My new experience ...............a pond Vac Oase pondovac 5

[addy1]

I swore I would NEVER buy one. Well a partly neglected pond, I sort of quit netting the bottom x time ago. Let the hornwort and anacharis grow. That made a nice hiding spot for the snakes to hide and snack on fish.

So I decided I needed to net the bottom, remove some of the growth, some of the muck, save the fish from the snake attacks. After doing about 5 net fulls, barely able to pull the net out, I quit, intense back , hand, arm work. Arms still not back to full strength. The pain kept me up at night.

So I bought a pond vac. Would it do the job? IE catch up? No clue.

I asked for help @GBBUDD , he had some good suggestions. Spent a week or so investigation and reading about the different vacs. Finally picked one out. Like my dad always told me buy the best you can afford you won't regret it.

So I bought a

Oase Pondovac 5 - Dual Pump Continuous Suction Pond Vacuum - 48080 - AZPonds & Supplies

AZPonds and Supplies, Inc. has been in the pond supply business for over 20 years. Our clients are from all over the USA and include Do-It-Yourselfers, Zoos, Aquariums, Hotels, Casinos, Landscapers, and even Cabela's.

www.azponds.com

Oase pondovac 5.

Reasons:

The parts were metal, not plastic.
The discharge was pump driven, not gravity, my yard is either sloping up or sloping down, the down slope not always where you want it.
Discharge line was more than 8 feet, 8 feet would not reach where the water needed to go.
The suction was good down to 7 feet, any shorter I would not have been able to reach the bottom. On the up slope side, I have to add 4 feet to the 5.5 foot depth = 9.5 feet.
I did a lot of the mucking standing in the bog. How well did it do? I need to wait for the water to settle again. It drug out a lot, pumped it out onto the ground.
Has a big net bag that collected debris, so it does not go through the pump. I found maybe 5 snails in the bag, all alive and doing well. The rest too big to get sucked in. Of course I search the debris, then found out just dump in a tray , bucket and the snails go to the top to be picked out.
A lot of the hornwort and anacharis was pulled out by the suction, grab off the suction head, dump in the yard. Of course look for snails etc.

That machine has power! It took out 6 inches of the fine floating stuff, from a loop pond, did not drop the water level much. Did not take long.
Played in the bog, it takes the muck that floats on the gravel right off. But of course it comes back. Once I saw the tads did no more.

Will update once I can see the bottom again, almost clear already.

 

[j.w]

Happy it is working great for you! Bet you won't have to do it very often.

 

[GBBUDD]

I swore I would NEVER buy one. Well a partly neglected pond, I sort of quit netting the bottom x time ago. Let the hornwort and anacharis grow. That made a nice hiding spot for the snakes to hide and snack on fish.

So I decided I needed to net the bottom, remove some of the growth, some of the muck, save the fish from the snake attacks. After doing about 5 net fulls, barely able to pull the net out, I quit, intense back , hand, arm work. Arms still not back to full strength. The pain kept me up at night.

So I bought a pond vac. Would it do the job? IE catch up? No clue.

I asked for help @GBBUDD , he had some good suggestions. Spent a week or so investigation and reading about the different vacs. Finally picked one out. Like my dad always told me buy the best you can afford you won't regret it.

So I bought a

Oase Pondovac 5 - Dual Pump Continuous Suction Pond Vacuum - 48080 - AZPonds & Supplies

AZPonds and Supplies, Inc. has been in the pond supply business for over 20 years. Our clients are from all over the USA and include Do-It-Yourselfers, Zoos, Aquariums, Hotels, Casinos, Landscapers, and even Cabela's.

www.azponds.com

Oase pondovac 5.

Reasons:

The parts were metal, not plastic.
The discharge was pump driven, not gravity, my yard is either sloping up or sloping down, the down slope not always where you want it.
Discharge line was more than 8 feet, 8 feet would not reach where the water needed to go.
The suction was good down to 7 feet, any shorter I would not have been able to reach the bottom. On the up slope side, I have to add 4 feet to the 5.5 foot depth = 9.5 feet.
I did a lot of the mucking standing in the bog. How well did it do? I need to wait for the water to settle again. It drug out a lot, pumped it out onto the ground.
Has a big net bag that collected debris, so it does not go through the pump. I found maybe 5 snails in the bag, all alive and doing well. The rest too big to get sucked in. Of course I search the debris, then found out just dump in a tray , bucket and the snails go to the top to be picked out.
A lot of the hornwort and anacharis was pulled out by the suction, grab off the suction head, dump in the yard. Of course look for snails etc.

That machine has power! It took out 6 inches of the fine floating stuff, from a loop pond, did not drop the water level much. Did not take long.
Played in the bog, it takes the muck that floats on the gravel right off. But of course it comes back. Once I saw the tads did no more.

Will update once I can see the bottom again, almost clear already.

I would suggest adding a extension to the suction tube at the end making it longer. That way you have a better reach across the pond. you kinda toss it while it's in the water and push it to the other side and then let it drop and drag it toward you. I used 1 1/2" electrical pvc conduit, the flair fit perfectly and a quick wrap with flex tape sealed it right up holding it in place. Wish i could try it the Matala cyclone i have could be stronger in my eyes. Hope that oase works well for you.

 

[addy1]

Hope that oase works well for you.

So far it is doing good.

The price was the same between the two, the biggest complaint was some of the parts were plastic and some found them to fall apart.

