how to drain pump house so that it can be cleaned?

[lamby]

I'm hoping some of you can offer some brilliant advice. I have a large ( 30,000 gallons ) pond which I look after as a volunteer at my townhouse complex. I've noticed that there is an accumulation of sludge at the base of the pump house. I want to block off the two filter areas, drain the water from the house, and thoroughly clean the muck that sits around the sump pump. I've unplugged the pump, but can't figure out how to keep the water from flowing back into the house as I am draining. I tried cutting some rigid foam insulation board to fit the filter channels and that seemed to work fairly well but am wondering if there is a better way. We have a wet/dry vac which we could use, also could just try bailing the water down the overflow drain. Advice, please!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Would you please post some photos?

 

[sissy]

Saw on youtube where a guy uses thick plastic to cut off flow to his skimmer to clean the muck out and uses a shop vac for wet areas .He had a large pond also .I remember he said he still had to clean some of it out by hand with rubber gloves on

 

[sissy]

He also uses toilet bowl brushes