Thanks for your response Bill.
The 17k was for hydraulic dredging and a diver. The lowest I can drain the pond is to a depth of about 4 or 5 feet (deepest point) and add the 4 or 5 feet of muck to that I can see why a diver might be needed.
The trackhoe was less, but that guy was very reluctant because of what he said was the risk of penetrating bottom and draining the pond. I did rent a regular trackhoe and hired an operator to make the slope more gentle and remove a lot of concrete rubble. But there was no way he could reach the deep areas. Just driving the trackhoe to the water's edge was sketchy, soil too soft. The water flowing up makes for a kind of quicksand condition.
It is also possible that if I found a large enough pump the bottom could be unstable due to that quick condition. I am an engineer, but not a soils expert...
You are probably right about the trout, actual water temperature is usually 54 or 55. I doubt trout would eat much algae
I'm retired and can use the project, just need to figure out what to try next. You can understand why I was hoping I could find some robust algae eaters, fish or anything... but that sounds like a bit of a pipedream.
