MatalaPond Vacuum II Muck Vac

This muck buster was shipped to me via 3rd party seller: Webb's Water Garden. It was well packaged and had no obvious damage. It does come with 3 different attachments for putting on the end of the suction hose, but I find the main one, which is the largest and also has brush threads is the best. I have not had a need to change out the attachment heads.It also comes with several sections of hose pipe "extenders" so you can make the handle as long as you need to. I left off 1 of the 3 sections and the handle is more than long enough for me to clean my 1200 gallon pond.For me, this unit has a specific use case. I use it during each of my pond water changes/cleanings, which I do 2 to 3 times/year. I drain the pond using my primary waterfall pump, and as it's draining I use the pond vac to suck up debris/algae/sludge. My main pump can only drain the pond so far before I have to shut it down. I catch my fish at this point and place them in a holding tank. I use the pond Vac to do the rest. Then I use pond salts/kosher salt to sprinkle on the rockwork where there has been a lot of string algae, scrub with a brush, and then rinse with the hose again. The dirty water builds back up in certain sections of the pond which I promptly vac back out.Using this process, I was able to get my pond cleaner than it had been in years. The suction on this vac is great, but the full head does pretty much need to be submerged, so you could switch to one of the smaller heads for tiny places.Its only weakness is not worth detracting a star over, but is an issue of internal timing. The vac's collection tank fills as you use it. When it fills all the way up, the vac automatically shuts off, so as to allow the exhaust tubing to empty the tank. It switches back on after a set # of seconds. Which is the problem, cuz it doesn't use a sensor of any type to allow the unit to know when the tank has emptied out completely. What happens instead is the vac shuts down, the tank empties only partially, then the vac clicks back on, only allowing you a very short time to vac again before it clicks off again. There may be a way to rig the timing differently, but I haven't figured it out. It would probably involve voiding the warranty. ;)Once I learned this, it is an easy fix. When the vac shuts down, I go over to it and manually turn the power switch off, so as to let the tank empty completely. This also gives me time to scrub rock or whatever, then turn the unit back on when I'm again ready to vacuum. The internal timer is basically useless. I feel this unit is most effective with a pond cleaning that involves emptying a pond completely vs. "spot vacuuming" algae and stuff out. It was pretty ineffective at that since that's how I tried to use it initially.But you should've seen the muck that poured out of the exhaust tubing towards the end. It is a strong unit with strong suction. I would not recommend it, however, for ponds much larger than mine. You would need a more expensive unit. This helped me obliterate my muck/algae problem due to bad summer heat. The price is fantastic as well, at around $219 with free shipping from Webb's.UPDATE 7/30/2012Had the unit around a year now, used it about 5 times total. Still works like it did when I got it out of the box. All comments in original review still stand. I do still recommend using common sense (I only paid about $200 for the thing), not overworking the pump, and treating it with care.UPDATE 3/18/2013Pulled this thing out again to do the Spring cleaning on my pond yesterday. I'm telling you the thing is still running like the day I got it. I still insist it's a great value for the money. Use some common sense with its use, turn off between cycles to give it more rest than the timer allows between cycles, and don't loan it out to crazy neighbors to tear up. You will get your money's worth. The exhaust was putting out water that looked like black sewage. Really strong suction.

After opening the box, I noticed that the attachments for the sweep were flimsy plastic and warped and as such, unusable. The largest attachment was made of higher quality plastic and looked in good shape. I decided that the large attachment would be the one I would use most of the time so I assembled the unit to give it the 'smoke test'. During the first ten minutes of use, all was well, it would sweep for a minute and then shut-off to allow the collected 'muck' to be expelled. After about ten minutes, it quit shutting off and could not expell the accumulating debris. At this point the top of the unit where the motor is mounted was very hot to the touch. Disappointed with the product, I am in the process of trying to return the 'Muck Buster' for a refund.

I've been using this Vac for over 12 months i) to pump water out of 7 foot deep drainage trenches on my lot ii) emptying my 1000 gallon pond. It's a real workhorse. I've subjected it to mud, leaves, rain, and all kinds of abuse and the thing just keeps running.The way it works is kind of weird. It pumps waste up into the Vac cylinder. When it reaches a certain level the pump turns itself off and gravity feeds the waste water out the outlet pipe. Then 10-15 seconds later it starts pumping again. It makes the operation slower than if it just pumped continuously, but one advantage is that the pump gets a rest making it less likely to overheat. After a while I got used to the operation. For large projects like emptying my 1000 Gallon pond I just left it running unattended for an hour or so while it did it's thing.Here are some observations:- It's a strong pump. It can pump water up a long way; like from 7 feet down in my footing drains- The vacuum tube is relatively narrow and can clog on leaves. So I found it better to manually scoop out leaves using a net before pumping out the mud and water. The vacuum head doesn't help as it clogs almost immediately on leaves.- There is no check valve on the vac tube so when the pump stops all the water in the tube runs back down. Not a huge problem but it slows the pumping and it can stir up sediment as the water flows back into the pond. (On the other hand I can see a check valve might cause issues - like clogging - so this might be something best not complicated.)- The gravity feed out of the Vac doesn't work well unless you raise the Vac well above the outlet level. Like at least 1 foot higher. If you don't do this, then the outflow is very sluggish and will clog up if there is a lot of mud or other solids. So I usually put the Vac on top of a plastic crate. It would be nice if there were fold down legs (if they could be made long and strong enough.)- The foam sleeve filter kept slipping off and when this happens it's big trouble, particularly if it blocks the outlet. The Vac won't empty properly and the pump short-cycles. Then the waste water builds up and starts spouting through the top pump unit. Amazingly the thing keeps running even through there's water coming out the top of the Vac.I found the workaround is to tie the foam sleeve to the pump using twine so it can't slip off. Problem totally solved. (However I think they need to redesign the foam sleeve so it locks on and can't slip off.)- Two of the plastic locking latches broke. It still works as the vacuum holds the top down, however, I can't lift up the Vac by the top. I see that Matala sells replacement latches on their web-site (with free shipping) so this is not a big issue. I would prefer to see them use metal clips rather than plastic. Although I subjected my Vac to all kinds of abuse, it is these clips that gave out first.Overall I find this Vac a very useful tool and it has surprised me with it's resilience. I recommend you tie the foam sleeve filter on using twine before using the Vac for the first time.

This is a great item to have for your pond or even swimming pool. Although a little slow to pick up large items such as leaves from last fall it works great on cleaning the normal dirt and sludge from the bottom of a fish pond. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get one. The difference in the appearance of my pond is amazing. The cost value was great when compared to local shops in my area.