Oasis 3 vacuum questions

I just bought mine at Fosters and Smiths-it was on sale-it might still be.

I just looked at their site-they don't appear to carry that line any longer. Maybe that's why it was such a good deal. I only bought it two weeks ago.

I know this is an older thread, but hopefully it will reach the pond-vacuumers here.

There is a good bit of sludge in the bottom of our water garden, but there is also a nice bunch of hornwort, snails, semi-hibernating frogs, and other creatures.
What happens when (if) I vacuum?

I can see netting out the hornwort and keeping it aside, and I expect the goldfish and alert frogs will flee in terror, but what about the others?
Is there some way to 'sort out' everything that vacuums out?
Maybe these are silly questions, but I have this awful picture of gasping fish and struggling frogs trapped in a quicksand-like muck in a sealed container. . .

(or maybe I'm just up too late and my imagination is getting the best of me).
Thanks for the feedback,
Teresa

Teresa, it comes with several attatchments. One is a very narrow one, maybe 1/4 inch so no one would get sucked up ☺

I have a 1200 gallon pond with crawdads, frogs - still hibernating i think.. i am pretty sure it is too early for any tadpoles to be in there.. is the vacuum low enough pressure to not kill one of these guys? i am thinking of vacuuming small sections that have a lot of build-up.. but are also the most likely to harbor some pets..

Any of the pond vacs will suck up your bottom dwellers. Thery will pick up small stones, pebbles, pieces of twigs or any other small objects.

Yes, this one is very STRONG suction.

So, is it mostly people who raise koi who are using pond vacs, or do water gardeners use them, too?

We have an old, bowl-shaped concrete water garden, silt naturally settles to the very center, and right now we haven't yet started our filter (it came with a Skippy-style filter with gravel media which we removed and replaced with the scrubber-sponge-like media).

I can and do net out a lot of stuff, but wonder if I should go to the trouble and expense if all I have is plants, a few (too many) elusive goldfish and whatever other creatures have settled in on their own (frogs, tadpoles, snails, dragonfly nymphs, water striders, etc.).

I wouldn't want the water to be murky and unhealthy-looking, but I also don't need it to be crystal-clear to see any expensive koi--and wouldn't want it to be crystal-clear if it would come at the expense of the health and well-being of the inhabitants.

So, for those of you that water-garden primarily for plants and wildlife, how do you decide when you need to vacuum?

Teresa
(I didn't know there were crawdads as far North as CT! Did you introduce them, or did they find you?)

I have large Koi and a HUGE Mesquite tree that drops bazilions of tiny leaves, so small they would fall through netting. So I need a vaccum. I would probably just use a net and do water changes if I didn't have these problems.

Items just go through the machine and come out the other end-no beater bars or brushes like a house vac. It would hurt/kill large fish or frogs because they would get banged around a lot going through the tubes and other debris would bump into them. It would be stressful. As far as plants go, I have sucked them up and put them right back into the pond after they came out the discharge tube. Maybe a little damaged but overall I find all of the pond plants (with the exception of tropical water lilies and lotus') to be very forgiving and bounce back quite easily.

i got these crawdads from 3 mile bay in new york.. they are used as bait up there, .. i brought a bait can home a few years ago.. they are still here and getting huge. The are called crawfish in ny.. I don't really know the proper name.. just little lobsters..hmmmm
my pond is a few years old , and has brownish tint - probably from tanic acid of decaying leaves at the bottom but very clear, i have never vacuumed the pond. the fish bury themselves in the murk (about 2-3 inches of it) and overwinter very well... all i do is stir up the water once in awhile and then dump the muck from filter.. we get maple leaves mostly. The pod runs pretty well and assume i will eventually have to scoop out the critters and clean some , the vac's are seeming to be too risky for my situation - if they work that powerful - has anyone tried a fish tank vacuum?

Same issue. The suction created would definitely not be beneficial to aquatic insects or crustaceans. How old is the pond?

3 years old,, it really looks pretty good, hawks took some goldfish though.. Best I can tell is to let it enjoy it's balance, like a pond.. i let the rain from the roof keep it full. and replace the hawk food now and then.. thanks
-joe-

Bottom muck usually starts to get too thick at the 3 year mark. That's when problems can begin. By problems. I mean that the muck can harbor some very bad bacteria that causes fish diseases and hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide gas is lethal to fish. It forms in anerobic conditions. If you would stir the pond up by cleaning/vacuuming you would likely release the gas and kill the goldfish. It has a rotton egg smell. If you like the pond in this quasi natural state you can leave it alone for a while longer without harming anything as long as you dont stir it up. Just remember that this is a closed system without the benefit of regular fresh water exchange.

The bottom layer, while providing a haven for beneficial and interesting insects and crustaceons is also becoming anerobic and providing conditions for toxic gas and some very nasty bacteria. How long you can let this go is difficult to fortell. If you don't mind replacing the goldfish from time to time that's good in this situation. If decomposition and water replenishment keep pace with the accumulation of debris entering the pond you might be just fine for a long time. But, you have a muck layer now. In another three years time will you have double the muck layer?

