DIY Air Lift Koi Pond Vacuum (Part 3/3)

This is an update (Part 3/3) on my Koi Pond Air Lift Vacuum.

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See First (Part 1/3) Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhxTqjnOWSw
See Second (Part 2/3) Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpfmmRigW8w

I made a Pond Vacuum for less than $20.00 with parts that I purchased from Lows. This is the second update video on the airlift pond vacuum. I believe that once I have this perfected I will be able to air lift nearly all of the debris from the bottom of my Koi Pond and catch it in a filter bag, returning the water back into my pond, and removing the waste in a bag for composting. As you can see in the video, I man need to look at other options for a filter media.

This is a DIY pond vacuum that anybody can quickly build as a day project as this first air lift vacuum took me less than 1 hour to put together from start to finish.

It works very similar to how an air lift pond pump works however it’s portable, easily mobile, and quite easy to use.

The most recent modifications that I made changed this from a low pressure, high volume airlift to a higher pressure, lower volume airlift with more of a jet action rather than a bubble action.

Today I demonstrate that I can air lift the water 8 to 10 inches from the top of the water. On a previous day, I measured a rate of approximately 12 gpm (Gallons Per Minute) using the current design. I believe that I can gain an even better performance than I currently have with a complete redesign (smaller lift pipe more air jet action).

Pain Strainer Used: https://www.lowes.com/pd_126394-968-11583/12FF_0__?productId=1008387&Ntt=paint+strainer&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dpaint%2Bstrainer&facetInfo=

I’m also going to thoroughly read through this Theses project (Performance Characteristics of Airlift Pumps with Vortex Induced by Tangential Fluid Injection) before I build/rebuild this vacuum again as I think this will help me to cut my experimentation time down quite a bit. https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=honors_theses

All-in-all, I’m very happy with the performance of this DIY Air Lift Pond Vacuum and will continue to use this as an alternative to the high cost of commercially available pond vacuums on the market today.

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