We purchased our house about seven years ago. It came with two cement lined ponds. Neither pond had been cleaned in years. I have been able to clean and maintain one of the ponds however the other one was just too much.

The previous home owner, who installed the pond, decided that she wanted plants in the pond so she added a layer of dirt. She then added a big turtle who in short order ate all the plants. Over the years the pond began to fill with leaves and dirt and such. I decided that it was time to finally clean it out. The pond is 20� x 20� and holds about 5,000 gallons.

Last weekend I attempted to drain the pond. Everything was going "ok" until I got down to the bottom of the pond where all the muck and stuff was. The muck was so dense that the pump could not continue to pump the muck out even though there was still water in the pond. I began to shovel out the muck and remaining water and dump it elsewhere on my property. In short order I found that this was a bigger task than I had anticipated.

I called a septic tank cleaning company and asked them if they could pump out the remaining water and muck and haul it away. They said they could and their price was reasonable.

Has anyone tried using a septic tank cleaning service to do something like this before? Are there any drawbacks that I am not considering here? If I decide to go forward with this approach, the turtle, who is about the size of a dinner plate, and as many of the big fish that I can catch will be moved to the other pond.

Thanks