I don't know how deep your pond is but I suggest you monitor the debris accumulation closely. There may come a time when you will have to clean the bottom no matter what. Goldfish are hardy little buggers and will tolerate a lot of less than pristine conditions. Koi will absolutely not survive long in the same environment. When or if you do decide it's time to get the muck out remove any fish first to a tub or tank. Clean the muck out. Let the water settle and get thoroughly aerated befor returning the fish to the pond.

BTW, aren't dragonfly larvae just the neatest things? You probably have leeches too. I find them fascinating. Pond leeches are harmless to fish or humans. I always have some even in a very clean bottomed pond managed for koi.

Thanks for the information and feedback.

I think what I'm considering to be "a good bit" of muck on the bottom, is probably not that bad--when the rain stops and the water settles, I'll take a picture (worth a thousand words!).

When we bought the house--almost 2 years ago--the water garden was barely visible, it was so overgrown by boxwood, etc. and although there was a Skippy-style bio-filter, it hadn't been run in at least a year.

We cut back the boxwood, my spouse read up on the filter and gave it a thorough tune-up, new motor, pipes, etc., and then climbed in to pull out the plastic feed-buckets filled with gravel, sludge and overgrown plants.

Now, compared to the condition in which we found it, it's pristine! We had a little string algae last summer, but just around the area where the water returns from the filter.

Hopefully if I post a picture, I'll get some feedback on whether my netting is enough--I've already started separating out the hornwort, snails, etc. when I net just in case I decide to give the vacuuming a try!

snapple.. that's pretty good info. actually a great heron pulled the 2 goldfish and koi yesterday, the net came loose and my wife came home as he was downing the last one.. while taking a look we found two frogs, water bugs, and some tadpoles.. the pond is a 10 foot kidney 3 1/2 feet deep with a 8-12 foot ledge that ranges from 4-8 inches deep for the shallow plants. there is a 6 foot slope from the rain gutter and pump return which also runs spitters to control speed of waterfall and disturb surface... the muck is 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch best I can tell, the bottom has the 1200gph pump. the fact that i am finally finding wild animals showing up makes taking it apart to clean seem drastic.. I am oping to find a plan b.. bubble wand along the bottom where everything settles? oh, we get more mud wasps and monarchs than dragonflies.. they are beautiful though.

Whenever you stir up muck it has the potential to cause problems. Just decide on your end game. A moderate cleaning every three years or so with the fish removed would be adequate if you're not worried about expensive koi. Fresh water replenishment is advisable from time to time, even in a pond maintained to be more about a wildlife aquatic ecosystem than to show off fish. If the muck is only 1/2 inch and doesn't accumulate heavier than that, then keeping the filter(s) functioning properly is probably al the maintanance you'll need to do. When you start to get to a couple of inches, it's time to look at some cleaning measures.

I can't look at a pond without first reacting from a koi keeper's perspective. Koi just don't do well with a dirty pond bottom. They constantly rummage through the bottom stuff. They get ulcers and parasites flourish. So, I clean the bottom often, polish the water with activated carbon, keep it highly oxygenated and clean the filters at least every three dyas. Add in occaisional water changes and it's Work! Work! Work! I have 11 big ( >24") koi and crystal clear water.

My neighbor though, has a small preformed goldfish pond that he rarely ever does anything to except top it off if the level drops from evaporation. The filter gets an annual cleaning! I'ts got a heavy leaf acumulation at the bottom and is choked with an overgrown lily. It teems with insects and frogs. Once in while you can catch a glimpse of a goldfish. It's been that way for over 7 years. It has a very definite charm. Nothing wrong with that style of ponding at all. Maybe it's better!

than actually sounds nice.. except for the choking part . I will stay away from more koi, we were actually thinking of relocating a sunfish or two into the pond.. it's more about the plants and a variety of animals.. Koi are very nice animals, i am starting to realize they just won;t work with the type of pond and maintenence routine we are willing to give it... glad i heard from you first.... avoided an expensive mistake.

thanx
-joe-

Happy ponding - wildlife aquatic ecosystem style!

Being that there are two people posting here asking about the vacs and you both have different needs I thought I might be able to answer more of your questions.

Have you ever seen the vacuum cleaner tool (in home-not water) called the crevice tool? It is narrow and thin for corners like in sofa cushions and crevices like the sliding door grooves. Well, there are similar tools like this (and more) made for the pond to narrow down the possibility of sucking down something you don't want to suck down. If you want I can take a picture of the vac and the attachments and tools to give you a clearer idea of what it is like.

BTW: I used to love to hunt/catch crayfish in Wisconsin when I went on fishing trips with my Dad. Do they harm fish in the pond? When you get a chance can you post a picture of them?
Linda

they don't seem to bother anybody... when it gets a little warmer, the kids will be chasing them, I have a lot of softball size rocks, they keep to themselves. in the spring and fall they migrate up to the shallow area in the waterfall. I will take pics this week.