Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Someone tell me how to build this

I'll post the pics tonight for sure.. Also got a cool pic of a yoy LMB with another Yoy LMB stuck in it's throat pretty cool I thought.. You would not beleuve the amount of bugs that live in that FA millions of beetles, spiders, larvae all kinds of bugs it was crazy..

Here's some before and afters like i said not perfect but if the wind wouldn't have died it been dang near perfect also the pics were taken about an hour after we started (almost forgot) the FA was clear out to the point you can see on the right hand side of some of the pics..











Still working on the fish pic..

I guess thats one way of getting rid of the fa. the exact opposite is helping with my DW, my pond is dropping daily with 100 degree heat and and not a drop of rain in a long while, water looks good though.

We blew all the water and FA up on surrounding hills so all the water would run back into the pond.. All we lost was what soaked into the ground very minimal drop to the water level though

Here's the fish pic.. Sorry not the best pic but you get the idea that's my 6yr old holding the fish.

That's wild. If they can fit it in their mouths....

Nice job BGK!

That old tricycle Farmall with the FEL makes me nervous just looking at it though........

Talk about nervous, you aughta drive it.. It's old but restored.. Has a 96hp combine motor is it.. And that's a dump bucket.. It needs traded in..

I know of three people who have died in those old Farmall rollover accidents in Fayette County Illinois.

We don't take chances with it.. I know it's dangerous..

An old trip dump. I haven't seen one of those in awhile. They were all the rage until manufacturers finally began offering additional hydraulic circuits on their tractors.

Be careful on it.

15 years ago when my pond was filling I put 2, 12 ton load of sand in for my beach and swimming area. I have had lots of plants over the years that has created muck, but the sand in the swimming area that hasn't been use for years except to launch a boat now and then doesn't get mucked up. I have no idea why.

This thread got me thinking... which means two things. I am going to break something for sure and its going to cost me money.

I rented a 4" trash pump this past weekend and tried a couple of things. The best "experiment" was my under water beach cleaning. (I took some before pics and forgot to take the after . I will take it later this week and post them both)

The beach is a small area (approximaterly 900 sq ft under water). We placed the pump inlet hose 6" under the water in 1-2' of water. Then simpley walked and raked to suspend silt and other organic materials. We did this for about 1.5-2hrs. Very pleased with the results.

I've been doing some research on this equipment / technology for dredging muck and silt from our 40 yo pond. Drought has it low and the muck is getting exposed. I've found several companies that do this and here is some more information to consider.

As seen on Dirty Jobs....
Venturi system: http://www.aquacleaner.com/

No venturi, running everything through the pump...
http://waterfrontremodelers.com/index.html

Summary is that using the venturi system, you're going to be moving water with fewer solids than running everything through the pump which means more water loss per cu yd of materiel removed.

Still looking for more information and examples.

- RFL

RydforLyfL

Do you know how much buildup you have on the bottom? When I contacted some of the companies, one told me how to measure it.

I haven't done anything scientific or technically advanced, but it's got to be at least a foot at the head of the pond near shore as determined by trying to walk on it and sinking in. The pond was built in '73 and although it's not silted in real bad, there's almost 40 years of stuff in there that I think I can make a dent in myself over time. I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do and what I'll be allowed to do under the heading of ongoing maintenance. The county wants a quick in and out approach.

-RFL

Take a 5 gallon bucket lid and screw it to a PVC endcap. Put that on a PVC pipe and shove it into the pond bottom as hard as you can. Measure from lid to water mark on pipe. Do that in a few places. Now, remove lid and see how far you can shove the pipe into the bottom. Difference between the 2 measurements is what the muck level is.

A muck removal company told me thats how they estimate how much muck has to be removed, since they charge by the cubic yard.

I'm trying to picture this and figure out the reason for the lid. Is the lid there to provide a larger surface area to limit penetration beyond the lightest and softest material?

-RFL

Yep. The lid gives you the level of the top of the muck, the pole gives you the level of the orig. BOW bottom.