Ok so I am trying to seal the leak in my dam with bentonite. I am draining my pond down to below the leak "Rain is not helping". Granular bentonite is pretty expensive but I found a place near my pond that sells bentonite dust cheap. The company is Amcol the dust is the by product of there cat litter facilty.
http://www.amcol.com/ The man I talked to says people use it all the time for pond repair including himself. I can get it for $45 a ton where granular comes out $16 for a 50lb bag. Anyone use the dust form? At $45 a ton I can reseal the entire dam.
I've only tried the powder stuff. It hasn't worked for me. However, at that price, I would certainly give it an opportunity.
I install cermaic tile for a living, not that, that makes me a masonery expert and obviously not a " Leak fixer upper" but I was thinkig if I would mix up LOADS of mud by mixing bentonite powder and water in wheelbarows and just keep pouring it across the inside of a drained breast it should form a thick layer of clay that should seal? Now the prep I was thinking is pumping the pond below its below leak then clearing major rocks and other forms of debris. Dump layers of bentonite slurry 1.5-2 inches at a time then repeat untill I get about 4-6inches. If I can get a good layer of bentonite mud it should seal when the water goes back up do to hydrolic pressure? The breast is pretty steep do not know how I could stamp it in well. Or would it be better to mix the powder with the soil on the dam... I have not read to many good reports with the use of bentonite except when used in mass amounts. My dam is less the 100yrds wide so at $45 a ton I would think I can dump enough on it to seal it. At 35% of the ponds water holding capacity the leak stops so I am praying that when I pump it down till the leak stops I can still keep my fish and fix the leak too. As much feed back as soon as possible would be most helpfull. All that water freezing as it leaks through my dam, gota do major damage? Winter in PA is close and this may take some time.
I have no idea whether that would work. Bentonite, IMO, is meant to be mixed with existing soil and then allowed to expand when wet.
Dealing with powdered bentonite is a real character builder. It is unbelievably slick. If you have any moisture on you like sweat the stuff is almost impossible to wipe off.
I think I would contact someone at a bentonite mining operation and start asking for opinions.
See if you have a Southern States farm supply nearby. They have 50# bags for reasonable $$$.
http://www.southernstates.com/buzz
I just sealed my small 10th acre pond with powdered Bentonite. I spread it dry, tilled it in, then backfilled with dirt to protect the Bentonite layer. It is sealed and doing great.
Bentonite does get very slick and does not harden when saturated so I do not know if the Bentonite will work on a dam, but it sounds like you have a reasonable plan. I would pour it thick and cover it with soil to protect the seal. Compact as best you can before filling with water.
I would make sure what you are getting is PURE, UNPROCESSED Sodium Bentonite, not Calcium Bentonite.
Good luck, let us know how it does.
We spread bentonite and clay and tilled them together in 6" lifts and compacted it with a sheepsfoot roller to seal the bottom of my leaking pond this summer. So far the pond is doing well and filling up. PM me if you want some pics of how it was done.
Cody,
I also need some a couple tons of bentinite to seal a pond. Please let me know if you purchased and tried any of the powder yet.
Where you been, Jeff? Good ta hear from ya.
I bought a farm in NE Missouri and have been busy putting in foodplots for deer and doing some bowhunting.
Reading these posts is like visiting old friends!
My F1 largemouth are about 5 years old, 22" and 6 lbs, fast and healthy. They are eating a steady diet of hand fed Aquamax Largemouth. The water explodes at feeding time. I am trying to locate a leak that I have had since the pond was built. It is a constant leak that flows out the back of the dam, about like a kitchen faucet running. I am siphoning down the water with 3" PVC and my 2 acre lake has dropped about 5' in the last 10 days. The leak is still flowing, so I am going to keep the siphon running until it stops. The pond was originally 19' deep, so I hope that I do not have to drain much more water, because I do not want to lose my trophy bass. I have an aerator, and the water temp is cooling down, but I suppose that I should cull out a bunch of fish or they will die from lack of oxygen??? Anyone want some big food trained F1 bass? I hate to eat these trophies!
Hey Jeff. I think, but do not know, that it must be running somewhere under the dam and emerging at the back. If it were through the dam it seems that it would have washed out the whole works by now.
I have a huge 500' long "L" shaped dam that required alot of dirt, considering my pond is only about 1.7 acres. The pond builder dug a 3 ft deep keyway trench down to clay before building the dam, however the bottom of the lake is deeper than the key way because they needed dirt. The dam was built with rubber tire scrapers, which appeared to pack the soil, but I might have to get a sheepsfoot roller back here and some bentonite.
Jeff, with the temps we are getting now, I doubt your fish will deplete the oxygen, especially if you're aerating.
Cody, I just sent you a PM. I would like to try the product. Have you heard anything more about this?
Just got it sealed! Drained it below the leak and just dumped the powder. Rake it out even and sprayed it with water. Water level came back up and no water below the dam for 2weeks now. Stuff was messy not the most exact procedure could not imagine getting real touchy with the stuff. It turns into a solid slick of clay when wet.
Does anyone have a good source of bentonite in Northern California?
I live in IL and found it through a ditch witch dealer. They had to order it from WY and it was in 50 lb bags. No shipping charges. Was around 5.50 a bag ordered by pallet of 48 bags. CA has some ditch witch dealers so they may be able to help you.
Thanks Jim, I found a Ditch Witch dealer in the Bay Area and I think got a good price: pallet of 48 50-lb. bags of powdered bentonite = $520.80 + tax ($10.85/bag).