Anybody ever use a wet/dry shopvac to to clean pond bottom?

[markah1]

Hi,

I'm still fairly new at ponds. During the first month of having my newly constructed pond, I've noticed a tiny amount of waste build-up on the pond floor. Mostly poop, leaves, and soil from the bog plants.

Today, I knocked over some bacopa that was placed on our waterfall and I got a huge mass of soil in the pond. Needless to say, the bacopa i recovered was bare root and all of the soil was on the floor of the pond and the pond turned into a huge puddle of mud. I'm extremely upset with my mistake and I hate how awful the water looks. Once it settles, I imagine that I'll have a ton of soil on the floor that I'll need to remove so I was wondering if anyone here has ever used a wet/dry shopvac to clean sludge from the bottom?

Its a craftsman 5.0 HP, 12 gallon wet/dry vacuum.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Big Lou]

A wet dry vac will work but if your pond is filled your vac will quickly fill with pond water and some muck. Works best with your pond drained.

 

[mtpond]

The wet dry vacuum is what I use. I use it to clean out my waterfall in the fall and also the skimmer. I have also used it in the pond. I think if you used the floor brush it wouldn't suck as much water so fast. I havent used an attachment yet. It has worked great for me so far.

 

[waynefrcan]

I have a shopvac that pumps the water out as you fill. It's about $139 US. Not the best pond vac idea as it fills faster then pumps, but does work.

 

[JohnHuff]

I do.

 

[pecan]

I found in the pond it sucked water more than gunk. Went back to netting the bottom instead. It does work great though for cleaning the bottom of the skippy filters once the water is drained and all is left is the muck.

 

[morewater]

ShopVacs are basically useless for cleaning ponds, mainly because that's not what they're designed to do.

Spend the $$ and get yourself an Oase PondoVac 4. They run continuously and empty themselves when full for uninterrupted operation. Well worth the $$ when you consider how long you'll have it and how often you'll use it.

 

[waynefrcan]

ShopVacs are basically useless for cleaning ponds, mainly because that's not what they're designed to do.

Spend the $$ and get yourself an Oase PondoVac 4. They run continuously and empty themselves when full for uninterrupted operation. Well worth the $$ when you consider how long you'll have it and how often you'll use it.

I might just do that. Some bad reviews at amazon, but probably those peeps just don't use it correctly.

 

[morewater]

I see you're from Canada. Where?

I had the opportunity to rent an Oase PondoVac4 system from a local pond equipment distributor, tried it out before I decided to buy one. You might want to go that route.

 

[jmajid]

i have the oase 3; found that its operation is highly dependent on its height above the pond and the level at which the end of the hose you are using to suck out is at.
So your level of success will depend on how deep your pond is where you want to remove the soil/muck.
Also found that it hesitates/stalls almost when it gets overwhelmed or the attachment is too deep -then i just bring the attachment up to the surface - draw some air in and that usually clears it - but if it doesnt, you will need to shut the unit OFF, wait a few second and then turn it back ON.
And yes, it will suck the water out - try putting some netting at the exit hose to try and catch your muck... but if you have soil - that may not be too easy...
we ended up putting most of our water back to the yard....good enough fertilizer!

 

[Big Lou]

Had my pond cleaned yrsterday. The lady and her worker used a Oase 4 which vacumed and dischared at the same time. Worked well. It had a number mysterious clogging issues. My 12 gallon Shop Vac was used later on to supplement sucking out the last small depressions of water. The Shop Vac had greater vacuuming power BUT it quickly filled. IMO, I would have thought the Pond Vac would have a larger diameter intake hose.

 

[brandonsdad02]

I'm trying out my friends brand new Oase 3 pond vac. Works great for cleaning out muck and leafs. We first tried it on her 6' deep pond and it did great. It does have some flapper valves built into it so it will stall for a second or 2 while the water empties from the vac. It came with a super fine mesh sock that goes over the end of the return line. She sent the vac home with me to get more practice with it so I can bring it back in a few weeks to do her pond for her annual spring cleaning.

 

[addy1]

What happens to all of the snails, bottom critters? when you use it? I sort every net of muck for critters.

 

[brandonsdad02]

it all ends up in the mesh sock. This vac also has all sorts of attachments for the suction end and has clear tubes so you can see what is getting sucked up.

 

[brandonsdad02]

I just looked at the pond Vac I'm testing. I was wrong. Its the Oase Pondovac 4. Good for up to 12' deep.