Question
Hi,

During a couple of violent storms, I had quite a bit of mud wash into my pond.  Do you know of a way I can remove it other than by draining the pond.  It is a lined pond, approximately 12' in diameter and approx. 5' deep.  I have quite a few fish in the pond and don't want to drain.  I was told  that I could rent a piece of equipment that would vaccum the pond without removing too much water.  I have heard of such a thing.  I have started to rectify the problems that caused this in the first place.
Thanks

Answer
A fine filter pad in the filter can remove a lot of the dirt.  If you add a coagulant like Accuclear by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, it will clump the dirt into larger particles that will sink or get sucked into the filter.  It's best to prevent this in the future as you mentioned.  You can use a pond vacuum (venturi driven by a water hose or an electric one sold for ponds (I have one, very expensive)) to suck up the dirt.  If you use a venturi-driven pond vacuum, the stuff is sucked into a mesh bag.  Most dirt goes through that.  If you could rent a pond vacuum, that might also work.  It's a struggle for me to use my expensive pond vacuum.  I hope things work out!

Robyn
fishpondinfo.com