Tornado Pond Vac

Having read a couple of negative reviews about this I decided to give it a go as my pond was thick with sludge and I needed a better way of removing it. The suction is dependent on your water pressure and mine seemed to work fine. It generates enough suction to lift the sludge but no so much that it could be a hazard to the fish. In my case the bag was full in 30 seconds as there was so much on the bottom. I does let finer particles through the bag which cloud the water quite quickly, but with time to settle out and a good filter I was able to get a couple of buckets of sludge out each day and now things are looking much healthier. In my case the bag filled very quickly and I would have liked to have got more out on each attempt but I can't see how you could make the bag bigger as it gets quite heavy when full. I toyed with the idea of fitting a pipe to the bag connection but wasn't sure the water pressure would then be enough to create the suction necessary to lift the sludge. For the price it is very good, and it does do an efficient job for the size of my pond (1500 litres) but if your pond is bigger you may need to look at a one of those industrial looking machines.

I have only used this once and it seemes to do what it is intended for.It crossed my mind that if used during the warmer months it might be counterproductive using the product as tap water adds nutrients for an algal bloom so you might end up with a pond of green sludge!! So I will try it out again later in the year.You do need good water pressure to get the vacuum to work.Depending on your pond and how/where it is sited you may have to reduce the water level before you start to accommodate the water that you will be using from the hose.I found the brush head OK for the sides but I removed it to use on the pond floor as it was awkward otherwise to manipulate it around plants.For what it cost it is an OK buy.

At first this product did not work as described. My water pressure is good (10m jet from hosepipe) but not sufficient for the Pondvac. I then removed the one-way valve from the Pondvac and improvement was dramatic. This valve serves only to stop pond water being sucked into the water main in the very unlikely event that the main supply should fail during Pondvacing - therefore a completely unnecessary impedance to water flow! However an essential addition is a manual on/off valve in the supply hose close to the Pondvac to avoid surplus water splashing everywhere (£3 from my local aquatics supplier). In summary I would say this product is fairly good but not fantastic.

I have bought this product before but from a different source. When I moved home, I left the other pond vacuum behind unfortunately.I was impressed with the product and so seized the opportunity of purchasing it from Amazon, cheaper than the original but exactly the same (with an extra net cap as well and instructions, which I did not have before). As always, Amazon came up trumps and the vacuum pump was sent very quickly, in perfect order, and I can recommend it for any garden pond - not, of course, for a large one but for medium and small sizes, it is great and works. To hire a big pond vacuum is expensive so this is very well worthwhile, and easy to use.

NOTE - I believe some variants do come with a pond "net". This one referred to a "pond net" in the description - (and in the picture) - hence I thought this would too.In fact, it came with two net "bags" - NO "Net" was received. Hmmm.Plan on using this with a submersible water butt pump in order to use the water already in the pond.(rather than using a mains water hose - as this will end up adding more water to the pond)

well, it took me a while to get the hang of this gizmo, and when u get it right, it works pretty well. However, if u lose the vacuum, it shoots the debris up into the water and makes things worse ! The free muslin net is great, and i have got loads of muck out by using that. My pond is a 3 foot deep tank, 10 feet x 5 with concrete bottom, and the muck is a thin layer of plant debris. Its worth trying this one out before committing yourself to spending a hundred or more on an electric vac in a similar situation.

For the price, this pond vac works well. You will need to be patient as the suction is not great but it is enough to pick up rotting pond matter after a few goes. Not sure how long the net will last and it would be good if you could get replacement nets (which you can't).

The bottom of my new pond had a lot of builders rubble it, stones, sand etc. which was poisoning the water. I decided to give this a try even though it had a couple of poor reviews.Well, it worked brilliantly for me. It even picked up stones which I really didn't think it would do. Unfortunately the pond is very murky at the moment so I cant see how much of the muck is left behind, but loads came out. It's so easy to use, doing it again wont be a bother. Its not quick but I did find it quite therapeutic as you can feel where the muck is and then focus on clearing it before moving on to the next bit.