Pond Duckweed Removal - Simple, easy, and mostly hands off

Removing duckweed from the pond.
Not mentioned was that it had been running approximately 15 minutes.

[@annpugh3355]

You are a genius! We had a thick mat of duck weed on our pond. We tried chemicals, nets, etc. Nothing worked. We saw your video. Purchased the materials for $160. Within 12 hours, our pond is 75% clear of duckweed. We can enjoy our pond again!

[@seanmccurdy80]

That's great to hear! I'm glad my video helped you enjoy your pond again

[@abic7008]

Ooh my goodness this is genius I cannot thank you enough ! I have been driven demented by ranking it out all summer only to watch it coming back within days .

[@piranhakeeper4615]

Great idea!

[@seanmccurdy80]

Good luck! One thing I didn't mention was dropping some large rocks into the bucket. Two reasons, first just in case the water level changes and the sump pump pulls water out faster than it flows in the weight will keep it from floating up. Second the rocks move the sump pump higher, which seems to improve the duckweed removal efficiency

[@longviewfarm226]

Great idea thanks I’m going to try it

[@samuelodell1791]

What kind of pump is that?!

[@abic7008]

OK update.. the mechanism worked but the duckweek did not clear because it was stuck to pondweed on the surface. I have gone for the grass carp option after all

[@bagermaster-club]

Bottom sediments need to be removed regularly. This can be done with a dirty water motor pump with a Bagermaster suction nozzle.

[@GM-tv9gz]

I cannot get the bucket to stay submerged…it works absolutely great, for about 10 seconds! I’ve tried rocks and cinder blocks and even holding it but the suction is too fast and strong and gets too much water out and the bucket flips. Anyone have any tips to make this stay under the water level? Also entertaining the flotation device. My pump’s intake hose is extremely rigid and heavy, wondering if this is contributing to the problem…our pond is about 1.25 acres, and we use it to irrigate so we cannot treat it. I’d like to clear as much as possible and then get more carp as I believe ours are too old and big to be helping…

[@seanmccurdy80]

It sounds like you're using a larger pump than I did, plus the rigid intake. I would keep some heavy rocks in the bucket surrounding the intake (with some gaps of course), then set the bucket lower and lower into the water until the water pours down without draining the bucket. It's pretty sensitive to that level. In your case I would try lowering the bucket by 1/4 to 1/2 inch. You'd be suprised how big a difference that small adjustment makes

[@freedok]

This should also work with floating algae.

[@zekethefishgeek8690]

Just lime the pond and put in aeration diffusers on bottom...

[@gstree]

What is "window 3 ?

[@thomaskowalski3506]

So after doing this how effective would you say it was?

[@seanmccurdy80]

Honestly, it varied. If the placement and wind were right to keep the duckweed close it would clear up nearly all of it. If the concentration was really low or the wind pushed the duckweed away, not as much. A big factor I learned was also how much excess nitrogen washed into the pond. Removing duckweed helps with this, but it's hard to be 100% effective when it wants to grow fast.

[@charleswinheim5336]

What kinda of pump do you have .

[@seanmccurdy80]

Any standard sump pump should work. The higher the flow rate the faster this could theoretically work. Personally I picked up a cheap $50 clearance one at Menards.

[@XesserX]

Really good idea, I’m actually trying to do the same thing. So I bought a pump and a large bucket for it to float in, but I can’t get it to float perfectly just at the surface like yours does... If it doesn’t do that, it does not work.... How did you manage that?

[@Notkidding69420]

Sean McCurdy what HP was your pump? Great idea by the way!

[@seanmccurdy80]

@@XesserX see my other comment

[@seanmccurdy80]

@@Notkidding69420 thanks! This was a 1/2 HP pump. Mostly picked because it was on clearance sale. A bigger pump would do a faster job, but would take more electricity to run.

[@evansullivan9562]

Did the duck weed clog up the pump at all?

[@seanmccurdy80]

The duckweed is small enough to pass through the pump without issue. My pump had a small corse screen on the inlet to protect the pump. Setting the depth of bucket to just skim the surface is key to keeping larger debris from getting to the pump. I did set it a bit low once and had a floating acorn block the screen and reduce flow.

[@evansullivan9562]

Sean McCurdy that’s great! Thank you

[@seanmccurdy80]

@@evansullivan9562 You bet, hope that was helpful!

[@XesserX]

Really good idea, I’m actually trying to do the same thing. So I bought a pump and a large bucket for it to float in, but I can’t get it to float perfectly just at the surface like yours does... If it doesn’t do that, it does not work.... How did you manage that?

[@seanmccurdy80]

Sorry, missed my notification. I picked a spot in the water that was just about the same depth as the bucket was tall. I then partially filled the bucket with rocks for weight, then placed the pump on top of that, then submerged it. If the bucket was sitting too low I would stick a flat rock under it to raise it a bit. If too high, I'd press it down into the mud. In theory you could make a mobile floating system by tying floats on and adding rocks & weights to fine tune the height, with a goal of keeping the inlet just below the water line. I never got around to that as we did sell the house not long after this video was shot.

[@marthanewsome6375]

Goldfish eat it. Just put some big ones in your pond and don't feed them. They will mow it away.

[@sriarnonrattanavichai2833]

฿£|ใช้ใบพัดใส่ก็หมุน.

[@sriarnonrattanavichai2833]

฿£|กังหันน้ำในการ์ตูนกะมีเบิ่ง.

[@emilio2190]

Or u can just treat it

[@seanmccurdy80]

I had certainly tried the chemical route. It didn't work, as my pond was quite nutrient rich. It was runoff fed, so always plenty of nitrogen in bursts to fuel both duckweed and algea. Killing it chemically just puts those nutrients right back in the pond where the cycle starts all over again. Getting desirable plants helped, but couldn't deal with the spikes.

[@emilio2190]

@@seanmccurdy80 soñar from sepro will put an end to that for years at a time at the right dosage expensive but effective and it eliminates the types of Aquatics weeds like sago or horned pond weed even brittle naiad