Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Pond holding water...success notes

Thanks for the info. I think I know what I'm getting me for fathers' day now.

belkins456, I'm sure you already know this but I thought I would mention it. Keep an eye on the mixing to make sure it doesn't start clumping. Should hardly be able to tell that anything is mixing with the water when it comes out right. Mater fact, I find myself looking at the DB-100 bucket and asking myself "is anything coming out".

GeorgeS-Sounds like a dang nice fathers day gift to me! I'd like to have a nice 2" trash pump myself. Maybe a Honda engine and none of this chinese knock off stuff! Good luck!

Cheezy-Yea I was thinking it would be hard to know if it was mixing right or now. An easy way to tell is to feel the water coming out or check the banks where you have sprayed. If they are slippery than snot then it is working. The way they explain it the slower and more diluted you make it the better it works so I've got nothing but time once again. I had a brainstorm though... since my pond has steep banks and it would be difficult to keep trash pump level and a pain to stop , clean out , move and reprime i'm going to set all this up in my jon boat and float around and attack the banks from the inside pond out. I figure it would be muuch easier that way and i could simply hang the suction over the boat into the water and i've already modified my discharge to make it only about 4 feet so I can easily sit in boat and spray all the banks over and over to make sure I get excellent coverage this time. I wanted to make sure and get this application rig as easy and efficient as possible because I already know i'll be spraying another 6 gallons of the "new and improved" formula as soon as it comes out whether it needs it or not. I'm just a sucker when it comes to that type of thing and since i'm having nothing but good results I actually trust these people. I'm starting to really believe in their product.

Hello to all monitoring the results of DB-100. It sounds like me and my father are in the same boat as the rest of you guys. Really anxious and wanting results. We have since contacted the pond doctors and have gotten prices for our 3/4 acre pond. I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help with. Does anyone know that if we were to apply the DB-100 now and go the rest of summer with no rain is that applicable or should we wait till later in the year to apply the sealer? We have also gotten prices on renting a 2" trash pump to apply the sealer. Is that what is typically used or should I look elsewhere? We also have rip rap around a 1/4 of the pond and structure in the bottom, should we remove and apply or coat it all? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Here is a picture of our current status the entire bottom is clay but was not compacted as good as should have been. So we are taking action now so that we will be hopefully full come spring of 2010. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nice looking Pond Steve
Hope it holds water for you....

Scott

Steve.m72- That is going to be a nice pond once full! Wow and I thought my banks were steep! How deep will that sucker be once full? It looks like 15 feet or so at least! It's hard to tell but how much is in the bottom right now? I'm just curious because if it's not over a couple of feet why not just pump it out and compact since you have good clay there? I can't speak for anyone else but I appear to be having good results thus far. If you have a hole or large leak in the pond i don't think it will help but slow seepage yes it should stop it. Any trash pump is fine anywhere from 1-3" doesnt really matter as long as your are mixing the water with the DB-100. The question about it losing it's sealing ability without water has been brought up and i'm not sure really? I'd call Doug Biler and ask him about that as well as the rip rap removal. I have fairly steep banks on my pond as well and was wanting to do rip rap all the way around it. Just curious how many loads of rip rap is in that picture? Just trying to get an idea of how many it would take to do all the way around my pond. Also did you lay underlayment and did you have problems with it wanting to slide down hill or does it hold the bank pretty well after it's put in place?

Ok belkins456, where are you at? I'm going to send a film crew over. Wouldn't want to miss seeing that rig in action : ) Sounds like a boat load of fun.

Steve, I can't really say when it comes to the different variables for applying the DB-100. My application was pretty straight forward since my pond was full. You would probably be better off talking to the guys at Pond Doctors. I will say for me atleast, the product is reasonably priced (compared to other products) and was worth trying. As far as applying the product, a trash pump seems like the way to go. I can't imagine applying it with a miracle grow feeder.

