we were going to try that but i decided to climb down there and see what the silt looked like and it was about half trash (sticks, grass and leaves) and half actual silt. So I ended up just taking a pair of post-hole diggers and a bucket down there and started digging because i knew the pump wouldn't pump out all of that trash. I still need to do a little more digging but i think i can get enough out to get the pump back in.
