A question for those with pond vacuum experience

[Maxine]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I have no pond vac experience and don't want to spend a lot on something that won't work for me, so I was hoping people with pond vac experience could help me. I'm mainly interested in what happens when you vacuum in and around hornwort to get all the muck and algae among the plants.

MY POND:
I have a pond 2 feet deep by 12 feet wide by 28 feet long. 6 koi about 15" long. It contains some water lilies in planting baskets, a couple of green frogs and lots of toads in the breeding season.

I have a TON of hornwort growing from the bottom of the pond. I threw a small bag of it in a couple of years ago, and it apparently loves it. It comes back every spring (from a cold zone 5 winter with the pond iced over except for a large hole kept open by an air pump) and spreads. It seems to be growing from the muck that has accumulated on the liner on the bottom.

I also have 2 very shallow areas from 1 to 6" deep where various types of reeds are growing in gravel. (The deep area doesn't have a gravel bottom - it is just liner. But the shallow, bog like areas have gravel for the reeds to root in).

The water is clear and the PH, Nitrate, Nitrite, etc. are all at healthy pond levels. I have a low stocking level and a big bio-filter.

THE PROBLEM:
I am having a lot of trouble with blanket weed (string algae) in the deep sections. The algae is covering all the hornwort and it is floating to the surface (covering half the surface area) on hot days. It is ugly. The fish struggle to swim through it. And I need to deal with it. (You can see a picture of the algae covered hornwort here: http://s745.photobuc...nt=IMGP4063.jpg)

I am considering buying a pond vacuum (probably an OASE Pondovac 4) to help suck out the algae and get the muck off the liner on the bottom of the deep end, and out from among the reeds and stones in the shallow areas too.


MY QUESTIONS:

1. Will the hornwort just get sucked up into the vacuum along with the blanket weed and bottom muck? (I have trouble raking the algae out because it rips up the hornwort along with it).
2. Will the vacuum do a decent job of cleaning the muck out of the shallow gravel area (the gravel is your average driveway gravel - maybe 3/4" average in size - not the usual pea gravel). Or will it just suck up my gravel too?
3. If the hornwort is uprooted by the vacuum pulling or knocking it, will it just float around? Or will it sink to the bottom and "root" itself to the liner?

Thanks in advance for any advice from experienced pond vac ponders!

 

[HARO]

Maxine;
Hornwort has no roots; it simply hangs up wherever there is any obstruction, even if it's only the muck on the pond bottom. A vacuum will suck up the hornwort along with everything else, separate it from the algae and toss it back. A number of pond vacs have valves to regulate the amount of suction at the business end, to avoid picking up gravel. You may want to consider this in your decision.
Canada, eh? Can you narrow it down a little? It's a big country!
BTW; LOVE your cards!!! :tongue:
John

 

[Maxine]

Sure I can narrow down the Canadian reference for you.
I'm in Ontario. Still too big?
Zone 5. Still too big?
How about Stratford area (about half way between Kitchener and London )

 

[HARO]

Know it well! Stratford Festival... went for years, but it's been a while now. Oh, yes... and home of JB! :cheerful:
John