where you want to suck before you turn the vac on. Seems like a silly
thing to point out but it makes a huge difference.

Also, what is the best product to clean green water? I have been using
AlgaeFix from Pond Care and it seems to be clearing it a little, but it is
still very green.

Three words...plants, baby, plants.


--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 09:26:00 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

I feel your pain. You can minimize wasted dumpings by being sure to have the
nozel where you want to suck before you turn the vac on. Seems like a silly
thing to point out but it makes a huge difference.

That takes all the fun out of making a ripple across the top of the
water so you can't see and swirling the muck so it won't lift off the
bottom. Everybody should have the experience!

Regards,

Hal