Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations natural muck removal

I have been in the process of renovating my pond for the last year. I now have a good fish population and weeds are under control (duckweed and watermeal)with sonar. I am running an 0523 gast pump with 2 aerators, diffuser type, to help the process of the removal of muck. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on were to get and what to get to speed up the breakdown of muck. My pond is a little over an acre and 30 years old. My pond average depth is 9 feet with over 50% of the pond being 12 feet. My pond sits in the woods with tree removal not an option. I was told that when this pond was dug it was 30 feet deep. I have read on some good enzymes but not sure what to get. I dont have the rotten egg smell this year but the muck is still very deep. I stepped in the pond about 2 feet off the bank and was over knee deep muck.

Try aquaticeco.com I was reading some stuff I got in the mail and they have Proline "Bacteria in a bag" for removing pond odors and sludge.

Aaron,
Look here for discussions on muck removal:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000153

I know that Kelly, Ted and others will shudder, but if you go to Home Depot and get a few 1 lb boxes of Zep septic tank enzyme and bacteria at $4 per 1 lb container, put in 2 lb per acre, 2 wks later 2 lbs., and taper to 1 lb then 1/2 in 2 wk increments(for total of 12 wks), it will add lots of beneficial enzyme producing bacteria, or you can not have Christmas and go with the special concoctions sold especially for ponds. Just my opinion after much research and inconclusive evidence of the contents of the expensive products.

Not sure how well the bacteria works either but I am applying a product knows as "BioClean" that I got from Stoney Creek Equip. Company. A five gallon bucket retails for about $259.00, but I got it for $80.00 in a silent auction at a Michigan Aquaculture Meeting.

See this link for the product:

http://www.stoneycreekequip.com/form/bacterialarge.htm

The Zep sounds like a good idea money wise, but alittle scarey. Has anyone used this and what were the results

Aaron.

I used a similar product to the "Bioclean" in the past and after harvesting just over 500 lbs of trout to almost 12 lbs and then draining the pond I had NO SLUDGE whatsoever. There could have been other factors but I can't help thinking the bacteria may have had something to do with it. The product I used back them was "Aquatron" from another company. However I don't do business with them anymore for reasons I can't disclose.

5 ga. bucket for 80 sounds like a heck of a deal. Cecil seems to have proven results.

5 gal for 80 would be great but I am not in the pond community to find great deals like that. For me it would still be the 259 price. No insult ment by that Cecil. But I couldn't find a deal like that on chemicals if I tried. The Zep idea sounds logical but still alittle on the scarey side. If it actually worked I would consider it. Why pay more if in all actuallity I might not have to. Thanks for the comments so far. I hope to have enough info to treat next week.

Aaron,

If I can get you a bucket for about $80.00 next February would you be interested?

Aaron, you can go to Home Depot and this product has its ingredients, not the numbers of speres per unit volumn though. It has the 4 most noted bacteria for sludge cleanup. I put some in a 5 ga. bucket in the hot sun with an aerator going all day to increasse the count before dumping in into the pond. I know that people are very cautious about chemicals and additives, herbicides etc., but my gosh it is a pond.

not speres, spores. my bad.

Yes, Cecil I would be very interested thank you.
That will give me a excuse to hop over and check out your setup.
What is the application rate for your biocleaner?

Burger, for now I will go to home depot and get some zep and read the box and go from there. Their website doesn't tell much other than it is bacteria used in septic tanks.

Aaron,

O.K. I will see what I can do. Stoney Creek donated two buckets for the silent auction and Steven Owingo the owner is always there. Super nice guy and as knowledgable about aquaculture and recreational ponds as they get!

Recently I have been adding about 3 times over the recommended rate as it can't hurt to do so and I have a pretty high density of fish in the trout pond. However in the past I went with the directions which I will have to look up.

If you're interested in going you could ride up with me. You'd have to stay overnight in a hotel but it should be in Lansing again and it is well worth it. Lots of interesting people to talk to and very friendly. It's also partially geared to recreational ponders too. I will be doing a power point presentation on my niche market of raising fish for taxidermists.

I am using the Zep now and will post the results later. I actually am seeing some good results already ie watermeal. I added it to the wind side of my pond only next to the aeration. Nearly all of my leaves and debris end up there along with the watermeal.

