sealing a pond

[lovemytoys]

i have a small pond thats feed from a stream that only runs in the spring.as soon as it stops running it start to leach into the ground (my guess)how can i keep it full longer

 

[rekees4300]

Sodium bentonite might work. There are also rubber liners that can be used.

 

[MossRoad]

i have a small pond thats feed from a stream that only runs in the spring.as soon as it stops running it start to leach into the ground (my guess)how can i keep it full longer

You might also want to check with your local county extension agent about ponds, pond building and pond maintenance.

 

[Mousefield]

Depending on the size of the pond some people up our way get their ponds "puddled". These tend to be a bit larger pond. This is done by using special clay that is pretty much water tight. Usually it is done by an excavator type of guy who gets the clay and spreads it for you. Our small pond in the backyard is also fed by a seasonal creek and once it starts to dry up so does the pond. Ours is just native clay. We put some water lilies in that have real nice blossoms in the summer. I am just at the point of putting a pump in our year round creek that is close to the house and we pump water into our pond all summer long. Usually we turn the water on for an hour or two in the morning and again in the late evening till the pond reaches the over flow pipe.
Pic 2 is the water line in and pic 3 is the over flow pipe.

 

[tjc1989]

I have been told to use bentonite clay to seal the pond. Never heard of "sodium bentonite ". My little pond is about a 1/2 acre, and already has fish in it. Mine leaks down, too. But a couple of issues for me.

Cost - I recently saw an ad from a guy selling bentonite for $400. bucks a ton. I don't know how much my pond would need, but a ton is not very much. My bucket on my loader holds about 1100 pounds of dirt, which isn't very much. So do the math.

Damage to my fish. What effect would dumping bentonite clay into the water do to my fish?

The time to line it with plastic I think came and went when I was building it. Not sure what I can do now.

 

[rekees4300]

bentonite info = Pond Sealer - Sodium Bentonite Pond Sealant - PDS Co., Inc.

 

[techwrtr2]

Even if you have the the pond sealed as well as a tupperware bowl, you will still lose volume due to evaporation unless you also enclose it in a green house.

We used to have water leeching out through teh ground from the pond out back, but that was because it was poorly built initially with all sorts of channels for the water to escape (tree roots). Upon rebuild (took it down to the hardpan and started there) we didnt' see any leakage problems for almost 20 years. Hopefully I can resolve them soon. Pond was built from yellow and red clay. The stream feeding the pond is a combination of surface spring and some run off. It also drys up in the summer.

 

[bindian]

Depending on the size of the pond some people up our way get their ponds "puddled". These tend to be a bit larger pond. This is done by using special clay that is pretty much water tight. Usually it is done by an excavator type of guy who gets the clay and spreads it for you. Our small pond in the backyard is also fed by a seasonal creek and once it starts to dry up so does the pond. Ours is just native clay. We put some water lilies in that have real nice blossoms in the summer. I am just at the point of putting a pump in our year round creek that is close to the house and we pump water into our pond all summer long. Usually we turn the water on for an hour or two in the morning and again in the late evening till the pond reaches the over flow pipe.
Pic 2 is the water line in and pic 3 is the over flow pipe.

Mousefield,
You might check out building a Hydraulic Ram to pump your water for free. You only need running water to work it.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Redneck in training]

I have been told to use bentonite clay to seal the pond. Never heard of "sodium bentonite ". My little pond is about a 1/2 acre, and already has fish in it. Mine leaks down, too. But a couple of issues for me.

Cost - I recently saw an ad from a guy selling bentonite for $400. bucks a ton. I don't know how much my pond would need, but a ton is not very much. My bucket on my loader holds about 1100 pounds of dirt, which isn't very much. So do the math.

Damage to my fish. What effect would dumping bentonite clay into the water do to my fish?

The time to line it with plastic I think came and went when I was building it. Not sure what I can do now.

Can I join the club? My pond (about 0.75 ac) is 6 years old a was never full. I contracted a guy who put in 14 tons of sodium bentonite (paid about $5000 for it, the biggest expense was transportation from Wyoming), I also bought sealing polymer to take out remaining leakage. In other words I spent more money fixing it than building it. And it still doesn't hold water. The paradox is that my property is mostly clay that doesn't percolate at all. I had to buy special (read expensive) septic approved for this type of soil. Initially the pond would go up about a foot after heavy rain and foot down within one day. Now I decreased the leakage to about 0.5" a day. Currently I am working on digging a ditch that follows constant elevation line across the slope adjacent to the pond but draining to another valley. The ditch should bring water from about additional 7 ac to the pond.
Disclaimer: This is not my expertise and I have only partial experience with fixing ponds. So please question everything I say.
For those who don't know the difference. Bentonite is volcanic ash mined somewhere in East Wyoming and other places. There are two types of bentonite: Sodium and Calcium. Sodium swells 20 times when wet while Calcium only 2 to 4 times. Proper installation of bentonite consists from layer of dry bentonite and about a foot of material on top of it compacted with a sheep foot roller. Bentonite needs a "back pressure" to fill all crevices between the grain of the material above and below it to seal. Dumping bentonite to the water is waste of money in most cases. You might be better of using"churning". Mix clay with water to make thin emulsion and pump it over the pond. You will need a lot of it. Bentonite is relatively light and gets washed away while clay is heavy and will stay on the bottom and eventually plugging the leakage. That is what the article I read some time ago says.

