Thanks Mike.
From what I've been reading I don't see a down side so long as one keeps the temperature in mind. Basically, don't cook things in Summer and don't freeze things in Winter.
My pond was built in 2003 as far as I can tell and has only had a fountain for the last 15 years or so. All the water really comes from the natural water table and field runoff and when I measured depths there was probably a foot or so of muck at the bottom. With trees circling the entire pond it's had a lot of leaves fall in over the years so that combined with all the dirt from the fields has resulted in quite a buildup and I'd like to get rid of as much as possible.
The good news is that the fish have spawned year after year with very little done to the environment other than dealing with FA and the APW which showed up a few years ago. So all in all they haven't had it too bad I guess.
