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I will do that otto. I left him a message and haven't heard back yet.

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I got permission to post the contact information:

AG LANDSCAPE
918-447-4566
Steve Niemeyer

I found some 50lb bags of powdered hydrated lime close to me for $6.93 a bag. For that price I think it is worth a try. When it warms up a little I'll give it a try and post my results. Of course I plan on starting out real slow and monitoring the PH real close because I don't want to kill any fish. However, if it does seal the leak while killing all the fish...I wouldn't be too disappointed.

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So an application rate of ~5 lbs per square foot. So my 1/2 acre pond would require 10,000 pounds


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ANy updates on the lime approach?


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Sorry, I've been working on getting some estimates for the toe drain. For me, the most logical solution is the toe drain which should resolve my problem. I know it doesn't stop the seepage but atleast I will be able to divert the water where I want it and prevent the toe of the dam from eroding.

Now for the hydrated lime, I do plan on trying it but not until it gets warmer. I would guess around late March depending on the weather. I'm going to start off with a low amount to see how much impact it has on the PH. I don't intend on killing any fish : )

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I wanted to post an updated picture of my pond. The summer of 09 just about dried up what little water we had(pic above). We applied DB 200 to the entire bottom around Nov. Here is last week after the thaw and only 2 inches of rain this year so far.


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How deep is the pond now? How did you apply the DB-200? How did you roll it?


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The north end is 6' and at the dock is 32". It was recommended to roll the DB200 but we only applied it to the bottom using a grass seed spreader. This is the first the entire bottom has been covered.

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THanks for the response, thinking of using DB-200 when I redo the pond this summer.


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Update on water level. Over one week we lost 3" of water. The most recent rains brought the level back up and an additional 2", still leaving the water level 36" to full pool (pic is above). This is the highest the pond has been so far. Any thoughts.

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Steve, on the surface it kind of sounds good, but I'm not sure if you've given enough detail for us to help with our "thoughts".

You lost 3" of water in one week, that sounds so so. Maybe it's just wicking. But then you mention it is at full pool. That sounds great. Keep us posted with your levels so we can maybe help.

Good luck.


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A good rain will raise the pond around 5"-9". I presume the pond is wicking as well. We are holding right at half pool or 37" below full pool. Since we have added 6 gal of DB-100 and a few hundred pounds of kitty liter.



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Steve i hope the DB100 does the trick for you, pond leakage can drive you crazy.

A few hundred pounds of kitty litter?, you must spend a fortune on cat food.



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I'd like to know how he trained the catfish to use it.


www.hoosierpondpros.com


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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Tried DB-100 last year and bentonite years before and my pond is still leaking this year. After talking to Bob and discussing the idea of a toe trench (french drain)....I decided that I would have one installed this year. So far it seems to be the best investment I've made to deal with my seepage. Pond still leaks but atleast the water goes where I want it. Only wish I would have done it sooner.

Here is a pic of the north side trench.



Here is a pic of the water being diverted (before gravel and pipe was added).



Here is a pic of a trophy and there were more which is most likely the cause for the seepage.



I may experiment with other magic 'stop leak' solutions later but for now I'm happy to mow without any problems.

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Here is my story.
My pond was built 2005. First year had only a puddle of water in it. The second year it had somewhat bigger puddle. It would go up about a foot after heavy rain and drop a foot in a day or two. I bought 14 tons of bentonite and hired a guy with bulldozer to apply it. He spread it with fertilizer spreader all over the pond surface (except the puddle), mixed it in with a disk and covered it with about 1 to 1.5 ft of clay. Then I bought 150 gal of ESS-13 and poured it into the pond in hope to stop the remaining leakage.
The pond held more water (about 3/4 full) but was still leaking 1 to 1.5 inch/day depending on water level. I also realized that the watershed of my pond was marginal about 6 to 1 as opposed recommended ratio for our area between 10 and 20 to 1. Therefore about three weeks ago I dug about 800ft of trench crossing the adjacent slope bringing in water from another 7 ac making the total watershed about 11 ac. Since then we got more than 6" of rain and the pond is first time, though still leaking, completely full.
The general area my place is located has excellent materials for pond building. All my neighbors have non-leaking ponds. In fact I had to spend extra money for special septic due to non-permeable soil. As the bad luck has it the ravine I used as base for the pond had at least 20 ft of sand several feet under the surface clay. While the contractor was building the dam they dug themselves trough the clay to the sand and caused all the trouble. The guy used several tons of bentonite to cover the sand and placed several ft of clay on the top but year later I found a hole covered only thin layer of clay in one side of the pond. The good thing was that I ended up with a pond about double the surface area than originally planned because to complete the dam they had to get material from the side of the ravine making the pond about 0.7 ac.
I will make few more attempts to find the leak but at this point it is mostly wait and see how it will behave and hope that it will get better with time.
If it will still leak unacceptably I will try traditional way used in fish farms at the area I grew up at. Cows or horse manure. It supposedly promotes growth of bacteria that looks like slime sealing the seepage. Perhaps even clean biomass such as grass or straw could work too. I am thinking about spreading it in the winter on frozen pond and let it sink at spring.


