Hi Dlatulip,
Rapid City is a northern climate probably colder than the GR, MI area as we are shielded by Lake MI. But we have a short summer and warm water works better for the bacteria to dissolve muck.
I am only starting my experiments and it is hard to say how one product does compared to another as you need a controlled environment to really test. But being that the product I tried was easily available on Amazon and about half the price I thought I'd give it a few seasons and see.
I did not take a lot of samples around the pond so I'm judging mainly by the edges where I wade around when checking traps or putting our my turtle floats.
I'm happy so far that in the shallows I see a difference with the leaves and surface muck being mostly gone. Maybe it reduced 1-2" per season in the shallows? I still feel thick muck in the deep but that is colder water, and water that probably doesn't get the oxygen mixed down into the deep as well. I have a single station, dual head vertex aerator that I run about 8-10 hours in the overnight cool temps.
I think I would do way better if I had a trash pump with outflow going down a long pole and blasting it down under the muck to aerate everything. Those deicers which are really a propeller on a long pole that blast underwater currents across the bottom are hugely helpful in cleaning and aerating the bottom in the range of the 'prop-wash'.
A side benefit of the muck pellets is they must have some sort of 'flocking' agent that binds the suspended solids as my water has been much clearer. That is great for clarity but not so good for sun penetration as I seem to have algae growing more deeply on the bottom this year. I don't seem to maintain as good of a bloom this year as in other years.
I'll probably throw some in again and see. By recall I bought a 25 pound supply in a 5 gallon bucket and that worked pretty well for my 1/4 acre pond ( or smaller in the summer).
