How To Make a Pond Vacuum! Turn a Shop Vacuum into a Pond Vacuum!

Thanks a lot for that, very inspiring!
Coming from one whole day spent to manually remove with a pool net the bottom sludge!
So, first I checked about "official" pond cleaner... no way! Then I found your video and here we are: going to make it soon.
Now, all cheap pvc vacuum available here are small, only 12/15 liters and probably would get full fast.

Add a little plastic cage on the inside down by the gasket and you can return the water directly back to the pond while keeping the debris in the vacuum.

great little vac

What can you do if the bottom of your pond is pea gravel?

What this work for a swimming pool because I bought some pool vacuums that were handheld they're not really cleaning that well I think this would be better what do you think I have some shop vacs I need something to clean the dirt off the bottom of my pool what do you advise

Hey can you make a complete list of all the parts you bought from the hardware store to make this?

I'm new to doing things on my own so it would be nice to not buy the wrong things.
I really want to try this!
Thanks :)

good vid....can you make it drain at the same time as sucking ? i am a plumber and i sometimes work on live water pipes with my wet vac but i need it to drain, but there is no wet vac that exists like that only a big commercial one and i know there are pond vacs now that discharge at the same time but the flow rate is too slow... thanks alot

What kind of an attachment would you use for gravel in the pond?

Just the idea I needed. Perfect - thanks for sharing.

can the output nozzle be opened to allow the tank to not fill and allow continuous use?

Pond water is great garden fertilizer.

Would this work with sludge or mud?

drilling through a stainless steel weld at Mach 10 might do that to ya 😅

Would this work with a 6-foot deep swimming pool or is the additional pipe length too much for the shop vac to handle?

How is that any different than using a Wet/Dry Shop Vac with a discharge port already in it?

Thank you my friend for this handy and affective DIY solution .. I just put in a little pond insert maybe 150 plus gallons .. No fish yet .. Just like the sound of the water when I’m outside and thanks again .. Going to drill my shop vac .. I already have spare bulkheads from my fish tanks

So what’s keeping the debris from pool bottom in the vac. If all you are doing is sucking up and drawing back in. What am I missing?

Why would one need to make the valve at the vacuum end? Couldn’t one just submerge the vacuum hose and leave the vacuum off until it’s in the right position at the bottom of the pond?

Worth it

So what's the difference between this and a wet vac?

Thorough, comprehensive. Makes it sound easy!

can your koi fish stay in the pond?

Grreat thanks, just picked up a shop vac for fraction of the cost.

Good idea. Thanks for sharing.

what became of the debris? How did you keep it from draining out with the water? Thanks

What size horsepower shop wet/dry vac would you suggest? Is 3 hp enough?

Awesome thankyou

Where I can I find a threaded PVC valve to attach to the bulk head for the drain?

Well that was a bust After spending $20 on the 1 1/2 inch pipe and another 20 on the valve it didn't work . My large shop didn't have the power to suck up the water /debris in a 3-4 foot deep pond.

Thanks, need to do mine. I am thinking of backing the shop vacuum up to the pond and draining the pond water back into the pond through a pond net to sift out the debris. Just a thought have not tried it yet.

Great.. Now just get a pressure washer, combine the two, and you have a great hydro-excavator for digging holes without a shovel and mess.😊

If I have a shop vac with a hole in the bottom, can I just leave it open to continously drain?

Too bad the actual result sucked and I’m not be clever. Immediately clogged with leaves and debris. If the thing you’re trying to remove is the thing that clogs it, I’d call that a fail.

Why not attach a hose, or just leave the drain open to so you don’t have to stop and dump the water out? You can just continually clean. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I had this idea a few days ago, just checking if I was the only one :) of course not. I suppose if you leave the valve open on the vac, there will be no suction but it would be great if the junk just continuously emptied at the other end.

Great idea

Super helpful!! I'm so gladI found this video! I "inherited" my pond when the apartment house I live in was sold and the owner and former fish pond maintainer moved. I am learning as I go, and the pond is a mucky mess. This is the perfect solution to clean the junk out. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing

How many seconds do you have before the vac needs to be emptied?

I use my shop vac from my husbands garage and it works great!!

Dude! That's excellent! Thanks!

Great video... quick question - at the end we see you emptying the canister but all I see coming out is water (quite clear too). Where is all the debris you sucked up? Did that stay in the canister & then you have to empty the canister? Thanks for replying!

I liked this right after you admitted cursing at your tools! DIY comedy! 😂 I think a bigger PVC pipe diameter would help suck up the leaves better but I know you had to match your vac hose and maybe finding the valves would be harder to find for anything bigger. I might try to do this custom job to mine if I can find the right stuff. I try to find a 2.5 inch PVC setup.

Love it!

You rock sir!

If I wanted to recycle the water back into the pond how would I clean out the vacuum to rid it of harmful chemicals from it's previous life? Of course I would put it through a pond filter but this wouldn't remove soaps and other chemicals from the old vac.

Great idea. I tried a an expensive pond vac and it was lousey.

Nice! One question will it work if you leave the discharge line open?

Karcher