DIY Pond Vac

[Cinnamon]

Here are the pics of Remmy's pond vac he made. We had an old shop vac that the motor was bad. He took the motor out and sealed the hole with plexi glass and silicone so we could see down inside of it. We put grates in the bottom and filter media in it. We used a Pondmaster 2400 GPH pump that we had and it works like a charm. The water is filtered and pumped right back into the pond! I love it. Now we don't have to pull half the water out cleaning it. Since we are home I get to use in a couple days and get the pond all cleaned up, which it needs bad!

He had to make sure that everything was sealed. We cut a gasket out of some extra pond liner we had to seal the top. There could be no leaks at all for it to work correctly. It sucks extremely well!

When Rem feels better he can give you more of the details.

Pam :smile:

[Cinnamon]

more pics

[Jackie Ramo]

I have a small shop vac that we don't use that may convert to this quite nicely. The hardest part is dumping the water out when vacing the pond.

Hopefully Rem will have some insight on how it all goes together for us techie challenged folks once he is feeling better. No vaccuuming now, there's ice on the pond!!!

[Cinnamon]

Jackie my pond is full of string algae! grrr It is a mess. Water temps here are 68 F in the pond. We have had almost 80 every day. No spring just into Summer .

[Jackie Ramo]

My pond is full of string algae as well, growing in the ice!!! darn stuff.

Does the new vac suck up the aglae?

[Cinnamon]

Jackie with the suction it pulls the string algae up! All we were able to do before Heiko got sick was just part of the bottom. It sucked rocks and everything. Once it even got clogged :lol: I told him in a day or two he could sit out there and man the plug while I suck everything out.

[BC_Ray]

Pam,
We're always looking for DIY projects. May I use this in a future issue of our club newsletter? We are "The Water Garden Club of BC," and our newsletter is "The Ripple," is mailed to our members 10 or 11 times a year.

Ray

[Cinnamon]

Ray of course you can! I don't mind sharing things. We have only had our pond for one year last Oct. So we are still learning and so many people have shared their DIY projects with us. I am working on a drawing and more details to go with the pictures. I will upload them as soon as I can!

Pam

[Ta2ude]

Is it a lot of work getting a siphon started or do you just fill the vac up with water first and then turn on the pump ?

[Cinnamon]

Ta2ude you fill the vaccum up first. We open the gate valve to let water in the pump then close it. Finish filling then put the end in the pond and plug the pump.( Be sure to reopen the valve before you plug it in). It starts rather easily we found out. Surprised us! Especially since we used mostly stuff we already had. It can go awhile before you have to rinse all the stuff out of the vaccum. You have to make sure and make a seal for the upper part of the shop vac so it will seal off. It has to be airtight to work. We are working on a drawing detailing everything out.

Pam

[Jackie Ramo]

Well being techie challenged I for one look forward to the drawings, and maybe a visit or a shipment that will get me one that I don't have to build.

[Cinnamon]

Jackie I had Rem draw this out last night. I hope it helps you and whoever else wants to try this!

[Cinnamon]

Here is a couple more pics of the inside of the vac!

[Jackie Ramo]

I have the grandson visiting and now have no life but his, illprint the drawings out and see if I can figure them out. I need a better solution than the shop vac. Thanks for your help

[Terri]

Cin & Remmy: You two are extremely clever :grin: my shop-vac is next! LOL Was thinking of getting a 'pond-vac' for my two water gardens,.... thank you thank you :wink:

(Hugs to Rem, hope he's feeling better)

[Cinnamon]

Terri your welcome your welcome! I love it! In a couple days I am going to put in full use. I had a mucvac and we just combined the two. The mucvac put more water into the pond than sucked :lol: Rem kept saying he could come up with something and he did ;) Let us know if you need anything else on it!

[Busy B]

That is very clever! Bet Greg could use something like that on his DIY CD also..WTG Rem!

[Cinnamon]

Oh Rem just hobbled in here and said tell everyone HELLO! :smile:

Busy Greg has one on his CD. On his he said you can put the outlet hose into a filter of sorts that will drain back in the pond. I had thought about it and Rem and I got to talking and he came up with this. It was test and retest until we got it totally sealed.

[GregBickal]

Now if you just make that idea permanant, you would have a bottom drain :smile: Inground settling chamber will help with the pressure reduction, and a nice dome cover.

[Cinnamon]

Greg I wish we had known what we know now when we started this project! But alas we learned after the fact. So we have to make do with what we have. Believe me the next pond will have a bottom drain etc :)

[BonnieIN]

Clever idea!

I've already broke down and ordered the Pondovac 3 though, it's on it's way...

Been Ebaying trying to come up with some extra cash for pond upgrades.

I'm also purchasing some Kaldnes type media, air pumps and ordered supplies for a DIY microscreen. My filtration had better be decent after this.

Wow what will I do with my time?
No more cleaning brushes and scrubbies!
Oh how I'll miss the days of being covered from head to toe with fish poo! !grrrr NOT!!