I just found this sight and it is great! My sis in law has a 2 acre pond, spring fed and has a ditch running into it. When the sis in law bought the pond seller told her it was 20 feet deep in the middle. Well I put my boat in and it is only 8' deep. the pond has filled in a lot with silt. Can it be dredged in certain spots with out hurting the fish population? I was told dredging would kill the fish. Oh she does have 2 airators running in it.
Thanks
Bill

Hi Bill,welcome aboard.Glad you found us.Hold on and some of the experts will chime in.Ill be watching this thread as I want to do the same with my pond.
On a side note.....I got to welcome him fiirrrssst,I got to welcome him fiirrrssst,I got to welcome him fiirrrssst.
Sorry Bill,some of on here just aint got no sense
Thankfully though,all have a sense of humer

Oh stop bragging Tom. I was preoccupied with making campaign promises.

Welcome to Pond Boss Bill, we're glad you found us.

Hang on and one of the experts is sure to chime it.

I wanted to quote some Zappa lyrics but my most favorite lyrics are not for public consumption.

Welcome Fellow Hoosier,

The experts should chime in soon, I was wondering what aeration type you meant? Bottom diffusers or surface type? I was curious because I was thinking about doing same thing, and I have bottom diffuser, (2) 9" fine bubble disc setup. 1/4 acre pond, 14' max depth.

Thanks for the warm welcome!!!!!!
Here is a quote from F Zappa I use a lot.
"I am what I is".
The pump she uses is 220 volt that has 2 hoses and 2 pumice looking stones. They have been on the bottom for 4 or 5 years and one has stopped working. Plugged I think from all the silt. Next time I am there I will pull them up and clean them. (can't wait to do that)
Great sight with a lot of great info and hours of reading.
Bill

Hi Bill,

The dredging part is fine. Any muck that is stirred up is sucked up by the hose, and the pond should stay fairly clean.

Complications arise when you start running out of pond water. Usually, the dredged water is returned to the main body, and is really soupy. Of course that would kill most of your fish. If the water can be collected and settled for a couple of days, it shouldn't harm the fish. The devil is in the details, as they say.

If you could do the dredging in steps so that none of the nasty water was returned to the pond, that would be ideal.

I was thinking of a drag line on a crane. The price would be a lot cheaper.
Bill

I own a Bucyrus Erie 22B and dug a good deal of my pond with water in it using the dragline. It will be a muddy, messy ordeal and to handle the material generated digging two acres while under water. Add to that you will need a 2 to 4 acre spoil area to dump the material and a truck that dumps nearly vertical because mud sticks in the bed when you try to dump it. Personally I believe in drain, dig, refill, restock, etc. There are companys that can dredge it, but it would not be a cheaper avenue to a nice pond. I would guess the mud will kill your fish. Probably not what you wanted to hear but rather a few things you should know.

Thanks Joe for the idea. The drag can throw the silt over into a ravien. There is 2 spots that I want to dig out. I am afraid that if I do nothing the pond will fill in more and the fish will die. If I dredge it the fish might die. Draining is out of the question at this time. Hummmmm I will have to give this great thought.
Bill

Best advice I can offer without seeing the thing with my own two eyes and walking around it, even kicking a bit of dirt with my boot gives me more ideas it seems. Good luck on it, the ravine will fill up quicker than you think it will too, heh heh. Do you own a dragline?

One of my friends does and he said the little dragging I want done would take about a day and 1/2. Buying diesel for the crain and semi will be pricey.
Bill

We must have pictures too. I take it you aren't digging out the entire 2 acres? Friends like that are good to have, I know, I am one, heh heh.

Is there any fear that the bucket might hit an area at the bottom that was manually packed with clay when the pond was built and breach the seal?

I am pretty young considering the average age of folks on this forum is probably 70, but i have been around lots and lots of silting in ponds and have come to this conclusion:

You will save yourself tons of money, time, heartache, frustration, and have a much better end product if you can drain out the pond, dig out the silt and start over again.

If that is not feasible at the moment, I would wait until it is.

If 8 feet deep is your deepest depth, your average depth might only be 4 feet deep? I wouldnt count on getting too much accomplished with a day and a half of the dragline. wont be a longterm solution.

I wouldnt rush into any decision, and the fish should not be a deciding factor to save unless they are all TROPHIES, which I dont think they are given the age and condition of the pond.

hmmmmmm,

careful there nate.....

We probably seem like 70 to Nate, or at least have that crack coming after the youth bashing he and Justin took in Arlington.

How's that learner's permit coming, Nate?

I agree with Nate, but the man has a plan and I didn't try to sway him. I personally can dig a huge pile of material in a day and a half with a dragline, the problem is you can dig so much you can have no place to put it without hauling, it will only throw material equal to the distance you removed it from. Hence my suggestion for a good truck and a spoil area as large or larger than the pond. In any case, the fish will likely suffer if it is dug under water, and the finished product is never as nice as if you drained and excavated because you are going by feel and not sight.

Ive still got a bunch of dirt left from digging my pond.If anyone close to me needs some free topsoil Id be glad to share.Ill even load it for you.

I'll be screening for the next five years I think Tom, it sells for $25 a yard around here. I have more than a few thousand yards to start on, maybe be able to finance the next pond that way.

There is another option. There is a sludge consuming bacteria made by a company called BactaPur that will guarantee 1" of sludge removal per week (with adequate oxygen levels). This bacteria is completely benign to humans, fish, and pretty much everything else except for organic sludge. However, it ONLY works on organic sludge, so it's important to figure out what percentage of your sludge layer is organic v.s. inorganic to see if it will truly be effective for your application. Our sister company Air Diffusion Systems (can I say that?)has applied this technology on several occasions in waste water lagoons with great success. It can get kind of pricey and a little labor intensive depending on the size of your pond and how much sludge you want removed. Take a look at the video below for an example of the application.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQsvITpXav0

I forgot about the fact that there are several dirt movers on this forum. I'll be waiting by the lynching tree. Please take it easy on me.

You don't have to worry about me, I'd rather build a pond and wait for the rain than pump one out and pray for no rain. If I had a sludge pumping system I'd use it first.

There is no clay bottom. It is a dammed up ravean. I think draining it would be tough because it has 4 natural springs in it. The drop well run constantly. If fact there is a small current in the pond. I am still mulling my options over. This sight has given me a lot of insight. I sure it could use 2 silt traps where the ditchs run into it but $$$$ is a concern.
Bill
Ps
I would att a pix but don't see where to att it.

Someone much smarter than I will attach some photo posting instructions.

If you have a good source of ground water, draining obviously would be a little tricker???? Personally I think you would be better off doing what is best for the fish for the long run.

Also if you have that good of water still coming in even with the siltation, you might be able to support some rainbow trout throughout the summer! Now that is alot of fun!!

Make sure to take pics of the process of whatever you decide to do.


If I had my license I could drive over some saturday and give you a hand???

See the Archive Thread on posting photos.