Wait - What??? Cleaning the pond.

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rainbowcharmer

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Jul 30, 2007
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So we are debating a pond vacuum - been debating for a while. The only ones that I've found that have good reviews and recommendations are the Pondovacs, so that's what we've been planning to get. Anyhow, in the meantime, I've got some thread algae issues and still have some dirt in the pond from when the yard wasn't grown in yet and the rain washed red clay into it. I figured we'd call the local pond place (Georgia Ponds) as I've seen their truck around and thought perhaps they'd vac it for me for a fee or whatever. So I send them an email, and they come back with...

They don't vacuum ponds. But they do clean them. They'll remove all the fish, completely empty the pond and filter, scrub it down, and then refill it and put the fish back.

I don't see this being a good plan. I could do that myself if I wanted to kill off all my beneficial bacteria and knock the pond into an ammonia spike. What kind of a pond company is this??

Sheesh. :headshake2:

They claim that no pond vacuums ever clean very well. I'll still have dirt and algae if I only vacuum and probably the pond vacuum wouldn't even help at all. And I'll have algae if I don't take everything out and scrub it down. Probably true. I don't want an unnatural pond. I want a slightly less algae infested pond without the mud on the bottom. The mud won't come back as the grass has grown in and I've got the edges lifted so even if run-off did happen, it'd go under the liner.

As my plants continue to grow in, I'm sure the algae will get more under control. In the meantime I wanted to suck some of it up and make it look a bit nicer. But I'm not going with their plan. Beyond that they're going to charge upwards of $500 for that!! I could get a brand new Pondovac for less. Which is probably what I'll eventually do.

Crazy... Just wanted to vent. :)
 

vanillaXtiffy

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I just use a shop vac to clean the bottom of my pond. I scare the fish over to the other side and vac up the muck.
 

vanillaXtiffy

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I went out and measured it just for you. The hose is about 6 1/2 feet. Mine hold 5 gallons, but this is what I do when I do w/c on the pond: use a bucket to remove whatever amount of water I'm changing then I use the shop vac to clear up the bottom. Usually it takes me 3 empties to get the whole bottom cleared.
 

vanillaXtiffy

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So your pond is small then... Mine is 1700 gallons and 4 feet deep. LMAO. It will probably not quite work the same way...
Yeah, I checked out your pond build thread. Yours is quite a bit bigger than mine, though at only 4 feet deep you should be able to do most of the bottom if you have a 6 ft hose. How wide is it across?
 

vanillaXtiffy

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Ps. I get excited about minnow fry too!
 

hankn

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Doesn't that fill up really really quickly? Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if mine didn't only hold 6 gallons. LOL
The Oase Pondovac doesn't fill up. It has a drainage hose that you place in your garden
and all the water and gunk you suck up goes out the drainage hose. Pays to buy a piece
of mosquito netting and place it on the grass in your garden and the hose on top of the
netting. This way the water goes through and waters your grass and the gunk can easily
be collected from the netting.
 

garyfla

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Hi
I use a 'purge" system using collected rainwater. Works like a charm except when it doesn't rainlol
During a 31 inch rain it got so clear that I thought it was empty when looking from the house.
saves a ton of work and always have beutiful fresh water gary
 
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