How to Use a Shop Vacuum to Clean a Pond

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Things You'll Need

  • Child's swimming pool

  • Net

  • Bucket

  • Shop vac

  • Garden hose and water supply

  • Sprayer

  • Water treatment

Use a shop vac to clean a pond.

In order to keep the fish and plant residents of your pond healthy, you need to clean the pond every few months. Leaves and other debris accumulate on the bottom of the pond and begin to rot. The rotting process steals both oxygen and nutrients needed by the fish and plants in your pond. Use a shop vacuum to make cleaning the pond easier.

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Step 1

Set up the child's swimming pool next to the pond. Fill the pool with water from the pond using the bucket. Net any fish and place them in the pool. Remove aquatic plants from the pond and place them in the pool as well.

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Step 2

Pump out the water in your pond. Hook up a hose to the pond pump and run it out of the pond. The pond continues to pump normally, but instead of circulating water, it pumps it out into your yard. Stop when the water level is about one inch above the pump. Turn off the pump.

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Step 3

Remove any pond features such as large rocks or stones. Remove the pump and any filters from the pond.

Step 4

Use the bucket to get as much of the remaining water out of the pond as you can.

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Step 5

Connect the shop vac to a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt) outlet. Vacuum any remaining water and muck in the bottom of the pond. Try not to scrape the vacuum against the sides of the pond as this is where beneficial bacteria grows.

Step 6

Attach the sprayer to the garden hose and spray down the sides of the pond. Use the shop vac to vacuum up this debris.

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Step 7

Replace any stones or other features that you removed. Place the pump and filter in the pond.

Step 8

Refill the pond with water from the hose. Add any water treatment chemicals as needed.

Step 9

Replace the aquatic plants in the pond. Add a few gallons of the old pond water. Replace the fish.

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