# Removing muck from large pond?



## zuren (Feb 13, 2015)

I share a 1.5 acre pond with 2 neighbors. The pond has a ton of fish (bass, bluegill - some existed before we moved in, we stocked additional bass) and we enjoy all of the wildlife that comes to visit. However, there is a fairly significant muck/silt layer at the bottom that I would like to start thinking about. The muck is several inches deep at the end of my dock, and it gets to over 1 ft. in many other places. Over the past 4 years we have lived here, we get a significant algae bloom in the spring and weed growth during the rest of the summer. Based on what I've read, the thick layer of muck, the algae, and the resulting weeds is telling me that we need more oxygen in the pond and need to remove the muck that is in there. The current solution for the algae is adding copper sulfate, but I just read an article that doing this kills the beneficial bacteria in the pond, so in the long run it seems you are doing more harm than good by just treating the symptom.

The first thing I want to discuss with my neighbors is aeration. Based on my research, you will end up back in the same boat pretty quick with muck and algae if you don't get more oxygen into the pond. I'm leaning toward a solar solution.

I'm undecided on the best approach to remove the muck. Most guidance I read to get it done "quickly" is hire a drag line or excavator. I read the risk/hassle to that is several fold:

- not cheap
- stirring up a large area of the bottom releases toxins and increases the chance of a major fish kill
- space is tight around the pond, so trees will need to be cleared and lawn will most definitely be damaged

You could drain the pond, let it dry, and get a bulldozer or excavator in, but we know we have springs so it may never fully dry. I've read that despite all of the places that sell the "beneficial bacteria" tablets, there are claims that they are largely snake oil and the chances of them doing any measurable difference in such a large pond is minimal. There are many other inventions to "remove" muck, but they mostly seem like ways to just stir the muck up and have it settle elsewhere.

There are vacuum dredging companies out there and vacuuming minimizes the risk of releasing toxins into the water, but they are expensive since they send a diver down. Has anyone ever used a trash pump (possibly set up like a gold dredge) to clean out a pond?










Instead of "gold laden gravels", you have muck, and instead of a "catch container", the hose runs up and out of the pond. I've read that people have had some success; you need a powerful enough pump and the right setup. The DIY gold dredge approach will definitely be a longer term project, but would be far cheaper than anything else, you could stand in a boat or on a floating platform, would have ultimate control over where the muck goes, and the potential for a fish kill is minimized. I've been thinking about building a "dewatering trailer" so we could position it wherever needed around the pond, water would filter out and run across the lawn (through additional silt traps) back to the pond (so we don't pump the pond dry), and the muck that is left behind can be carted off to the woods, gardens, etc. But this is only me thinking out loud; not sure if any of it is feasible.

I've attached a pic of our pond. I would say average depth is 4ish feet. Deepest hole (left of the island) used to be 10-12', but is now 9' and our water level is at it's max. Cleaning out the far right side of the pond (in front of my dock) would make it a solid 5 ft. deep with a clay bottom. For scale, my white van in the lower right corner is a full-size Chevy Express van.

Thanks for any feedback!


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

In the southwest ranchers use large dirt tanks for livestock, between two to ten aces. When they need to be cleaned out the easiest way is to knock out the dam with a dozer. Let the muck dry for a week, then come back and clean them out with the dozer.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Um what would he do about the poor fish?


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## zuren (Feb 13, 2015)

muleskinner2 said:


> In the southwest ranchers use large dirt tanks for livestock, between two to ten aces. When they need to be cleaned out the easiest way is to knock out the dam with a dozer. Let the muck dry for a week, then come back and clean them out with the dozer.


I don't have enough property for this approach, and as I mentioned, the pond has springs...the muck would never dry.


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## crehberg (Mar 16, 2008)

Forcast said:


> Um what would he do about the poor fish?


What we used to do...drain the water down low and get your buddies to drag a net with you 'til you get all the fish out you can. Then it's neighborhood fish fry time!


