pond vacuum cleaners

[federico]

Hello dear fellow garden pond lovers,

About 7 years ago I had a swimming pond (or natural pool, as you like it) installed in my garden by a bunch of "cowboys".
After a year or so i discovered that keeping it clean was not so "maintenance free" as they had pictured it.
So I started looking for a kind of vacuum cleaner. The best known one, from Oase just didn't do the job.
After about 2 years trying and failing I finally came up with a good working prototype of what has now become our "ANACONDA PONDVACUUMCLEANER".

My Belgium based company "DESECO NV" has sold over 200 units with 100% customer satisfaction since January 2008 in Flanders alone now and this year we're ready to introduce it in other european markets. Our english website is online and I would like to invite everyone to visit it.
Unfortunately This forum will not allow me to post links untill I have 5 posts or more.
1 tip: if you google on "vijverstofzuiger" (the flemish word for pondvacuumcleaner) we're first of the non-sponsored links.

I would love to hear or read from all who would like to comment on our Anaconda.

Best regards,
Federico Thiers

 

[koiguy1969]

welcome to the group...i hope you didnt join just to sell pond vacs...

 

[federico]

Hi Koyguy,

Not only, no ... :fish. Allthough by selling a fair amount of my vacuumcleaners in the UK I know I'll raise the avarage of happy pondowners substantially. that's why i started out building one for myself. To be more satisfied with my swimming pond. Sharing this with others is my main goal.
On the other side I want to learn more about ponds and also share my own experiences. After a year or 2 I was fed up going to pond "specialists" looking for advice and leaving there premises loaded with specialty products and unloaded of most of my Euro's.
Keeping a pond nice is not easy but doesn't have to be expensive. No 2 ponds are the same though so you have to share experience in order to get somewhere.

My actual problems for instance:
the water level of my pond is dropping too quick to my liking. I suspect a leak. How do i verify if there is a leak or if it's just evaporation?

After using my anaconda pond vacuumcleaner the water level needs topping up. I have a waterhole but the water contains too much phosphates (6.1ppm) and causesfilament algea. How do i get the phosphates out before topping up my pond?

Just to name a few examples.

rgds
Federico

 

[DoDad]

Is this the vacuum?

 

[koikeepr]

good heavens that thing looks scary!

 

[DoDad]

It looks pretty easy to DIY.

good heavens that thing looks scary!

 

[federico]

Hi Dodad and Koikeepr, Scary is a nice description. We opted for keeping the anaconda naked like the bare-bikes you see on the road sometimes. It's mainly a work-horse and not a fancy thing to show off with. The advantage is that everything is easily accessible.
As a pondvacuumcleaner the results are scay as well. I must say though it is mainly intended for cleaning swimming ponds and not koiponds. This due to the bottom flora mostly cultivated on koiponds.
Easy DIY is what i thought when i started out trying 5 years ago. Off course I didn't have an example. All good working copies or approvemnts to our model of the anaconda are welcome.
rgds
Federico

 

[DoDad]

Okay! You have a cart, pump, valve, some PVC and a leaf basket that you would have to empty very often if you had a lot of debris in the pond.

 

[j.w]

For some reason my mind is telling me not to click on that link above so I'm not doing it! Could be spam or worse.

 

[sissy]

yep room 202 is calling you jw and the tenth floor tells me you will get a view of something not sure what

 

[cathiep]

we have a swimming pond in portugal, looking for a pond cleaner. At the moment we go in with what looks like a conventional vacuum cleaner, but it takes ages and it would be nice to have one which gets on with the job by itself. we have seen them in swimming pools, but not in natural ponds. will it work?

 

[sissy]

looks like a little scooter for sure with the wheels but really nice it has big tires because it would be easier to move around .Most are like stationary tanks .I used a shop vac with a hose on the inlet and a hose on the outlet ,but when you have baby fish and tadpoles it is useless ..I know most times they would not get hurt and just end up in the return basket with filter stuff and quilt batting in it ,but some may not make it and don't want to harm them .