bobad,
Use ag lime, not the hydrated lime. I've built two ponds now and in both of them when they were about half way full and muddy as coffee, I called out the lime truck and the spreader put some in the water, some on the remaining pond bottom, and some in the drainage into the pond. Both ponds cleared easily within a month in spite of rains and have stayed clear except for the occasional frog strangler.
I haven't tried just putting the ag lime out on the dry pond bottom but believe that would be equally effective....disking not necessary. The only concern I've had is to make sure if you do have water and fish, that you have the pond at least half full so that you don't alter the pond chemistry too radically all at once for the fish...maybe others have tried this on empty ponds?
