pond cleaning

[stroppy]

after spending 2 and a half hours today trying to sweep and lift gravel off the bottom of the pond that the fish have lifted out of planters during the year ...i have decided i need a vac of some sort, but all the ones ive looked at dont say if they pick up gravel ... does anyone have one that is powerfull enough to lift it ? i still have quite a lot to remove before winter sets in ... mind you i must add that there was no sludge or dirt down there i guess the titan pump does a good job ...only prob its also picking up some of the gravel ...please help i will never be able to get it all out by hand .... also hoze vacs dont work here as very low water presure from tap

 

[oldmarine]

Stroppy, It looks like you have your hands full with your cleanup. I have the same problem with the fish removed pebles and dropping them on the bottom. Fortunately, I can almost reach the entire bottom by getting down on my knees and sweep up the pebles by hand using a garden hand trowl.

I was thinking about your delema and wondering if you could use a garden hoe to rake the rocks on the bottom of you pond to the edge? If you could get the rocks to the edge in small pills, they could be scooped out of the water much easier.

Next spring when I re-pot all of my bottom plants, I will be putting layer of larger rocks about one inch diamater on the surface of the pots to keep the fish form having so much fun speading pea-gravel all over the bottom.

 

[stroppy]

i did move a lot that way oldmarine ... but almost fell in headfirst a few times ...and yes i have put a layer of big pebbles on top of all my pots now ... but i noticed even some of those have now found there way on to the bottom

 

[koiguy1969]

lava rocks wiil stop that...they dont like the rough texture..

 

[stroppy]

now thats a good idea koiguy :biggrin:

 

[DrCase]

I use my wet vac when i do suck out crud, it will suck up the rocks with no problem

 

[froglover]

Shop Vac has a vacuum that is great for cleaning a pond and picking up gravel. I don't know if you have Lowe's in your area, but they have the best price I have found. Smaller shop vac's with the built in pump are also available on Amazon.com. Here is a link to the one I purchased. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=195953-20097-9341611&lpage=none

 

[stroppy]

thank you drcase and froglover ...ive been looking for those type of vacs over here in the uk but havent found anything as powerfull as yet but will keep looking