 

[EddieWalker]

The very first thing you need to do is identify the type of soil you have. Adding bentonite to a sandy, gravel or loamy soil is just a waste of money. It won't accomplish anything.

With the speed in which it seems to be leaking, I'm wondering if there is any clay in there at all? Some soil has a small percentage of clay, but not nearly enough to be watertight. Then there are the different types of clay. Some works great at holdling water, other types are terrible.

If you have good or reasonable clay, how deep is it? You need about two feet of quality clay for a pond to hold water. If it' s a foot deep and there is sand under it, then you need to either dig down and refill with good clay, or add more clay to make it two feet thick. When adding clay, you need to compact it.

Digging test holes with a backhoe or excavator will tell you what you have in the ground. There isn't any other way to know this until you start digging and figure out what you have to work with, or need to fix.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

I haven't tried this, but the locals here swear by the "Pig Method".....

1- wait until the dry season.
2- fence off the pond with hog wire.
3- get your local pig farmer to deliver a load of pigs and loan them to you for a month or two.
4- keep the pigs in the "pond pen" and feed them very well(afterall they are "borrowed")
5- have farmer pick up pigs
6- fill pond which will now hold water because the pigs weight & hooves have compacted the bottom of the pond better than any man made machine.

;>]

hey at the cost of a few bags of feed it might just be worth a try..............

RD

 

[impdaddy]

CETCO makes a product called akwaseal (sp) that is a bentonite mat that is rolled out like a liner. Don't know the cost but used it on a 7c lake/pond for the city colf course and seems to be holding. just FYI

 

[2manyrocks]

I was thinking pigs, too.

We used to have a pond that held water well. Then some trees took root and now it's dry as a bone because the root system opened up the bottom to let the water out.

My Dad tried to seal a pond he had dug. Didn't matter what he did. Wouldn't hold water. 40 years later, there's a sink hole in that pond that you could park a bus in.

 

[rekees4300]

:laughing: @ the "Pig Method"

Nothing like a pond full of pig manure ... anybody wanna go for a swim?

 

[MMagis]

From what I’ve seen, more often than not it’s cheaper to bulldoze the dam and re-do it properly than it is try and put band-aid after band-aid to it.

 

[ray66v]

I have been told to use bentonite clay to seal the pond. Never heard of "sodium bentonite ". My little pond is about a 1/2 acre, and already has fish in it. Mine leaks down, too. But a couple of issues for me.

Cost - I recently saw an ad from a guy selling bentonite for $400. bucks a ton. I don't know how much my pond would need, but a ton is not very much. My bucket on my loader holds about 1100 pounds of dirt, which isn't very much. So do the math.

Damage to my fish. What effect would dumping bentonite clay into the water do to my fish?

The time to line it with plastic I think came and went when I was building it. Not sure what I can do now.

I sealed a 3/4 acre lake, about 20 yeas ago, with bentonite.

We got it in bags. There were 2 skids of them, so I guess there was about 40-50.

We wadded out in the pond, with the bags, and dumped them.

No fish were harmed by the process, and it was totally successful.

 

[bindian]

When laying bentonite to seal a dry pond, it is suppose to be tilled in with the existing clay and then compacted. When adding bentonite to a water filled pond, the lite bentonite will get sucked into any leaks and seal. But you need to dump it directly over a suspected leak.
I have heard about the pig method also. Their hooves push mud into the leaking holes.
hugs, Brandi

 

[valley]

I've been thinking about using bentonite on a small pond about 12' X 20'. But now I'm thinking concrete.

 

[2manyrocks]

:laughing: @ the "Pig Method"

Nothing like a pond full of pig manure ... anybody wanna go for a swim?

I don't swim in the pond cuz of the snakes. :thumbsup:

 

[Redneck in training]

I haven't tried this, but the locals here swear by the "Pig Method".....

1- wait until the dry season.
2- fence off the pond with hog wire.
3- get your local pig farmer to deliver a load of pigs and loan them to you for a month or two.
4- keep the pigs in the "pond pen" and feed them very well(afterall they are "borrowed")
5- have farmer pick up pigs
6- fill pond which will now hold water because the pigs weight & hooves have compacted the bottom of the pond better than any man made machine.

;>]

hey at the cost of a few bags of feed it might just be worth a try..............

RD

I heard that it is the by product (slime) of bacteria feeding on the poo that seals the pond. I was raised in an area where fish farming is the biggest industry. They use manure to stimulate bacteria growth to seal leaky ponds.

Another method used in Ukraine is a thick layer of biomas such as leaves covered by foot or two of dirt. The bacteria will digest the biomass and the byproduct will seal the pond.