Thanks for the help finding those other threads. If you need me to try to explain how it works I will give another explanation. It worked fairly well but you can make more headway by getting in the pond and using an intake that you hold in your hands and work down into the muck.
This is what I'm planning to do. A setup similar to what you have, but I would use it in the pond and in a similar way I would use a vacuum cleaner. A vacuum head similar to your design. Thanks to all for the help. Hopefully I actually get to try this out around Sept/Oct and can report back with good results.