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

I had a muck problem in our 1/2 acre pond. I used the muck eating stuff and poured it in the pond. Worked great and didn't hurt the fish.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

The best solutions will all be expensive and will involve heavy equipment and the loss of most of the fish population.

Even if it won't totally dry out, draining will allow the most removal and will give the best results over the long term. 

The fish can be restocked, and many states can provide them at a low cost.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

OR dig a small holding pond right above the current one and keep the good fish in there. You might have to aerate the little pond. Then cut a trench to put them back in when the lower pond refills.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Zuren, before you start writing checks, you should try to find out what is causing the pond to "green over".
Whether it is filamentous algae, duckweed, hydrillia, etc or combinations they are all symptoms.
Run off, decaying matter like leaves from trees, a neighbor's failing septic can all contribute to pond scums. Even if you were to knock the dam out and let the pit dry, it may return just as quickly the next spring.
I just backhoed the banks of a neighbor's pond earlier this year at his request, to remove silt and muck. His banks are much deeper but his water as of this weekend is a green thick mat of goo. He installed a nice areation system as soon as he saw the first blooms and within a month he had to shut it down. Overwhelmed and clogged.
Shared ponds are fine until you have to ask folks to kick in money, then it gets dicey.


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## chaossmurf (Jan 6, 2017)

if it was me -- id buy a cheap harbor freight compressor and some pool 2 inch hoses and build my own DREDGE similar to the one in your picture then sit in a canoe or small boat & just swirl it around on the bottom --letting the mess go to a very very large settling area --with it overflowing back into the lake --after some filtering screens ---similar too a aquaponics filter----mayb make the settling pool out of a free swimming pool from craigslist or somewhere ? ---it wont be instant --- but a few weeks of people taking turns in the boat can end up working a huge diference


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## HelenMvz (Mar 25, 2021)

We had a little pond (about 0.2 - 0.3 acres) back to our farmhouse. But we had a major problem last autumn. I don’t know why, but some nutria started digging around the pond and caused soil erosion and most of the fishes died. Even worse, the weakened ground around their burrows led to the collapse of the pathway to that pond. Yeah, we called the wildlife removal guys to get rid of the nutria, but the damage was huge and we are still working to make that pond “alive” and beautiful again. Here’s their link, in case anyone needs help: Wildlife Removal Tampa | Wild Animal Control Tampa - Trapping, Removal, Repair


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## Desertdweller (Jan 9, 2022)

Yes, one of the factors of the cost is how quickly you want it done. The sooner you need it done, the more $$ you will need to spend. I second the idea of first adding more oxygen to the pond. If the pond is only about 4' deep on the average, you might be able to install some windmills with their foundation under water, and have the windmills power a compressor to add air to the water. I have seen some fish farms have a water wheel that turns and splahes the water. There are variations on this idea. I favor the solution that does not kill the fish or disturb the whole system at one time. I like Chaossmurf's idea - build a small barge with a compressor to blow air under the muck and lift it up, then have some kind of a "vacuum cleaner" to suck it out. If you use air to stir the muck up, you are less likely to get rocks and pebbles agitated, whereas if you use a pump and pump water into the muck, I think you will suck up more rocks with your "vacuum cleaner". With a little more work, you can install a zip line across the pond that your barge will follow - almost make it remote controlled, so you don't have to sit on it all day. Just move the 2 ends of the zip line every day and you can systematically clean it. When you have finished the intial clean, you can save the hardware for routine maintenance, or to go fishing out in the middle of the lake. The slower this goes, the cheaper the hardware will be.


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## 012345 (6 mo ago)

Where I am in TN many locals have their ponds cleaned out with a large excavator. They drive around the pond scooping out silt and place it where it can be spread and dried before either reusing or hauling it off. I keep the leaves out which helps minimize the buildup of muck by using a very large siphon that I attach to a small boat that I can move around and control. Small catch pond below is for any fish that get sucked through that I net and put back. Leaves are dried and run through a mulcher and put in the garden.


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