Oh it is going to be a blast for sure! I figured if i'm going to be spraying a product for an hour or two might as well make it fun. You may be wondering how I will get from one side of the pond to the other without a paddle. No worries...I'll be holding a water cannon in my hands blasting a 75 ft water stream out! I simply aim that down at the water and I now have a jet engine that speeds me across the pond while spraying DB-100 into water at same time :-) I'm going to see how fast I can get it going ..i'm shooting for 10-15 mph .haha

So far I've seen a reduction in my seepage. However, I don't think it has totally sealed yet because there is still just a little bit of water in the ditch. First application of the DB-100 was on May 23rd and my last application was today (18 gallons total). I've seen a 7 inch drop in the water level since May 23rd so I can't totally rule out that the water pressure has something to do with the seepage reduction. But it has to be more than a coincidence that the toe of my dam started drying up after my first application of the DB-100. Also, my secchi disk readings went from 6 inches to 21 inches.

Before:



After:




I remembered to take a pic of my setup after I applied 6 more gallons of the DB-100 today.

Those before and after pics show beau coup improvement.

Cheezy-Those before and after pictures look pretty easy to read to me. It's definately working. I mean the after picture is worlds better! I'd like to see the entire pond if you have any pictures to post. Also call me stupid but how do you post pictures on here? I was going to add some but it appears you have to have them already posted on a weblink and publish them?? The pics you guys are adding appears to be cut and pasted right into the email body but when I try to paste one in it's not an option.

Thanks.

belkins456:

Here ya go!
How to post images

Yes, the pics do show allot of improvement but I've seen similar results before. See this post: http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=11368&Number=125508#Post125508

After that post, my pond went the rest of the year without showing any signs of seepage. Unfortunately this spring, there was water standing at the toe of the dam again. So I'm still a little bit hesitant to say the seepage problem is solved. I'm really really really hoping that this time it is fixed.

I can say for sure that the DB-100 works real well at clarifying the water. Seechi disk reading this morning was 28 inches.

Here is a pic of my pond belkins456.



Hope you can figure out how to post pics. I can't wait to see your pond and 'boat load of fun' : )

Belkin456, you are looking at 2 loads of stone that cost around a thousand. We have since put two more loads on the opposite end(where i was standing taking the picture) to help catch the runoff from the adjacent field.The bank was dug back some and the stone was laid. No underlayment was used and besides a few strays, the stone is staying in place. The bottom pool is around three feet,but is going fast, we presume well be dry here soon and ready to do some work on compacting.

Cheezy- After seeing that pic i'm too embarrassed to post my pics now! ha ha That is a gorgeous pond! I love the gazebo and deck around it, plus the arched bridgway out. Looks like you were blessed with a good flat area all the way around as well for some nice easy access. I wasn't so lucky since i live in KY where it's all "hills and hollars". The area in front of my house is more a a bowl (hole) that had about a foot of water standing in it and was an algae pit when we built our house so I was forced to take on a clean out project. I envisioned it surrounded in rip rap, finish mowed and nice foutain out in middle but instead i've had more of a muddy, seeping leaking, money pit that has just now started to hold water after almost 2 years. Hopefully thanks to the new product we have discovered I can send you some presentable pics in the near future. I don't think I will be able to top the island Gazebo though ... :-( P.S. I don't see why you are complaining about water clarity. I can practically see to the bottom in that pic!! Nice pic ..thanks for posting.

thank you very much. It has been allot of hard work. I've been holding off on doing too much more with it until I get the leak fixed for sure. Wish I would have known more about pond building before it was built. There was not enough runoff to support the size so allot of changes were made to help keep water in it.

I'm sure your vision will be reality soon enough and it will be a beauty. Can't wait to see the pics.

Looked like a mud puddle before I started applying the DB-100. It did a great job of clearing the water.

Just talked with Doug and Pond Doctors and he is going to send me some DB to help on maybe sealing my pond. He is suggesting adding Bentonite to his material as it is applied.

