Gravel-Vac'ing Indoor Pond?

[justonemoretank]

Hey all-
I was just wondering (for those of you who have gravel or sand bottoms on your ponds) how you go about gravel vac'ing them. Obviously, the normal siphon vac won't work, seeing as how the pond bottom is the floor of our house. What types of setups have you come up with to vacuum gravel, or is there some gadget I've been missing that solves the problem? Thanks for your input.

 

[crenicichlacrazy]

I dont have a pond but I do have experience with vacing tanks on the floor and a Python No Spill Clean And Fill will work even if the point of vac is lower than the point of drain

 

[tomheli]

i cant get mine to pull water at floor level maybe i have low preasure

 

[snookman]

With the python water pressure in your sink that you attach to determines whether you can siphon tanks/ponds on the floor. If your water pressure is too low you get a strong enough suction for the siphon. If you have a garden hose and a window you can fix this unless you're in a basement then you'll need to use a floor drain if you have one. By simply starting the siphon by sucking on the drain end to get the water over the side of the tank/pond and then gravity will do the rest.

Justin

 

[justonemoretank]

Thanks all. I'll try the python, and if it doesn't work for some reason, sell it on craigslist and go with the water hose. Thanks again.

 

[IKeepPacu]

while i dont have sand yet, im rigging up a pool vaccuum head, and using it like i would a python

connect the vaccuum head to a cheap sump pump from home depot using a garden hose or something, and just run it into the sink. or outside.

it may take some getting used to, to not suck any sand into the pump. but atleast if you do, the sump pumps are cheap enough that you wont cry if you ruin one.

 

[doubledragon]

I just use overkill filtration with the intakes close to the bottom (my bottom is bare though) and I have yet to see one single piece of poop on the bottom. But also I have a tank with sand and the flow of water and fish send the poop straight to my filter.

 

[justonemoretank]

Yeah, since we have the gravel, some sort of vacuum was necessary. Our local pond guy rents one for twenty five bucks, so we're just going to rent that monthly, which is all we really need right now. If it starts needing to be done more often, we'll probably buy a pond vacuum.

 

[shadowspar]

what i use is a wet/dry vacuum. pretty sure mines made by stinger. they have all sizes, the bigger the better because when water fills up it wont suck up any more, so youll have to pour it out. its a little work but i have a bare pond and nothings really at the bottom much.