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I have a 3/4 acre pond that leaks slightly . . . Local wisdom suggests that salt can help seal a small leak. Has anyone heard of of this?

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Considering it dissolves in water, I don't see how salt could do anything at all for a leak.


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Welcome to PB Rick. That is one common wisdom I have never heard. I would be concerned that the salt would harm water quality.
















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Me too, Eric. Salt in a quantity big enough NOT to dissolve would have to be causing a super-saturated solution at least locally in the application vicinity. That doesn't sound good for freshwater fish or plants or whatever.

BTW, I didn't see that was your first post, thunderworks. Howdy!


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Rick

There are some articles that have surfsaced in the past from universaties nothing that is close to my finger tips(WE THINK THE MATERIAL WENT UP IN FLAMES IN THE BOB LUSK FIRE)

Mabey from the 1950's.

That will be a long shot.

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It makes some sense to me after running across this link over the weekend: http://www.cjnetworks.com/~sccdistrict/pondseal.htm

See section II part C. I also found some other sites that referenced similar information.

I was doing allot of searching because my pond is also starting to show signs of leaking again after a complete draining and reconstruction last year \:\(

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Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question. I appreciate it.

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FWIW, Sea or Rock Salt (without iodine @ 100 lbs. per acre) is VERY beneficial to freshwater fish by greatly improving gill function and by reducing stress. Salt replaces the required electrlytes, prevents nitrite damage to gills, enhances the slime coat, and greatly enhances the gills ability to uptake oxygen. Sea Salt will also add many missing trace elements to improve the growth rate and total weight of fish along with increasing the ponds carrying capacity.



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Rainman that depends on the pond (its dirt and water). If the pond is high in chlorides in its natural state that might not be a good idea.
















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 Originally Posted By: ewest
Rainman that depends on the pond (its dirt and water). If the pond is high in chlorides in its natural state that might not be a good idea.




And it depends on how much salt you add. FWIW I think adding enough salt to a pond that would be detrimenal would be expensive. I.W. my .62 acre pond contains 1 million gallons. It would take a lot of salt to cause any kind of problem.

One thing to consider is if one does scatter salt granules in the water they can "burn" a fish on contact. It should be disolved as much as possible before adding.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 05/03/08 07:27 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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I am the person in north central Texas with the leaky dam put in by Mr Hale. The Fannin NCRS gave me a 80 page booklet (from NCRS) that showed/warned about all the things that was done wrong and options.

One, and the cheapest is to lower the water to the original ground level, if possible, and rototill in rock salt at 2/3 pound per 1 square foot? (get the booklet from NCRS to get it right). I asked all the question about salt and fish, and he brought out books showing how it adds to the protective slime, et.al.

Results, significant reduction in leakage, I only loose about 200 gallons a day instead of about 2000 per day. Boy do I have a nice field of Cattails!


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Looking for the booklet from NRCS. Most of the questions that come to the office are about leaky lakes. I have never tried this had heard about it and now there is something else to look up.
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Soda ash, (soluble salts dispersing agent) I think this is what is used here in Tennessee alot. Here is a little info on it. http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p2183.htm I tried it using a bucket test on some clay Im using to seal my pond. It made all the difference! Gives the clay a totally different feel. Very sticky! Without the soda ash the bucket would seep some, but with a small ammount of soda ash it held water like there were no holes in the bottom! Using a gallon paint can for the test I only put in about a tablespoon of this stuff and mixed well and compacted. You can get it at the Co-Op for about 16.00 a bag. Expensive but you dont have to use very much.

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very old post....anyone ever do any testing with this?

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This causes me to recall our motorcycle travels in Alaska on the haul road (Dalton Highway) that goes from Fairbanks to Prudehoe Bay. They maintain the dirt roads by tilling them up and adding Calcium Chloride (a form of a salt I presume). The Calcium Chloride causes the dirt to set up like poor quality concrete. They would till the road up, haul water from nearby lakes with mixed in Calcium Chloride, spread it on the tilled up road to make about a 6" deep road shlushie, grade it level with a road grader, and let the semi truck traffic pack it back down into a hard surface road (of sorts).

