My pond is very old and my neighbor said the guy de mucked it about 25 years ago and my neighbor took 80 tandem dump truck loads to his yard and he said the guy still had atleast that much more left, my pond is fed by the ditches which all of the fields around me drain into, so I get corn stalks bean stalks dirt out of the fields plus leaves from nearby trees so it catches pretty much a little bit of everything , I’ve dug a bigger section next to it and once I get the muck out I’m going to break the land between the new hole too make the pond bigger also making the new section a beach for the kids, while I’m at it I’m going to build sort of a catch basin out by the culvert that runs into it, but I’m in no hurry and my brother in law manages a pump rental place near me and he’s getting me a big diesel powered pump that he says will drain my 1/2 acre pond in about 2 hours, my plan is too drive a big enough pipe with holes drilled in it and wrapped in that felt paper down through the muck untill it hits the hard pan and use a automatic submersible pump to stick in there to help drain the water out of the muck, I’m just going to pick at it a little at a time, I mean it’s going to take me several years probably but that’s ok, I work out of town so I’ll mess with it on weekends, so I mean it’s a massive amount of muck and I always thought it would make the best topsoil just like a compost pile and was thinking I could scoop out enough for about 6 tandem loads and spread it pretty thin and keep it churned up to keep it aerated and hitting the sunlight, and sell it cheap to people for topsoil, but I’ve seen mixed reviews on it, topsoil is $35 a yard near me and we live in a clay dirt area so people are always looking for cheaper soil to use for topsoil to grow grass better, some people say it’s awesome some say it’s not, I guess it depends on what you have in your pond, any input is appreciated