My pond is about 120' x 120' and 9' deep at its deepest point when full and when full loses 3 vertical inches a day and that slows to 1/2 to 1" a day when not quite half way down.

Here is a photo of me helping mother nature top it off with my trash pump in early May.

Beautiful pond jed58. Hope the DB-100 solves your problem. Let us know if it works for you.

Really pretty pond! The setting is beautiful! Are you pumping that water from a nearby stream? My pond used to do the same thing. The more water it got in it the more hydrostatic pressure and the faster it would leak. DB-100 has greatly reduced that...hope you have the same results! Keep us posted.

Thanks....In the upper right of the picture you can see my neighbors small pond with an island. It is fed by a seasonal stream and that is where I pump from.

Hoping the DB does the job. I plan on using no more than 24 gallons which costs right at $1,000, plus may use bentonite with it. The quoted price for ESS-13 was $6,100 plus shipping and I cannot go for that at this time.

The quoted price for my ~.75 acre pond using ESS-13 was over 12k. I spent $756 on DB-100 : )

" Wish I would have known more about pond building before it was built."

Ditto to that but it has helped keep me challenged, moving, reading and thinking. Will be much smarter on the next one in Texas.

Then when tired on a summer evening like last night, I just set and watch the mamma mallard and babies glide around on it, the barn swallows dip and dive around it and into it and the other birds use the edge for drinking and bug catching.....The Killdeer have hatched their young for the year and moved on for this season.

God is good.

I was about to say Jed58, $6100 is a steal on ESS-13! My quote i'm thinking was closer to 12-14k range!! That stuff has small particles of Gold and Platinum dust in it that help seal off the bottom ..that has to be it! If you can get that pond sealed for only a thousand dollars I would be very happy! It's a great pond! I think we all wished we'd known more about pond building before hand but hey that's what makes life interesting...you learn as you go. I would definately recommend adding bentonite with it if you have the extra money. Any organic matter or material the DB-100 has to attach to...all the better for the sealing capabilites.

Beautiful pond Jed. I like the irregular shape,

I've spread 750lbs of lime small rock/dust, 500lbs bentonite, 80lbs salt, and 6gal DB-200. The DB was easiest to spread, used a small Scott's hand spreader. The water is pumping and pond was approaching 2' deep (excluding a 10'X16' 30" hole) when I left this eve. As the water rises and covers the DB-200 granules, they expand to a goohy white spoltch about the size of a marble. With a 6gal application over a .2acre surface, the DB-200 appears to be forming a (edit 6/30) thim film, similiar to snow or sleet; looking at a distance all is blanketed in white, yet close up some places are spotchy. Price for 6gal DB-200 and 6gal DB100 about $430. That's hundreds, not thousands.

A soil engineer came by to do a perk test for septic, he said my soil perked so well that the pond would have to have some help to seal. He got pretty tickled trying to wash off 2 drops of DB-100. That stuff can get funny. Be sure not to have any machinery down in your pond basin after applying the stuff, KY jelly ain't got nuttin' on DB.

My laptop died and I'm on vacation far from my home computer, so I don't know if I can provide pictures until mid-August when I return to Bako. Boy, I'm hopeful right now, we'll see.

6/30 update May be able to get pictures with my cell phone though its' camera is poor and today's foto washed out. Well only produces 6gpm and so pond is filling slowly. Today the water level reached 4 & 1/2 ft. We only got .67" rain this June, the average is 5" You can hear the soil fairly sucking up the moisture. If it doesn't rain I may not be able to top off the pond

7/4 Water level is 5ft and climbing! I spend 2 days in the camper by the pond and 1 day away. On my away day, no water pumped. Daily level only drops 1&1/2" whereas 2&1/4" in the past. This is in spite of the soil wicking up lots of aqua due to a lack of rain. Too early to judge though.