I get a bag full of stuff and it pumps out the fine slit, never pausing since it has two motors. The clear tube lets you see you are dragging in a lot of dirt. When I see bubbles it means the head got full of hornwort, small rocks or the spilled kitty litter. I just pull it out and remove. I could release the pump pressure, it has a slide, dump the stuff back in, but part of this process is to remove a lot of the hornwort to stop the snakes. Which BTW should be around, none seen YET! I will find it hard to think that the snakes just poofed away.

Good idea on the pvc conduit, I just found some in a dead van, brand new. (hubby has a collection of dead cars)
Good idea on flex tape, the end did fall off once. I even have some here used to patch a hole in my mower deck.

 

[addy1]

Wish i could try it the Matala cyclone i have could be stronger in my eyes

Feel free to come by and try it! I will let you do it for free! A few hours and you will know if you like it!

 

[Lisak1]

An offer you can't refuse @GBBUDD !

 

[GBBUDD]

Trust me if I was still in the area I probably would. But your 6 hours away now if I'm not mistaken .

 

[addy1]

Trust me if I was still in the area I probably would. But your 6 hours away now if I'm not mistaken .

Just about 6 hours from here to main street CT.

It is working great.

The only issue I have had is the net bag popped off a few times. Mainly dumped kitty litter, pea gravel and some plant debris. Need to wrap the strap tight! I stood at the end of the pond, deep end and worked the heck out of it. All the yard plants must love this nutrient rich black water they are getting.

It drug up some snails, the small ones end in the bag unharmed, the big ones stay stuck on the brush thing I am using. I just scoop them off and toss back into the shallow end that I am not working. I have golf ball size trap doors.

 

[j.w]

Just about 6 hours from here to main street CT.

It is working great.

The only issue I have had is the net bag popped off a few times. Mainly dumped kitty litter, pea gravel and some plant debris. Need to wrap the strap tight! I stood at the end of the pond, deep end and worked the heck out of it. All the yard plants must love this nutrient rich black water they are getting.

It drug up some snails, the small ones end in the bag unharmed, the big ones stay stuck on the brush thing I am using. I just scoop them off and toss back into the shallow end that I am not working. I have golf ball size trap doors.

You are a pro now and once it is all cleaned up you can just do maintenance now and then. What a deal!

 

[Moni_Pond]

I swore I would NEVER buy one. Well a partly neglected pond, I sort of quit netting the bottom x time ago. Let the hornwort and anacharis grow. That made a nice hiding spot for the snakes to hide and snack on fish.

So I decided I needed to net the bottom, remove some of the growth, some of the muck, save the fish from the snake attacks. After doing about 5 net fulls, barely able to pull the net out, I quit, intense back , hand, arm work. Arms still not back to full strength. The pain kept me up at night.

So I bought a pond vac. Would it do the job? IE catch up? No clue.

I asked for help @GBBUDD , he had some good suggestions. Spent a week or so investigation and reading about the different vacs. Finally picked one out. Like my dad always told me buy the best you can afford you won't regret it.

So I bought a

Oase Pondovac 5 - Dual Pump Continuous Suction Pond Vacuum - 48080 - AZPonds & Supplies

AZPonds and Supplies, Inc. has been in the pond supply business for over 20 years. Our clients are from all over the USA and include Do-It-Yourselfers, Zoos, Aquariums, Hotels, Casinos, Landscapers, and even Cabela's.

www.azponds.com

Oase pondovac 5.

Reasons:

The parts were metal, not plastic.
The discharge was pump driven, not gravity, my yard is either sloping up or sloping down, the down slope not always where you want it.
Discharge line was more than 8 feet, 8 feet would not reach where the water needed to go.
The suction was good down to 7 feet, any shorter I would not have been able to reach the bottom. On the up slope side, I have to add 4 feet to the 5.5 foot depth = 9.5 feet.
I did a lot of the mucking standing in the bog. How well did it do? I need to wait for the water to settle again. It drug out a lot, pumped it out onto the ground.
Has a big net bag that collected debris, so it does not go through the pump. I found maybe 5 snails in the bag, all alive and doing well. The rest too big to get sucked in. Of course I search the debris, then found out just dump in a tray , bucket and the snails go to the top to be picked out.
A lot of the hornwort and anacharis was pulled out by the suction, grab off the suction head, dump in the yard. Of course look for snails etc.

That machine has power! It took out 6 inches of the fine floating stuff, from a loop pond, did not drop the water level much. Did not take long.
Played in the bog, it takes the muck that floats on the gravel right off. But of course it comes back. Once I saw the tads did no more.

Will update once I can see the bottom again, almost clear already.

I have this same vacuum and concur, it is a great machine. I am getting mine out today before the toad pole eggs hatch.

 

[addy1]

Done doing the vacuum job. The tiny tree frog tads are now in the big pond.

So will continue another day!

Almost clear enough to see how the bottom looks now.

 

[mrsclem]

I was going to have hubby get out the plastic rakes and pond vac to try to clean the plant and goldfish pond . String algae so heavy it was almost completely covered on the surface.
Cleaned cameras today and suddenly realized the algae is gone! Either 2 dozen small goldfish got really hungry or 150 gallon stock tank bog did the truck. Bog has been running 24/7/365 and has had plants growing all winter.
Makes spring cleanup easier!

 

[addy1]

I don't get string,do get a bit in one of thr small slow-moving fish less ponds.
Big pond never.