I haven't seen any discussion of the reason for muck accumulation. It's a pzzle to me. Muck is organic matter with probably a bit of silt mixed in.
1. Why isn't the organic matter consumed by the organisms in the pond or lake?
2. If bacteria are the answer, why aren't they the answer before the problem becomes a problem?
3. If you apply a type of bacteria to the muck that are specially selected because of their muck consuming properties, why is the muck still there, and why do you have to apply more bacteria a month or a year later?
4. Why don't the bacteria thrive rather than disappear? If aeration helps reduce the muck, it must be because the muck is oxygen deficient.
5. But how did that part of the BOW become oxygen deficient in the first place?
6. Was it oxygen deficient before the muck accumulated, or is the presence of the muck the reason it's O2 deficient? My guess is, it's the latter. For unusual reasons, organic matter is deposited on the bottom of the pond faster than the detritus eating organisms that are there can handle it. They were in balance with the conditions that preceded this unusual event, and can't adjust as fast as the detritus is accumulating. The unusual event may be a heavy leaf fall or a sudden plant off or some such thing. The detritus creates its own micro environment that is hostile to the organisms present in the BOW and it just lies there until another unusual event adds more detritus to it, and the volume of muck grows.

So we can look at the problem of muck in two parts: how to prevent it in the first place, and what to do about it once it's a problem.

Some steps that may help to prevent it:

Remove heavy accumulations of organic matter as soon as practicable.

Keep as wide a variety of detritus eating critters in your pond as practicable.

Rather than avoiding or removing critters that stir up muck, keep some in your BOW. Choose those that are least offensive or that provide some additional benefit.

Some steps that may help to remove it:

During periods when your BOW is spilling, stir up the muck and flush out as much as possible.

Investigate the various detritus eating organisms and see what your pond might not have that it probably should have, e.g., micro organisms, crustaceans, worms, snails, clams, fish.

Continue to experiment with aeration and commercially available bio agents.

Share what you learn with others.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/08/16 03:35 PM. Reason: Separated the questions