Pond Vacs: Why you need one for your pond

A pond vac is an excellent addition to your pond to make pond maintenance easier.
Even ponds with great filtration will often have areas within the pond that accumulate dirt.
Pond vacuum cleaners are a good way of efficiently eliminating the sludge build-up of your pond.

Benefits of Vacuuming the pond

One of the major benefits of using a fish pond vacuum cleaner is the aesthetical aspect. Vacuuming will ensure that the bottom of your pond is always looking great.

Removal of dirt and debris reduces the chance of your pond developing problems as a
result of a build-up of toxins and nutrient sources that can lead to other water quality issues such as algae

Removal reduces the unpleasant odours that are usually associated with anoxic muck and ensure that oxygen concentration does not drop as a result of the effect of sludge.

How to Vacuum ponds

It is usually good to first physically get rid of large particles, such as leaves and twigs with a net. Then, allow for the mucky water to settle.  (some of this will get drawn into your filter which is fine) Once the particles have settled, all you have to do is stick the suction head straight to the bottom of the pond because you only need to suck out the sludge and not the clean water.  Move the vacuum slowly over the worst areas in the pond, making sure that you do not stir up the dirt again!

Types of Pond vacuums for sale

All pond vacuum cleaners require gravity to discharge the dirty water.  They can either be a single-chambered vacuum or a double-chambered.

Single Chambered pond vacuums, such as the Pondovac Classic and The Pondmax PV350 fill up the chamber full of waste.  When they become full, the engine switches off for 20 seconds, allowing the waste to gravity discharge out of the unit via a large discharge pipe at the base of the unit.  We recommend that this dirty water be put onto the garden as it is full of nutrients that your plants would love to utilise!  After 20 seconds, the engine turns back on and you continue in your quest to rid the pond of sludge!

Gernerally, if you have a large pond, are time-poor or clean ponds commercially, then the OASE pondovac 4 pond vacuum is the way to go, but for smaller ponds, the pondovac classic is a great substitute and is much cheaper while stil lretaining the OASE quality