Do Pond vacuums REALLY work?

[Dave 54]

Recommendations from this forum says pond maintenance should be every 2 weeks. Do 20% water change and remove as much debris as possible. Do I understand that a complete drain out will not be needed ever? I need to do maintenance on my pond on a regular basis now. I really dont want to be emptying the pond yearly. I dont want to use a skimmer because I dont' believe they are safe for any swimming creature. Our shop vac can suction up water dense and heavy with muck effectively after the pond is drained down to the muck layer. This year the muck layer was 2 inches deep. I dont want it ever to get this thick again. When I see debris laying on the pond floor I would like to suction it up. The pond vacs's buckets supposedly fill then they automatically drain (hose provided) . My shop vac will fill and then I have to move the the heavy heavy bucket of black muck elsewhere in the yard. I never tried using it with the pond filled. It will probably suck up far more water than debris.

Does anyone own one? How strong is the suction? Will I be able to suction up debris and a slight layer of muck with a pond vac and can yours handle heavy muck. Would you please give me your Model and Brand Name. Tell me why you like it or hate it. On line stores have them for sale currently and I'd like to buy one shortly if they meet expectations.
Thank you.

How on earth did you get 2" of muck?
Pond should be cleaned regularly before Winter.
Where did you get the 20% water change every 2 weeks? That's way more than I do.

I agree with Diesilplower on this however your pond is 1,000 gallons yes? then I recomend a 40 % water change on a regular basis you dont ever need to drain the pond completely but with 2" of muck sat in the bottom of your pond I can understand why you came down with Columnaris in the first place, ( you basically through a lack of maintenance left yourself wise open to this) .
Why do I recomend this ? because I have a pond the same sizre as yur own which weve now run for 6 years with not to many problems apart from the odd mechanical hitch
I dont use a pond Vac as we have a bottom drain but I would do my homework first before I buy one making sure you get the right one..

Dave

 

[j.w]

I've been netting the bottom every few days and have a small pump on the bottom sucking up all the free floating gunk while I net and what the pump sucks up goes into a bucket w/holes in the sides w/batting in it. Boy stuff sure collects all the time in that bucket on that quilt batting. It's not really that time consuming either just doing it when I have the time. Sure keeps the pond floor nice and mostly muck free. Take one big square of batting out and put one in. Clean the dirty one by putting in the tub and hosing off and dunking, dumping and again and again,hang to dry and on it goes. I have it down to a pretty fast,smooth system and it's working for me. The cat was helping me by crawling under the quilt batting

 

[snoozer]

I have the Oase 4 and love it. There are two chambers, when one side is full, it automatcally switches to the second chamber while the other chamber drains. This way you don't need to stop and empty the vac. When you are using it, the end of the discharge hose needs to be lower than the vac unit. If it isn't, it won't drain properly. It will make alot of noise and spew out water vapor if it can't drain properly. I thought I had broken it until i figured that out. I also put the discharge hose inside if a 4 inch pipe and drain to a low spot in the yard that will hold water so I can rescue and tadpoles who got sucked in. It will pickup the pea gravel and river rock that my fish friends take out of the pots without a problem. Leaves in the fall can be sucked up but I usually use a net to get the majority out first. They are expensive but check Craigslist for one and you may be able to find a deal. I think that it is worth it.

 

[DrCase]

I water my trees and plants with the discharge
Snoozer is right about the discharge hose it must be level or go down hill
To work right
Then it will suck out water until you turn it off
The extension tubes are easy to deal with and the quality is good

 

[dieselplower]

I recomend a 40 % water change on a regular basis you dont ever need to drain the pond completely but with 2" of muck sat in the bottom of your pond I can understand why you came down with Columnaris i the first place .
I dont use a pond Vac a we have a bottom drain but I would do my homework first before I buy one making sure you get the right one..

Dave

Hi Dave. Can you be more specific on how often is "regular basis"? And is this more for koi or goldfish as well? And what is it based on, nitrate level? Or just good measure maybe? I rarely do any water changes but should probably do more.

 

[Koily]

I own an oase pondovac3 which I've used once in the past 2 months. My pond is surrounded by a lot of foliage, so it gets peppered with a lot of leaves, twigs, and other organic debris relatively quickly. Some of that settles to the bottom of my pond and accumulates, which makes it difficult for me to see the rocks along the floor of my pond. The vacuum works quite well at suctioning up any muck that seems to "grow" on the rocks, as well as silt and other debris that makes my pond water cloudy. It's not all that different from the pondovac4, in fact I'm not sure what the primary difference is, but the pondovac3 has a dual chamber system as well so you don't need to stop and empty the vacuum.

I've only had a pond now for a little over 3 months, so in my case I haven't had it long enough to know the frequency with which I will be using the vacuum. But I've been happy with it so far. I did some searching around and ordered it from this site, which has reasonable prices and I've been satisfied with their offering of products: http://www.pondplanet.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=184&product_id=609

To me, oase is the bose of pond equipment. Just my 2 cents.

 

[dieselplower]

I own an oase pondovac3 which I've used once in the past 2 months. My pond is surrounded by a lot of foliage, so it gets peppered with a lot of leaves, twigs, and other organic debris relatively quickly. Some of that settles to the bottom of my pond and accumulates, which makes it difficult for me to see the rocks along the floor of my pond. The vacuum works quite well at suctioning up any muck that seems to "grow" on the rocks, as well as silt and other debris that makes my pond water cloudy. It's not all that different from the pondovac4, in fact I'm not sure what the primary difference is, but the pondovac3 has a dual chamber system as well so you don't need to stop and empty the vacuum.

I've only had a pond now for a little over 3 months, so in my case I haven't had it long enough to know the frequency with which I will be using the vacuum. But I've been happy with it so far. I did some searching around and ordered it from this site, which has reasonable prices and I've been satisfied with their offering of products: http://www.pondplanet.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=184&product_id=609

To me, oase is the bose of pond equipment. Just my 2 cents.

"no highs, no lows, must be a Bose". Bose is junk

 

[Mmathis]

I own an oase pondovac3 which I've used once in the past 2 months. My pond is surrounded by a lot of foliage, so it gets peppered with a lot of leaves, twigs, and other organic debris relatively quickly. Some of that settles to the bottom of my pond and accumulates, which makes it difficult for me to see the rocks along the floor of my pond. The vacuum works quite well at suctioning up any muck that seems to "grow" on the rocks, as well as silt and other debris that makes my pond water cloudy. It's not all that different from the pondovac4, in fact I'm not sure what the primary difference is, but the pondovac3 has a dual chamber system as well so you don't need to stop and empty the vacuum.

I've only had a pond now for a little over 3 months, so in my case I haven't had it long enough to know the frequency with which I will be using the vacuum. But I've been happy with it so far. I did some searching around and ordered it from this site, which has reasonable prices and I've been satisfied with their offering of products: http://www.pondplanet.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=184&product_id=609

To me, oase is the bose of pond equipment. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for that, Koily!