OK, it's cold and I don't want to go outside. Sitting here thinking about treating a muck problem. I've read lots of posts about bacteria and need to ask an important ?.
Bill Cody gave me a recipe for bacteria and in it he suggest mixing a couple of different kinds of bacteria in a 5 gallon bucket with stirred up mucky water and then letting it set in the shade for around 8 hrs. In one of the posts I've read that you can put bacteria in a 5 gallon bucket, stir. aerate and set in the sun for around 8 hrs.
Is either process better than the other?
I could have just called Bill and asked why shade but once I called and asked a ? and he told me I should have posted it so everyone could share the info.

Lots of things eat muck, and many of them are important members of the food chain. Some beneficial muck eaters, other than bacteria, that could be in your pond might not be there. And other things that eat the muck eaters and could strengthen the food chain between the muck eaters and your fish might not be there either. I don't have a muck problem, but I have been looking into the food chain below forage fish. It's something to do when it's too cold to go outside. Perhaps you could make good use of the muck if you look at it like soil in a pasture.

Google on muck eating bacteria experiment It should bring up an old Pond Boss thread.

Scuds, i.e., Gammarus, eat detritus, i.e., muck, and fish eat scuds. Maybe scuds offer one avenue for approaching your problem. They might help, maybe a lot, and I don't think they can hurt. And your fish would probably appreciate a slightly broader diet.

Tmtn, thanks. I started to read the muck eating bacteria exp but was interrupted. I will read all of it. It's supposed to be overcast, windy and cold for the next week.
Also, the info about the Scuds is good. I will google them also.

Grass shrimp (P. kadiakensis), if you can find them, and crayfish also feed on detritus and should help to reduce the muck in your pond and strengthen the food base for your fish.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=290502

Muck eating bacteria experiment.

how about silt, much has lots of organic material in it so it can break down. Silt seems different, will that break down too?

Silt is mineral. Technically, it's a particle of rock that's larger than a clay particle and smaller than a grain of sand. If the silt isn't flushed out or mechanically removed, a pond will eventually fill with silt. Depending on the mineral content of the particles, they might be modified in a pond, e.g., minerals might dissolve, but it's unlikely.

how can you tell if you have a layer of really think silt or much