Bottom of pond sludge

[Lizabeth Harris]

I have a build up of sludge at the bottom of my pond. This, I think, is due to my adding the Aquaplankton powder to clear the water and eradicate blanket weed..

This did not work for long and I want to get rid of the sludge but am not happy to use an electric vacuum as I have frogs and newts together with some baby fish and I want to protect them. I am also not happy to use something electric whilst it is switched on! In have seen a net affair which sweeps up the sludge which is then swept into an attached net which can then be dumped.

Can anyone help please.

Lizabeth Harris.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

You may be able to remove the larger particles with a net, but the smaller particles will require a vacuum. Using a net will also stir up the fine particles, causing the water to be cloudy for a few days and when the water clears the sludge is still there. Does your pond have a skimmer?

 

[moby]

Hello Lizabeth and welcome! It's going to be difficult to get the sludge out without a vacuum of some kind as Meyer rightly points out as it's so very fine and easily clouds the water.

An electric one should be perfectly safe to use as the electrics don't actually go into the water, all you do is push a vacuum tube around the bottom of the pond as with a regular cylinder vacuum. The motor is in a self contained and sealed canister, in mine anyway, it's an Oase Pondovac, and I swear by it. Use a good circuit breaker as further protection and keep the canister part away from pond edge so it can't jump in!

We did use one of the smaller lightweight ones (£20 ish ) that works on a push/pull valve type siphon thingymajig, not electric, but found it all but useless. Maybe others had better results, but the investment in the big Pondovac was worth it.

Have you checked any pond/water garden stores in your area to see if they hire them out? A landscaper may do that also, just a thought if you didn't want to go to the expense of buying one, they're not cheap, mine was £160 or thereabouts several years ago.....where are you situated?

@Meyer...how would a skimmer help in this instance please? They don't seem that common here in the UK, I've only ever seen them used in Koi only ponds. Thought there purpose was to pull floating debris from the pond surface. Have they got some hidden function that I'm obviously not aware of please?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Hello Lizabeth and welcome! It's going to be difficult to get the sludge out without a vacuum of some kind as Meyer rightly points out as it's so very fine and easily clouds the water.

An electric one should be perfectly safe to use as the electrics don't actually go into the water, all you do is push a vacuum tube around the bottom of the pond as with a regular cylinder vacuum. The motor is in a self contained and sealed canister, in mine anyway, it's an Oase Pondovac, and I swear by it. Use a good circuit breaker as further protection and keep the canister part away from pond edge so it can't jump in!

We did use one of the smaller lightweight ones (£20 ish ) that works on a push/pull valve type siphon thingymajig, not electric, but found it all but useless. Maybe others had better results, but the investment in the big Pondovac was worth it.

Have you checked any pond/water garden stores in your area to see if they hire them out? A landscaper may do that also, just a thought if you didn't want to go to the expense of buying one, they're not cheap, mine was £160 or thereabouts several years ago.....where are you situated?

@Meyer...how would a skimmer help in this instance please? They don't seem that common here in the UK, I've only ever seen them used in Koi only ponds. Thought there purpose was to pull floating debris from the pond surface. Have they got some hidden function that I'm obviously not aware of please?

In the case of high water turbidity, a skimmer can be used to effectively clear the water column by the addition of quilt batting to the skimmer basket or net. Attentive monitoring is required, however, because the water flow to the pump may be restricted as the quilting becomes saturated with debris causing pump overheating.

 

[budgenator]

Hi Lizabeth, it's going to be difficult to impossible to keep the algae under control until you get the sludge out. The sludge will keep feeding the algae. depending on size, it might be easier to move the fish to a temporary holding tank, drain the pond and scoop out the sludge into a bucket. The sludge is stinky-nasty and excellent garden fertilizer as a consolation prize.

Having said all of that remember some algae is good for you pond and it's quite natural to have an algae bloom in the spring.

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

You may be able to remove the larger particles with a net, but the smaller particles will require a vacuum. Using a net will also stir up the fine particles, causing the water to be cloudy for a few days and when the water clears the sludge is still there. Does your pond have a skimmer?

I am not quite sure what a skimmer is. Is this a fine mesh net which I scoop up any dead leaves on the pond with?

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

Reply

I am not quite sure what a skimmer is. Is this a fine mesh net which I scoop up any dead leaves on the pond with?

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

Hello Lizabeth and welcome! It's going to be difficult to get the sludge out without a vacuum of some kind as Meyer rightly points out as it's so very fine and easily clouds the water.

An electric one should be perfectly safe to use as the electrics don't actually go into the water, all you do is push a vacuum tube around the bottom of the pond as with a regular cylinder vacuum. The motor is in a self contained and sealed canister, in mine anyway, it's an Oase Pondovac, and I swear by it. Use a good circuit breaker as further protection and keep the canister part away from pond edge so it can't jump in!

We did use one of the smaller lightweight ones (£20 ish ) that works on a push/pull valve type siphon thingymajig, not electric, but found it all but useless. Maybe others had better results, but the investment in the big Pondovac was worth it.

Have you checked any pond/water garden stores in your area to see if they hire them out? A landscaper may do that also, just a thought if you didn't want to go to the expense of buying one, they're not cheap, mine was £160 or thereabouts several years ago.....where are you situated?

@Meyer...how would a skimmer help in this instance please? They don't seem that common here in the UK, I've only ever seen them used in Koi only ponds. Thought there purpose was to pull floating debris from the pond surface. Have they got some hidden function that I'm obviously not aware of please?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

Hi, I had not thought of hiring one, I will contact the garden centres in Lincoln and see if one of them would let me hire theirs. Very many thanks for this as I would not have thought of it in a month of Sundays!

 

[moby]

@Meyer, thanks for the explanation, makes perfect sense now!

@Lizabeth, it was just an idea that occurred to me, let us know if you have any luck. Sadly, I'm too far away to hire you mine at 'mates rates' of course!

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

Hi Moby,

That was a lovely gesture, many thanks. Too bad I am so far away. Best wishes. Lizabeth.

 

[CeeJayH]

@Lisbeth, you can easily pick up a bargain pond vac on Ebay. I got mine a couple of years ago. They're great for getting the sludge out of the pond bottom. The water does get stirred up, but clears pretty rapidly afterwards.

 

[Waterbug]

My web page on using nets and vacuums:
http://www.waterbugdesign.com/pond/vac.html
Size and type of pond is really the key to which system works best.

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

I have a build up of sludge at the bottom of my pond. This, I think, is due to my adding the Aquaplankton powder to clear the water and eradicate blanket weed..

This did not work for long and I want to get rid of the sludge but am not happy to use an electric vacuum as I have frogs and newts together with some baby fish and I want to protect them. I am also not happy to use something electric whilst it is switched on! In have seen a net affair which sweeps up the sludge which is then swept into an attached net which can then be dumped.

Can anyone help please.

Lizabeth Harris.

Hi everyone,

I bought a pond vacuum and have removed some of the sludge. However, I took the frogs spawn out and put it in a bucket as I thought this would be better for it. Now it is back in the pond, it has sunk to the bottom and the water is a very unhealthy green with green scum on top. Does this mean that I have killed the frogs spaw? Should I now remove it? Please help, I am really fearing for the health of my fish.

Lizabeth Harris.