Just wanted to give an update. I have a 2 acre pond that has been half drained for 3 months. You can walk on the cracked silt and measure it's depth with rebar. It's very mixed. About 1/4 of it is 1 ft. silt. About 1/2 is 2 ft and 1/4 is close to 3 ft. I'm assume the remaining pond that is around 3-5 ft. deep in water is worse.

It's going to be summer before I can get equipment in and I will drain down the pond more and keep it down.

In the meantime, I experimented with a 3" trash pump. I got in with neoprene chest waders. Muck is a funny thing. The top "layer" is very loose and seems more like organic matter. Below that is the soupy stuff. I ran the pump all day (6 gallons of gas) and it wore me out. I finally developed a lazy technique which was basically lying down in the stuff and pushing the muck towards the intake. I'm sure some of you are laughing! I rented it for the day so I might as well do something with it (just $40/day). I only pulled the pond down another 8" which surprised me but I'm sure the soup slowed down the flow a bit. Hard to tell the depth of muck but the good news is there is a bottom and I could walk another 15 ft out.

I'm trying to find some resource that tells me what's an acceptable amount of muck? I understand the lifecycle of a pond. I can't see there being a good ecosystem with 3 ft of muck. Aquatic insects can't use it. Fish can't use it. How much will aeration reduce muck in a 10 ft deep pond? Does drying out a pond reduce any of the toxic anaerobic decay? Does it convert to aerobic if it is mixed around and left dry for a year?

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