Just wanted to say Howdy from Texas and add that this appears to be a very knowledgeable forum you folks have going here.
I stumbled on this site looking for some DIY ideas on a new skimmer and pond vacuum. My pond really needs a good cleaning right now.
Dug the hole in the backyard 4 years ago and still haven’t stopped learning about its nuances. It is a small pond approximately 400 gallons, with a Skippy type bio filter and a Pondmaster mag-drive 700 gph submersible pump. It has 6 goldfish, and dozens of mosquito fish that seem to reproduce almost daily. Doesn’t have near the number or variety of plants I would like with only Pennywort, some type of arrowhead looking plant, and cattails. Like most ponders, now that it is stable and I can keep the water clear enough to see the fish, I wish it were bigger. It’s all Time, $$$, Time, $$$.
I have also helped a neighbor design and build his 1,000 gallon pond, and help maintain a pond at my daughter’s intermediate school.
I don’t have any questions at the moment unless someone can improve on the pond/silt vacuum designs I found here;
Floyd’s Pond vacuum. Silt Vacuum.
I think I’m going to start with the Silt vacuum since I don’t have a barrel for the pond vacuum design. I have tried a couple of the venturi type vacuums which work for leaves and other debris, but the silt is so fine it flows right through the debris bag. They also do not have enough lift to discharge the water out of the pond.
I have used my shop-vac in the past, but having to stop and empty it every minute or so is way to frustrating.
Happy trails, err ponding.
Don