We rode up (my wife and I each on our own motorcycles), ask the guy on the water truck when it would be dry, and he said they quit at 5 and start again next morning at 8am on the next 20 mile section. He suggested getting there at about 5 am and the semi's might have a path made. We turned around and rode back to and across the Yukon river and stayed in a hotel till 5am. Rode single file up tracks left by the semi's the width of the duals. One grade was 8%. Glad when that was over. A big group from Europe had rode up right behind us and decided to go on through the slush and we heard later one bike went off the side of a mountain and the guy had to be life flighted out. Spooky. Glad we turned around and waited.

The point is to this long winded pointless post, calcium chloride (like is mixed with water and used for ballast in tractor tires) is used with mud to make it a solid surface. I believe they also mix it with clay in some roadbeds under pavement here in the lower 50 states. So perhaps it would work as a pond liner if installed correctly.

Last edited by snrub; 05/18/17 11:15 AM.

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This is neat info.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

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Originally Posted By: snrub
This causes me to recall our motorcycle travels in Alaska on the haul road (Dalton Highway) that goes from Fairbanks to Prudehoe Bay. They maintain the dirt roads by tilling them up and adding Calcium Chloride (a form of a salt I presume). The Calcium Chloride causes the dirt to set up like poor quality concrete. They would till the road up, haul water from nearby lakes with mixed in Calcium Chloride, spread it on the tilled up road to make about a 6" deep road shlushie, grade it level with a road grader, and let the semi truck traffic pack it back down into a hard surface road (of sorts).

We rode up (my wife and I each on our own motorcycles), ask the guy on the water truck when it would be dry, and he said they quit at 5 and start again next morning at 8am on the next 20 mile section. He suggested getting there at about 5 am and the semi's might have a path made. We turned around and rode back to and across the Yukon river and stayed in a hotel till 5am. Rode single file up tracks left by the semi's the width of the duals. One grade was 8%. Glad when that was over. A big group from Europe had rode up right behind us and decided to go on through the slush and we heard later one bike went off the side of a mountain and the guy had to be life flighted out. Spooky. Glad we turned around and waited.

The point is to this long winded pointless post, calcium chloride (like is mixed with water and used for ballast in tractor tires) is used with mud to make it a solid surface. I believe they also mix it with clay in some roadbeds under pavement here in the lower 50 states. So perhaps it would work as a pond liner if installed correctly.


LOL, we saw people riding motorcycles up the ALCAN back in 77'. Looked like they had been in front of a fire hose spraying mud. Was that you? If I remember correctly at the time it was 1500 miles long 1200 of which was dirt/gravel.


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Not that long ago! We went once in about 83 or 84, both of us on a 550 Yamaha Maxim, 8000+ miles in 3 weeks. Then about 12 or so years ago me on a 1100 V Star and her on a 650 V Star Yamahas and 12,000 miles plus over a several (10 or 12???) weeks time. The last trip is where went as far as just north of Coldfoot up the Dalton Highway. We entered Alaska through the road going through Whitehorse and Dawson at the northern most US customs checkpoint. Crossed the Yukon there on a barge. Canadian road side was good gravel, US side in Alaska looked like a cow path. We were happy to see the gas station at Chicken. Also got Hyderized at Hyder along the west coast earlier in the trip. Only place in the US you can legally enter without going through customs (but have to go through Canadian customs coming back out). Went via Seattle on the way up and took the Alcan coming back home.

Our first trip all but about 50 or 100 miles was supposedly paved. Here is the thing about the AlCan hihway. They have about three months to do a years maintenence. So even though it is fully paved supposedly, in any given year, every year, there are major sections torn up. If you are lucky with foot deep loose gravel bypassing a bad section, or if unlucky 6" deep mud with a 75 year old retiree 6' behind you in a motorhome trying to help you along with encouragement for you to speed up. The second trip we just watched the weather reports and how much mud was on the oncoming traffic and just holed up for a day or two if it got too bad. We did not have to get back so fast on that trip so we wandered all around the state where there were paved roads and a few places not paved, the Dalton highway and the road to Chicken being a couple.

It was a trip. Fun times in our younger years. If we do it again it will be on 4 wheels all attached to a single vehicle. grin

Last edited by snrub; 05/19/17 09:00 AM.

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