I am thinking about purchasing a Pon Vac 3 (about $350). Does anyone have one of these? Are they worth the money?
pond vacs
I have one, I think it's worth it, I also have a 7k gal pond. Not so sure I would think so if I had a tiny pond.
I have one that looks kind of like a shop vac. It works pretty well-beats scooping with a net. It's still pretty work intensive-balancing on the edging stones, not knocking any plants over, dragging the hose around and not tipping the vac into the pond all at the same time. It helps to have two people-a sweeper and a helper!
After the tank fills with water and crud I flush the water back into the pond through a screen and throw the crud ( alge, gravel and fish poop) into my flower beds. I AM the recycle queen!
The PV3 has a very long hose so I don't have to have it that close to the pond and I just let it discharge into the yard and that way the pond also gets a waterchange. For those that don't know the PV3 discharges while you're vacuuming, you don't have to stop and discharge.
I have one and have been pretty happy with it.
Thank you all for for comments. Now I feel better about spending that kind of money! Thanks!
I do NOT like the Pond Vac II, because of the on, then off, then on again operation. Pain in the neck. It does do a decent job of vacuuming. Because of the costly investment I am stuck with the thing. I havn't figured out a way to back over it with the car and claim it was an accident so I can justify getting the newer model.
I love my Pond Vac II. Agree with snapple about the on/off thing but it still beats getting in there with my socks on and siphoning the goop out !! :)
I just googled the pond vac 3 and they list it for $529.00. If you are getting it for $350 sounds like a good deal to me.
I was wondering where you found that price, too. I got mine for around $300 when it was first out- a vendor on another forum was giving the members a special deal, but haven't seen it for under $500 otherwise.
I got mine a couple months ago via ebay
Dear Fred Rump,
This email confirms that you, fredrump, have paid sales@pondandpetsupplies.com $339.95 USD using PayPal.
Shipping and taxes icluded
Fred
PS I see they are asking either $400 or $450 on a "buy it now" basis but bidding is only at $264.
I just ordered one. Don't know what model it is. Go to www.drsfosstersmith.com and look up item # ABF-24887, its on sale for $209.99. Pond Vacuum XPV external Pond Vac.. It looks like a shop vac. They also have bigger models.
I clicked on that link and found the pond vac 3 and was requested to submit my bid which I did for $300 and they countered offered it for $389.00. I never did find item #ABF24887.
I have the pond vac III LOVE it! Best investment!!!! I don't know how I manged without it :)
Well, I didn't try the link, I took it off of the catalog that I have been getting for years. Your right they must also have a bidding section. They have a phone number 1-800-443-1160, you might try that.
Hi - thanks for the advice! I got that AWFUL mud vac a year ago - worthless! So it was good to see the Pondovac III so highly recommended. Just got it on E-Bay for 360.95 - special limited time price, no shipping. I looked it up on the Foster and Smith website and the same thing was 589.00! So be sure to comparison price - Thanks again - look forward NOT having to be my OWN muck vac - Dax
That is indeed a good price. Lucky Dax!!!
Jeri
Dax, Now THERE is a picture!
You got that right - the fish scurry as far away as possible - I look like SwampThing! Dax
I have been using a 16 gal Shop Vac to do some of my cleaning cause I'm too cheap to spend the $500-600 for a pond vac III, it's nice to know they are coming down in price. The shopvac is great for cleaning the gunk out of the bottom of your filters though. I bought a Bio tec filter 2 years ago and it doesn't have a drain plug- won't ever do that again, the shop vac makes it much faster to get it cleaned.
I have rec and started using my pondvac 3 - and I really like it. It sucks up all the leaves on the bottom of the pond and shoots it out a hose specially placed in my garden bed. Between scrubing the rocks and the pond vac, I think I'm going to completely skip the pond clean out this year. Do all of you do a yearly clean out? It's a big job.
I do an annual vacuuming, in addition to removing fallen leaves with a net daily as they fall. I usually vacuum in April. The weather this year so far has not allowed me to do that. Maybe next week.
Great - I haven't done a full pond clean out ever. I have just gotten in there and hauled out leaves and scrubbed, but have never drained the pond, etc. I let it go down about a foot so it's easier, but I've heard you want to keep the bacteria and all the good stuff in there for the fish. Frankly, I hope I don't ever have to take it all out - I'm counting on this pondovac III to do the gucky work! Looks like I'll be about a week behind you, snapple - Dax
Someone here posted a link with directions on how to convert a wet vac into a pond vac a while back. Might save some of you some money.
Well I bit the bullet and ordered my pondvac III today. Thank yall for spending my money for me.
Jeri
Does anyone have the link to harts answer? Even tho I have a vac on order, it would be interested to be able to convert a shop dry/wet for a pond vac. Never know when your purchase pond vac will start falling apart. Thanks
I know - however, I looked at that thread last year, and quickly gave up that it would be anything but a disaster if I tried it - just not that handy with mechanical stuff. What's that saying? If you can't be handsome, at least be handy (from Red and Green show)? Well, I failed at that on both counts (although mine should say beautiful, I suppose) - Dax
For those of you who have the pond vac, do you have a gravel botton in your pond? I am just wondering how you can vacuum up the muck without vacuuming up the gravel as well. Would love to find something that works but doesn't pick up all of the gravel. Thanks.
Oh, it'll pick the gravel up all right, but there is a vent in the hose so you can sort of control the strength of the suction, there is also an attachment that can be closed to only allow for certain size pieces, I can't imagine how that'll help clean up a pond though, I don't like that attachment.
I have a partially rock and gravel covered pond. The gravel is actually 1" or larger stones placed among scattered large smooth flat granite river rock. The pondvac handles this just fine. It seldom picks up any of the gravel but it does get the debris very nicely. I have the PondVac II. The gravel is just thin, enough to disguise the spaces between the river rock.
My PV3 will pick up 1 1/2" round stones then I have to pull them out of the end because they get stuck and blockk the flow :( I was thinking more of pea gravel though, it'll suck that pea gravel right up lol
Wow, They really oomped up the III ! I think I'd better stop whining about the II and it's intermittent operating cycle.
LOL
Thanks for the feedback. Almost all of my pond bottom is pea gravel so it sounds like I might have some problems in this regard.
HELP!! I got the Pondovac III last Thursday - SO HAPPY - but - I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It doesn't seem to work, gets plugged in about five minutes or something - the vacuum just conks out, and I'm left trying to figure it out. Gave up about noon on Friday and just got in and mucked the bottom pond out myself. Any helpful hints from those of you who use a pondovac? It just doesn't vacuum for beans - am I expecting too much or just not savvy in operating it - HELP!! Dax
Hi Dax I got mine Thur also. I vacuumed the pool with it and it was great. I used the brush nozzle. Maybe change nozzles. It was pretty simple to operate and didn't even look at the directions.
I haven't tried it on the pond yet cause my pumps are off and I'm back to pea soup. I'm gonna wait until it clears so I can make sure I don't vacuum up some fish. LOL
Jeri
Wow! Does it really work???????? Send before and after photos. I remember something advertised to vacuum ponds about 10 years ago and it was useless. Clogged every time I turned around. It clogged on a crawdad and some leaves. Boy, that was a kodak moment when I went to unknowningly pull that crawdad out.
dax080, once on the pondvac II I had the discharge hose hooked up backwards. It did about the same thing. I moaned and whined and couldn't figure out what was wrong. My DH came out to see what I was struggling with. He turned the hose around and walked away cause he was laughing his backside off. It was "until death do us part" and we came very, very close.
LOL at yall!!!!
Boy the situations we get ourselves into sometimes. We need a book. It should be a best seller.
Jeri