Pond vacuum popularity.: How many members use one?

[ZEROPILOT]

In a post, I recently reported that in building my new 1,400 gallon pond and edging it with flat stones and mortar, that it had shortly after rained and carried some (a lot) of silt into the pond bottom.
I didn't want to agitate the water and get the silt suspended and use my water pump and filter to try to filter out the fine, abrasive particles, so I just purchased a pond vacuum. An OASE PondoVac 57347 to be exact. Lightly used on Ebay for about $130. It seems to be just what I need to remove the silt now and for vacuuming up any debris later on not captured by the skimmer or pond pump and filter, as well as algae later on.
I found one previous post and the member raved about the product.
What do others do to remove muck, etc?
The last several ponds I had used sponge filters and I simply removed and washed out sponges every few weeks. 3 of 5 at a time with my "old school" Becket X-5s.

 

[Lisak1]

No pond vacuum here. We get very little debris in our pond so there's really no need. We use a net in the spring to scoop out the few leaves that make it to the bottom over winter - most everything goes over the edge as we have a negative edge outflow.

 

[addy1]

No vac for me either. Kills to many critters living in it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No pond vacuum here. We get very little debris in our pond so there's really no need. We use a net in the spring to scoop out the few leaves that make it to the bottom over winter - most everything goes over the edge as we have a negative edge outflow.

Thanks.
With my previous ponds, most of the muck was plant matter. This pond has no plants.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No vac for me either. Kills to many critters living in it.

I can do with critter free.
This one will be ornamental. Not "natural".

 

[Lisak1]

This one will be ornamental. Not "natural".

My natural pond is very ornamental!

 

[DutchMuch]

I haven't used a pond vac, although I understand the need for one
Good for detailed water changes I hear.

 

[Mmathis]

I have a Pondovac 4, and really like it! There is a learning curve for using it.

 

[cas]

I have had my Oase Pondovac 2 for 12 years and love it.

 

[moby]

Yep, I too have an Oase pondovac, it's a great piece of kit. I don't tend to use it much nowadays as my new pump/filter system keeps things good at the bottom of my pond. However, it's great if you get a build up of leaves and dead vegetation of any kind as it can suck out bigger debris. Using it at the star of the season is a good idea too for a spring clean.

 

[moby]

*start* not star

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm anxious to see if it works well.
I'll post a link if it does or does not.
I should get it early next week.

 

[moby]

Tip.....if I switch mine off to empty the chamber when the end of the hose is at the bottom of the pond loads of crud escapes back into the pond from the length of pipes.....the answer to avoid this happening is to raise the pipe to a near horizontal position, then switch off with the end if the vacuum head just below the water surface.....so the more horizontal the pipe is when you actually switch off, the less the crappy water flows back into your pond.

 

[j.w]

Just a very long handled scoop net sometimes a hose from pond running into a basket w/plastic screen to collect gunk.

 

[MitchM]

I don't use one for the same reason as addy.
I've added extra circulation/aeration to my pond to see what bacteria can do.
It's an individual choice.