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Joined: Jun 2009
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kava Offline OP
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I have a 1/3 acre clay pond in Central Louisiana. It was dug about 12 years ago. It was about 4-5 feet deep. Last year I decided to get part of it dug deeper, to about 8 ft.

Someone started the work at the end of summer last year and basically worked the silt from around the pond over to the north area. He then started to dig the south part to the desired depth. He made a peninsula half-way in, and got about 30% of the pond dug deeper. Then he stopped because of the rain and cold.

Well, it's next year, and I'm tired of seeing this hole in the ground covered with weeds. I am going to find someone to dig it out, but I don't know what to do about the silt.

Do I leave the silt in the pond and just finish digging out the sound end, or do I get the silt removed completely?

One reason I ask is that since it's been raining a bit, the pond has held a few inches of water. The newly dug part looks very muddy, and you can't see the bottom. However, the area with the silt looks crystal clear.

Is silt bad for a pond and the new fish I'll be putting in it? I know that it's nasty to walk in when wet and that it probably will never dry, but once the pond is dug, it'll be full of water and fish. Kids may go swimming in the pool, but they've done that with the silt before. I just want to know if it's a good idea to remove the silt while I can.

I'd like to have a nice, clear pond full of fish that I can enjoy while sitting on the dock!

thanks for all of your help!
Kava

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Welcome to Pond Boss, kava! Great to have you here.

Good questions. We have a number of folks here who will no doubt offer you some thoughts on your situation from a viewpoint of good experience, something I lack! In general, the discussions on the forum about silt removal favor getting as much out as you can if you've chosen to go that route. Might as well gain as much depth as you reasonably can while the pond is empty-ish because it'll wash back in over time. AS for the clarity issue, there are a number of things that contribute to a loss of clarity and there are many things that can be done to help increase it when your water is muddy. Again, this really isn't a strong area for me so we definitely need to wait on some others to join in and share thoughts with you. But, for now, my vote is to go ahead and get it all dug out and then use the silt to spread around your yard and even things out, to increase the size of your dam, or, if your pond is not dammed, then for some landscaping or something similar. Just get creative with it!

Let's see what the experts have to say about your questions. Hang on and be sure to stick around and keep on posting - that's the fun of the forum as well as the educational part!


Todd La Neve

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Remove as much as you can afford to, pile it up some place and let it dry for a couple years. You can use it for top soil or sell it bit by bit as such down the road. It won't hurt the pond per se, but if you have it drained and can remove it now, why wait?? Every pond silts in some, the deeper you go now the less depth you lose later. Fuel cost, machinery costs, and wages aren't going down any time in the future, none of us are getting any younger, bear down and leave your teeth marks in the bullet and get it done so you can enjoy it and your children can too. There will be no regrets.

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kava Offline OP
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First, thanks for all the responses for far!

Let me give you a little more information. The pond is on 1.5 acres, and the only place I have to dump the silt would be .5 acres behind my house. Since silt takes years to dry, wouldn't I lose the ability to walk in my back yard for years?

Also, if I take the silt out (it's on the north side), I would need to move dirt from the south side so I can have a shelf for fish to spawn. Does that sound right?

I know everyone likes to have a deep pond (and so do I), but this pond is only 1/3 acre. I want to put a bream and bass in there. Is it a good idea to go deep all the way in the pond? How deep is good enough?

And, is the general consensus to always remove silt, even if it means moving "new" dirt around for shelves?

thanks!

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I think you take out all the silt and then do a little reshaping so you have some shallow areas and/or shelves. The fish definitely spawn in shallow places, so you don't want to eliminate those of you are going with BG and LMB. Plus, your other forage species will likely need shallow areas. 1/3 acre is certainly not terribly big, but it's also plenty to work with and do the things you want to do, in my estimation.

As for using the silt in your yard, I think the issue with it not drying well is if it's left in the pond bottom and you wait for it to dry before trying to remove it. My neighbor did this very thing in his roughly 1/2 acre pond about 3 years ago and got a lot of silt out, which he used to level out his backyard. He had absolutely no issues with it drying out because it was spread around and was on the topsoil he already had in place. It's a beautiful yard now and has absolutely no moisture issues and they've been in their house for all that time and using the yard, once the grass grew up, of course.


Todd La Neve

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Todd is right, it dries a lot faster once it is out and exposed to the sun and wind, you could strike a deal with the excavator too if you don't want it, perhaps he would be interested, although the cost of trucking would likely negate it costing you less to dig your pond. Talk with your neighbors, you may be able to share the wealth. I'd remove it all if you have the pond drained now, just my opinion.

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would agree to taking all of it out you could afford to. no bigger than it is a dozer and trackhoe should get it done in a day. when people are in a hurry to dry it up after the mud is out of the pond we take a dozer and push it around into smaller piles mixing dry dirt with it as we push. i have seen it dry up in a couple of days doing this then we would waste it on the backside of the dam to gentle the slope. if you leave it in a heaped pile i've seen it take 2 yrs to dry up. if it aint hot weather the first method wont work

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kava Offline OP
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Well, it looks like everyone agrees that all of the silt should go. And that's what I'll do! I'll try to find someone around here that can do it without costing an arm and a leg.

One question though: why take the silt out? I'm not trying to go as deep as possible, because I think it's deep enough, since I had the south part dug a lot more. But what negatives will the silt cause in the future when it's under water?

Oh, and I'll try to get some pictures if I can. Thanks!

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It will just continue to build up and over time you'll lose a lot of depth. If you're doing the work, do the full job. Plus, you may be able to eliminate a lot of extra crud that is in your silt, crud that could be affecting your water, the vegetation, the fish, etc. It's basically giving you a clean slate of sorts.


Todd La Neve

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