Okay, so the pond was getting pretty grim again. You know how it goes. Green slime, leaves turning to sludge at the bottom, the whole mess. Scooping it out by hand is back-breaking work, and honestly, I'm getting too old for that nonsense. I looked at those fancy pond vacuums online, saw the prices, and thought, no way. I figured I could probably cobble something together myself.

So, I started poking around the garage. Found that old submersible pump I used for draining the basement that one time. Plugged it in, dropped it in a bucket of water, and yeah, it still kicked on. Good start. Then I grabbed some leftover PVC pipes from that plumbing job last year. Had a few elbows and connectors too.

Making the Filter Thingy

My main idea was simple: pump the dirty water out, run it through some kind of filter, and dump the cleaner water back in. For the filter, I found a sturdy plastic tub with a lid, maybe five gallons? Seemed about right. I drilled a hole near the bottom for the dirty water to come in from the pump. Then drilled another hole near the top for the cleaner water to go out.

Getting the pipes to fit snugly into the holes was a bit tricky. Had to kind of force them in and then used a load of silicone sealant around the joints, inside and out. Hoped that would stop leaks. Inside the tub, I just layered stuff. Put a coarse kitchen scrubbing pad thing at the bottom to catch big bits, then piled in a load of that filter floss stuff you get for fish tanks. Left some space at the top.

Connecting it All Up

Connecting the pump to the filter tub's inlet pipe took some fiddling. Used a short piece of flexible hose and a couple of hose clamps. Made sure they were tight. For the outlet pipe on the tub, I just attached a longer garden hose, long enough to reach the other side of the pond.

The pump had its power cord, of course. I made sure the connection where I'd previously repaired the cord was wrapped up tight with waterproof tape and heat shrink. Didn't want any shocks. Safety first, mostly.

First Try and Fixing Stuff

Alright, moment of truth. Dropped the pump into the mucky end of the pond, put the filter tub on the edge, ran the outlet hose back into the water, and plugged it in. Water started flowing, which was good. But, it leaked. Not badly, but drips were coming from around the pipe holes in the tub. Annoying. Unplugged it, dried it off, added even more sealant, and let it cure for a bit.

Second try was better. No leaks! The pump sucked up the gunk, you could see the dirty water going into the tub. The water coming out the other end wasn't crystal clear, obviously, but it was definitely less murky. Left it running for a few hours.

Checked the filter tub later. Wow. The floss was absolutely caked in brown sludge. Rinsed it all out with the hose – messy job, that part. But it meant the thing was actually working, pulling the muck out of the water.

I quickly realised the pump intake could get clogged easily with leaves. So, I took an old plastic sieve, cut it up a bit, and zip-tied it around the pump's intake slots. A sort of pre-filter. That helped quite a lot.

How it Works Now

So, that's my setup. It's not pretty. It's basically a pump, a bucket full of filter fluff, and some pipes. I have to haul out the filter tub and clean the gunk out maybe once a week now, sometimes more if the pond's really bad. But it keeps the worst of the sludge under control. It was cheap to make, mostly used stuff I already had. And honestly, there's some satisfaction in building something yourself that actually does the job, even if it looks a bit rough. Beats paying hundreds for a fancy machine, anyway.