cleaned the pond bottom!

[chilligirl]

I'm soooooo happy. I've been deliberating over how to clean the bottom of my pond. My pond has steeply sloped sides, with a flat bottom that's roughly 1 1/2 - 2 feet in diameter. Makes all the debris and mulm accumulate in one spot, which should make for easy cleaning.

The problem? It's four feet below ground level, plus two feet above, so deeper than your average pond. Too deep for the shop vac and for any of the cheaper pond vacs. I was considering rigging a DIY system, and tried to do something up using my pump (it just kept clogging).

Then, today, on a whim, I decided to try using my aquarium python (50ft long). Used duct tape to hook the siphoning end to a broom handle. Hooked the other end up to the garden hose and put it out in a low spot in the yard, running full blast.

Worked like a hot damn! Plugged quite a few times of course, but then I just took it out to the yard, switched it from "drain" to "fill" to discharge the clog, then back to business.

I can't believe how much crud was down there. Mostly dirt and rocks from plants that got knocked over early on, with just a little bit of mulm and dead plant matter. But in about 20 minutes of using the python, I got it so that no more dirt was coming up off the bottom (can't see the bottom, too deep, and too many plants in the way on top, plus it's overcast today).

So, I'm very happy that I have a relatively simple and effective way to vacuum my pond, and, best of all, I didn't have to spend a dime

 

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

Congratulations! I'm still working on ideas for mine. Fortunately my pond is brand new so I have a little time.

 

[chilligirl]

yeah, this was my first season - pond's been up and full since, hmmm, I think maybe June? I started digging the hole back in late March, but it was a slow project...

 

[Sweet Lew]

Can you post a pic of your contraption??

Also, has anyone tried a shop vac? I bought a Python Ultivac, but my water pressure isn't sufficient to get it to work right (it's for sale BTW :banana: )

 

[DrDave]

What is a 50 foot long aquarium python? What do you feed it? LOL

 

[koikeepr]

A python is a cleaner that you hook up to a faucet in your house to clean out an indoor fish tank. It has 50 foot long tubing so it will reach from your kitchen sink, for example, all the way to wherever your fish tank might be in the house. Outdoors, you just hook it up to your garden hose, I guess.

They make a pond version, which is basically what she is describing. Click here to see it. I happen to own one that I bought many years ago...way cheaper than the price here. It works fine tp be used in a pinch or if you're on a budget.

A home python much smaller hosing and the sucking part is smaller, so it will clog faster.

 

[oldmarine]

I'm not going to "clean" my pond at all. All I'm going to do is use a fish net on a pole, and net any loose waste laying on the bottom and let nature take it's corse.

I will also leave the whole filter system running all winter. The only thing that I am doing different is turning off the water fall, and partially rinsing the boi-filter. I want to leave a culture of aerobolic bacteria in the filter material.

 

[stroppy]

ive got one of those pumps ...but cant get it to work i think my water pressure isnt strong enough .... but have to add dont really have to clean the bottom a titan pump gets rid of all the gunk in the bottom and i net the pond about now so no leaves fall in

 

[koikeepr]

i used it early on when there was no filtration in my pond. I agree that if you've got good, solid filtration a net as oldmarine says is more than enough. If you've got enough muck to use one of these muck vacs it basically means you need more filtration, in my opinion. Add another barrel.

 

[chilligirl]

My pump is a solids-handling pump, but I'm scared of losing small fish or fry into it, so instead of sitting it in the pond bottom and running it that way, I have it hooked to a pre-filter with mechanical and bio filtration.

Initially, I had the pre-filter sitting in the pond bottom, but maintenance was hard, so I pulled it up to the ground-level shelf.

As a result, there's no filtration and little water movement in the lower levels - I'm going to put an airstone in, which should help. Because my sides are so steeply sloped (about 60 degrees), any debris slides straight down to the bottom.

The "muck" was mainly soil from plants from when I first set the pond up - a couple pots dumped over.

I don't have any barrels :banana: I will have a bog garden and waterfall on top of current filtration if I ever get it finished.

 

[koikeepr]

Ah, I see. You just need to put your pump on a pair of bricks so that you have a little lift of the pond floor. You can also move the pump around the pond. If you're sides are messy, then move them for a time closer to the sides. As the pump works it will pull the muck closer. You then move it and will see the collection of mulm and stuff that the pump has pulled near it. Just grap a net like OldMarine does and scoop that out.

If you put an air diffuser on each end, it will push the muck toward the center if you have your pump there.

 

[DrDave]

Koikeeper, did you draw your Avatar? It is very nice.

 

[koikeepr]

lol. no, i know how to keep koi not draw them...i'm useless at many things...

 

[oldmarine]

Koikeeper,

I guess that was my thought also. I was led to believe that if my filtration system was not filtering out the stuff that settles and makes muck, my filter is not doing it's job.

At this point in time I haven't done any netting of the bottom of my pond, and the only thing that now laying on the bottom is some misc. pebbles from some of my old plant pots. My pond is relatively clean, and ready for winter.

 

[fish]

I have a heavy duty shop vac set up with a ten foot central vac hose connected to it and use the wand from our house central vac with an additional extension. I use the round brush vac tool to scrub the sides of the pond and suck gunk out of the bottom. It works great with very powerful suction. The only hang up is the shop vac only holds sixteen gallons of water so in just a few minutes of vacuuming the tank is full and has to be emptied.