Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!

I use a wet/dry shop vac to clean my ponds.

I use a pool leaf trap with a MagDrive 1800 or 2400 pump as shown on my web
site http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondpage4.html that works great for
my bare liner pond. I think that any reasonable vacuum that will take the
debris from the rocks will take the rocks out of the pond also. That is one
of the reasons that so many argue that rocks in the ponds are not a good
idea. They accumulate the debris, provide a place for bad bacteria and
parasites to hide, generate toxic gasses and are a real pain to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"GoldLexus" wrote in message
...
Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying
to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!

I use a pool leaf trap with a MagDrive 1800 or 2400 pump as shown on my web
site http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondpage4.html that works great for
my bare liner pond. I think that any reasonable vacuum that will take the
debris from the rocks will take the rocks out of the pond also. That is one
of the reasons that so many argue that rocks in the ponds are not a good
idea. They accumulate the debris, provide a place for bad bacteria and
parasites to hide, generate toxic gasses and are a real pain to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"GoldLexus" wrote in message
...
Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying
to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!

I use a pool leaf trap with a MagDrive 1800 or 2400 pump as shown on my web
site http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondpage4.html that works great for
my bare liner pond. I think that any reasonable vacuum that will take the
debris from the rocks will take the rocks out of the pond also. That is one
of the reasons that so many argue that rocks in the ponds are not a good
idea. They accumulate the debris, provide a place for bad bacteria and
parasites to hide, generate toxic gasses and are a real pain to clean.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"GoldLexus" wrote in message
...
Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying
to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!

the rocks are the problem. with good circulation across a smooth liner the mulm and
crud gets swept towards the filter and doesnt build up like that. INgrid

"GoldLexus" wrote:

Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

GG (Mon, 15 Dec 2003 06:27:26 -0500):
I use a wet/dry shop vac to clean my ponds.

If you have an outlet area that is below the level of your lowest pond
point, you can temporarily lay some pipe in, start the vacuum at the
other end, remove the vacuum a second or two later, and the water flows
like I.P. Freely after a night on the town. Especially good for two-
level ponds, where the top one is the filter, and is typically higher
than ground level.

Fixed-font required:
________
/ _______ \
|---||-| \ \
/| || | \ \
//| || | \ \________
...___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _//_| || |____ \________ ==
\ /| || | \-----------...
\ / |______|
\--------------------------/

Start the sucking at the arrow end (===) by plugging the vac into the
pipe end. Pull it out a second or two later, and let 'er rip. Keep
the main pond filling in if you want to remove more water than that
which is above the outlet level.

If your pond water level is higher than an outlet area, you can do the
same thing to the main pond. However, if you have a rig setup like this,
ALL the sediment ALWAYS winds up in the upper pond so the only thing you
have to do with the lower is to remove large debris - leaves, twigs,
pecans.
--
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`' `'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
SLOTHEAD

I use a shop vac with a outlet hose. And no rocks on bottom it will make
your pond a muck bowl,



http://community.webtv.net/rebeljoe/POND

I agree that the rocks are a problem, but just clear circulation doesn't
work for me.
I have about 800 gph submersable pump on bottom of our pond and the return
from
filter on other end above the water. The pond is 1200 gallons. Scum is
traped in an area that
the currents skip over. I need a good method of cleaning without draining.

I would think the wet/dry vac empties or nearly empties a pond.
wrote in message
...
the rocks are the problem. with good circulation across a smooth liner
the mulm and
crud gets swept towards the filter and doesnt build up like that. INgrid

"GoldLexus" wrote:

Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out
but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying
to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Have you tried a shop vac? ~ jan

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 14:58:24 GMT, "bk" wrote:

I agree that the rocks are a problem, but just clear circulation doesn't
work for me.
I have about 800 gph submersable pump on bottom of our pond and the return
from
filter on other end above the water. The pond is 1200 gallons. Scum is
traped in an area that
the currents skip over. I need a good method of cleaning without draining.

I would think the wet/dry vac empties or nearly empties a pond.
wrote in message
...
the rocks are the problem. with good circulation across a smooth liner
the mulm and
crud gets swept towards the filter and doesnt build up like that. INgrid

"GoldLexus" wrote:

Do pond vaccums really work? We have a lot of muck at the bottom of our
pond. Last year, we drained the pond and tried to power wash stuff out
but
it really didn't clean it up. You can see the rocks at the bottom but you
also see alot of dirt which also gets the water really merky when trying
to
scoop out debris.
If pond vaccums really work, do any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.


See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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

drop another pump into the pond .... put a hose on it to blow in the direction of the
dead spot to blow the area clean. Ingrid

"bk" wrote:
I agree that the rocks are a problem, but just clear circulation doesn't
work for me.
I have about 800 gph submersable pump on bottom of our pond and the return
from
filter on other end above the water. The pond is 1200 gallons. Scum is
traped in an area that
the currents skip over. I need a good method of cleaning without draining.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 14:58:24 GMT, "bk" wrote:

The pond is 1200 gallons. Scum is
traped in an area that
the currents skip over. I need a good method of cleaning without draining.

I would think the wet/dry vac empties or nearly empties a pond.

I use a small shop vac to muck out the filter barrels and it fills up
and stops sucking at about 15 gallons. I usually dump and begin
again because the pump in it is so slow. I tried a pump with two
hoses once, but didn't need that much volume and went back to the shop
vac.

Regards,

Hal