Hello, so I bought a house this year with a 100'x130' pond I figure it's about 8' deep at the center (just a guess, haven't been out that far).

The house was largely unoccupied for about ten years or so as the owners stayed at their lake home most of the time. Basic maintenance was done but the pond went mostly ignored. As a result it has Annie 2' of muck at 10' from shore. It also has cattails around the entire circumference about 6'-7' across across (save for a stretch of storyline about 15' or so.

I want to make this pond swimmable (which means killing off the leaches as well) and prettier (putting in a heavy area, maybe a fountain, etc.) but the first step is getting rid of the muck and most of the cattails. Will likely stock it later with panfish and the like. However, baby steps.

My question, and please explain this to me like I'm 5, is what products can I use to chemically remove the muck and severely cut back on the cattails (would love a few small corpses of them for aesthetics)? Are there chemical additives that are reasonable priced for a pond with this much water?

Thanks in advance (and please file this thread in the appropriate forum if this isn't the right one).