I have a neighbor also interested in trying something in his 15 acre lake for the muck removal. Is it feasable to think that you can treat certain areas at a time rather than a whole body of water all at once say 5 acres at a time? I would think that once the bacteria was started on muck in one area it would work that area then slowly spread outward. Is this correct if you were to spread in a concentrated area? The reason I ask is because he does not use aeration as of yet.

Yes, it's reasonable to assume, but I would think if he doesn't aerate any areas that are anerobic won't be as conducive to the bacteria if at all.

An uneducated comment to add to the fray. I would think that for pond bacteria one would want a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria since there is likely to be places in most ponds where both would flourish. I would think that most septic tank treatments would be mostly anaerobic since there aren't too many septic tanks with aerators. I did an internet search and I think I remember seeing one septic treatment that claimed some of each but most didn't address this issue. I did find a product that claimed at least to have more bacteria than all the rest and thus be more potent. It is called "Pro Lab One Flush" and can be found at http://www.katadyn.net/on102.html
I might try to see if I can find some.

Actually, in my county, you can no longer install a septic tank WITHOUT an aerator.

I agree that even well-aerated ponds probably have some anaerobic zones, hopefully just minimized in size.

Theo, wow, never heard of such a thing as aeration in a septic tank. Another subject I thought I knew something about but don't. As I get older I realize more and more what I don't know. Suppose it is required to get better bacterial action in the tank, we all know how that helps. I found the web site for makers of the Pro Lab stuff I referenced in my previous post. Sent them an email asking about using it for ponds. I noticed on their web site that they recommend it for reclaiming lagoons. I'll post whatever they come back with in case anyone is interested.

check put this site if you have never heard of aeration in septic tanks. I was actually going to buy my pond pump from this place but I found it cheaper on ebay. http://www.septicsolutions.net/store/gast_%20rotary_vane.htm

The above site also sells Bio Gem septic cleaner which is an aerobic and anaerobic cleaner. The only thing is that they do not give a spore count for their cleaner nor does the Bio Gem website.

Just thought I would add that little tid bit incase there is anyone else out there reading our thread.

I like the one flush link above. It has a massive spore count for a septic bacteria
cleaner. I will test some of these product and see if I can find a cheap muck remover.

agree, that sounds pretty potent for its size, but 1/2 oz. is pretty small. 100 billion per oz.
It would take several "septillion", pun intended(septic?) to do the job. The 8 strains is impressive, aerobic and anaerobic.

The top couple inches of mud in a pond is aerobic, below that the mud and muck is anerobic. I would think that you would need anerobic bacteria to effectively break down serious amounts of mud.

TyW33, good point on the things being anaerobic down in the mud, makes sense. I'm looking for some of the Pro Lab One Flush to try out. So far I can't find a local dealer. Hey, I see you are also from Minnesota. I was born and raised in Mankato, spent lots of days fishing on Lake Washington, Madison Lake, et. If you have a pond and raise fish it would be interesting to compare notes. I find that our friends down south have a wealth of insight in pond culture but once in a while things are a little different up here where we get 3 feet of ice in the winter and the pond is frozen from November to April.

I found some of the Pro Lab One Flush product. I found it at our local Mills Fleet Farm store. This is a farm store that has locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and I think the Dakotas. Don't know where else. I paid $8.95 for a package of 3 packets, each of which will treat 1500 gallons. I figured I needed 12 packets for my pond so I bought 4 packages, that's about $36 to treat the pond once. I think this is more reasonable than any pond store source. No offense to anyone out there who sells pond supplies but my experience is that some times the same products are marketed to pond owners that are marketed for other applications and what do you know the price goes up. Some of this can be explained by differences in overhead costs etc. but some of it is simply when someone thinks they have a captive customer. In one way I feel kinda bad trying to find a product cheaper from another supplier in a different industry when perhaps I should be supporting The Pond Guy and such. I usually figure that if I take up someones time getting advice I'll buy from them even if it costs more. I make myself feel better buying elsewhere by doing lots of research on my own and talking to folks on web sites like this. Then I figure I'm not screwing anyone out of a sale. I got that off my chest.