It takes a good bit of water to move sludge, but if you have the time it can be done. Too much solids over too long a distance stalls the pump and makes for a real mess. Figure pumping about 10% solids / 90% water to keep from plugging piping / hoses, but maybe get up around 15% if it moves well. Dewatering bags work sometimes, sometimes not so well if the solids plug the fabric or blow through. We use polymer blocks to help settle solids sometimes, just depends on how fast they drop out. Surface area is the key, and shaped right or baffled to prevent short circuiting. The settling basin has to be fairly large. We use a similar approach to dredge sludge from mine drainage treatment settling ponds.
I would appreciate hearing anyone's experiences and thoughts. Before I get serious about pricing out equipment and talking to everyone, I want to make sure this method is truly viable. The bigger concern is to not stir up the bottom and turn the pond toxic to the fish. Then it is just a matter of chipping in time and we are not in a rush. Depending how nice a pump and hose we buy, I'm guessing this would be a $2000-2500 venture divided 4 ways. I'm looking to pitch the idea of building a platform and dredge to the other 3 parties with the idea of splitting the build cost 4 ways. A dredge company quoted the guy up the road $7,000 to clean half of his 0.75 acre pond. Three homeowners share our pond and there is a guy up the road who is facing the same problem with his pond. The mucky water would be sent to the shore where some form of dewatering would occur (dewatering bags, silt screens, etc.). A pole would be attached to the nozzle (so the user can stand on the platform and suction the bottom). A 3" trash pump would ride on the platform. My thought is to build a platform to paddle/pole around the 1.75 acre pond that can be anchored in position. Does anyone have real world experience doing this? Did it work well? Any tips or lessons you learned along the way? One suggested DIY solution to remove organic muck from an old pond is to build something akin to a gold dredge with a trash pump and a venturi dredge nozzle. I posted in another thread discussing muck removal options but thought I would give this a dedicated thread.
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