I have a 1+acre pond in NC. It has a maximum depth of 6.5 feet and averages about 4ft in depth. It is about 40yrs old and has about 6 inches or so of muck in most places. I am about 4 or 5 years from moving onto the property but I would like to start managing both the fish population and the muck.

I've seen several muck reducing bacteria products that I might like to try. There are several 1 lb muck pucks that treat 1 acre ft of water or 325,000 gallons each. I'm not quite sure what that means though. If I have a 1 acre pond would I figure out the square footage of it to determine how many pucks I should use or should I try to figure out how many gallons of water are in the pond to determine how many pucks I would need per treatment?

Next, is it realistic to expect that with a continued treatment plan, I actually can reduce the muck with these bio-pucks? I really don't want to drain the pond and scoop the muck out, I am of the impression that despite the 40yrs, the much isn't all that bad, but I'd still like it gone especially from certain areas of the pond. I'm looking to remove it from the beach area and some other spots to promote spawning areas for my fish. I have LMB and CNBG.

Multiply your total surface acreage by the average depth (in feet) to get the total acre feet of water. So, if your pond is 3 acres and the average depth is 6 feet then you have 3x6=18 acre ft. The trick is knowing, and not guessing, the average depth. Not sure it matters to the muck reducing bacteria because it may be impossible to put too much but I'm not familiar with those products.

Note: 325,850 gallons is one acre foot of water.

Keep in mind several things about bacteria. Two main types, with tens of thousands of species, each with a different specialization: aerobic (require oxygen) and anaerobic (thrive without oxygen). There are even some anaerobic species of bacteria that infect humans. Gas gangrene is caused by bacterial exotoxin-producing clostridial species, which are mostly found in soil, and other anaerobes such as Bacteroides and anaerobic streptococci species.

Aerobic decomposer bacteria work fast & clean and 20-30 times faster than anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria, as a result of not using oxygen & as a trade-off, produce methane gas and hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide causes the black sediments. Anaerobic sediments accumulate faster than they can decompose. If the sediments are black then anaerobic bacteria predominate where there is no oxygen. Almost all of the pond bacteria products are aerobic bacteria. See the problem?

IMO and experience when a pond is 40+ yrs old and receives quite a bit of annual organic inputs(leaves & internal dead plant growth) then it is time to think about draining and rebuilding the pond. Nature's plan for the pond is to fill it in with sludge / mucky sediments. The thicker the muck becomes the more problems that occur in the pond. This is very similar to our bodies, the older we get the more health problems we have.

Using band-aid fixes for thick sludge accumulations and too much shallow water are only delaying the ultimate rejuvenation of the pond (a rebuilding or rebirth). Put a pond rebuilding on your capital appropriation projects. If money is an object then consider down sizing the pond during the rebuilding. Smaller ponds are easier and cheaper to manage. Too bad we cannot do that for our bodies.

Do you think that 6" (more or less) of muck over 40 years is a significant accumulation to necessitate draining the pond?

No that is not much. I cleaned out an old abandoned pond with a broken dam that had four feet of muck.

But........ you are not starting out with much depth to begin with. A pond that shallow can have a lot of weed and algae problems if the sun light gets down to the bottom.

I have a little bit of FA in the early spring, covers less than 25% of the pond. I was considering possibly adding some dye to the water. The pond gets medium amounts of sun during the day, it is partially protected by trees on almost 3 sides. I have some lily pas and a mat or two of surface weeds but it is not out of control.

I was hoping the pucks would get me started and then I intend to put in a couple diffusers on the bottom.

Try the bacteria pucks and see if there are noticeable benefits. Report your results here. We are interested in practical application experiences.