On Feb 19, 10:16*pm, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
"Jake" *wrote









harry wrote:

Sacha *wrote:
"Bob Hobden" *said:

"Steve J" *wrote ...

Does anyone happen to know if you can hire some equipment to suck the
sludge out of the bottom of a pond?

Any help appreciated, thanks.

What you want is a swimming pool hoover but I don't know if they can
be
hired. You will also have to be careful it isn't too powerful for your
pond. How many gallons/litres is it?

Whoa! *Why take out the sludge? *It's not a swimming pool! *But the
sludge is home to all sorts of pondlife. *Leave it alone unless you're
talking about genuine dredging of a very large pond to increase its
water depth from a natural inflow. *That's another whole issue.

The sludge is primarily fish crap (if you have fish) and needs to be
removed preferably before Winter as it evloves methane which gets
trapped udner the ice and can poison the fish.
If you have fish, there is no pond life, they eat everything.

The sludge will be a mix of stuff depending on what you have/don't
have in and around the pond. I don't have fish but do allow an amount
of leaves to get into the pond each autumn. These rot to create some
sludge which is home to all sorts of critters (dragon fly larvae look
like aliens!) and also accommodates hibernating frogs.

The sludge is kept under control by the introduction of sludge eating
bacteria (you can buy these from pond suppliers). Then about every 6
or 7 years, I drain the pond, bucket up the wildlife and reduce the
sludge level before refilling and reintroducing the wildlife.

It's usually only in the year following such a clearout that I
experience cloudy water. The rest of the time the life balance in the
pond keeps the water perfectly clear.

Pond vacuums will suck either nothing (cheapo domestic ones) or
everything (proper ones) *out - including the beneficial creatures
living in the sludge.

My pond is for a few big fish and waterlilies *and for various reasons I
don't want detritus building up in my pond. I also don't want frogs in it
because of the disease they may carry (Red Leg) and because the fish may
bloat themselves on the tadpoles before their digestive system is fully
functional, they being cold blooded.
A description of a pond as "a wet hole that is always trying to fill itself
in" has always struck in my mind.

Why did I ever decide to have a fish pond? I've had a fishless pond
for years, with frogs, newts and lots of creepies and I rarely gave it
a second thought year after year when it was carpeted with Duckweed.
Now, with the fish there seem to be loads of problems, including foxes
attacking the pond, keeping the water oxygenated and free from weed,
and no longer having welcomed Newts or creepies and no more frogspawn.
It has become an obsession for me, with CCTV and an electric fence
around the pond! Also I have to feed the fish every day which is a
chore. The least of my problems it seems is sludge as I have a pretty
good water filter and lots of pond plants which feed on waste.

The only pleasures is I get is occasionally seeing the fish and the
CCTV has revealed some nightlife, including bats I didn't know I had,
the dog from next door scrambling over the fence, several foxes which
seem to use my garden as a through route and cats of course. Who knows
what the future might also reveal though?

Doug.