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Last edited by Ladia; 07/25/10 09:20 PM.

We live in a barn (aircraft hanger) converted to a house.
0.7 ac leaky pond.
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Sorry to hear about your leak Ladia and I hope you find it. I'm curious about your ESS-13 application. I thought there was a guarantee with the product? Did you ask the manufacturer?

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I called them and they said that if it was a soil issue there is no way the pond would leak after the application. They suggested some structural problem. My suspicion is that the leak is around the hydrant pipe but it is impossible to check until spring when the water is clean to see what is there. I will report on the progress.


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Ladia, if you can find the source of the leak you can probably fix it. Good luck and keep us posted.

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update on pond repair (attention OTTO)--to fill in readers-- originally built pond 3 yrs ago--leaked badly--two summers ago cleaned out two ft of bottom and packed red clay---last summer was going to try a trench and pack it with red clay (mini core if you will)--rain begain and my spring began to run so waited till this summer---changed plans and decided to dig out face of dam and tie in another 2 to 3ft of red clay to that already in bottom of pond and up app. 1/2 the face of the dam--waded pond to locate any "soft spots" found a couple--dropped pond then cleaned out soft spots and bottom 3rd of dam and put in red clay--packed as best we could using bucket of trac hoe-- in soft spots sandwiched in some kitty litter+DB200 between layers of red clay---i already had the kitty litter and db200 or would have simply used the red clay as my experiments show little improvement using those against the red clay alone-- that said you must have good availability of quality clay to try this. spent 6,500 on first cleanout of bottom and lining--added another 2,700 on this effort--total spent on pond now app. 40k for 1 3/4 acre so this will wind up my efforts for a long time to come---will keep this updated. my advice--before building a pond and dam read this site well--know what to look for in clay to core the dam correctly--don't believe everything your contractor tells you ---make them do it like you want it done for once they are gone they are usually gone and accept no blame.... p.s. first lining of pond bottom helped a lot so that lead to decision to continue along the same lines...

Last edited by ga pond rookie; 08/20/10 02:20 PM. Reason: add more info
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Originally Posted By: ga pond rookie
my advice--before building a pond and dam read this site well--know what to look for in clay to core the dam correctly--don't believe everything your contractor tells you ---make them do it like you want it done for once they are gone they are usually gone and accept no blame....


Very well said ga pond rookie. I quoted it to emphasize your words.

We've heard from more than one prospective pond owner that has hired a dirt mover to build a pond. It is quite an art to build a pond that will effectively hold water and to provide the other essential requirements to make the pond a productive fishing spot (shoreline slope, bottom contour, etc). Fortunately we have access to some of the best experts in the nation right here on Pond Boss.


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thanks jeff --i really hope that comment helps some folks on this forum--Otto was helpful in discussing and offering his opinions in the past so i am hoping he sees these posts. Another thing i did this year is to put a 8" valve in my siphon pipe on the pond side of the dam (originally put it on back side but it forced my siphon pipe to leak on the back due to pressure)so i put it on the front top and have a 8" pipe with cap to allow me to get water tool down to it to open and close as needed. no need to open yet. smile that should allow me to fill the pond to the very top and use just the run around or in heavy rains open the valve some as well if i have to. my goal is to be able to go into next summer when my spring stops with a pond full of water. this pond was built mainly for aesthetics but also to occasionally fish. my original dirt mover came down and dug all around the site in 12 or so locations to see what kind of clay we had and assured me what we had was good. afterward he said "well we knew the site wasn't the best". grrr.

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Part I of this article, we discussed easy to find the leak, which occupy very little time to explore, and we went through a large number of potential leak points. Time is money, as they say, and we want to be the most effective way to find the losses to our clients.

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Originally Posted By: ga pond rookie
thanks jeff --i really hope that comment helps some folks on this forum--Otto was helpful in discussing and offering his opinions in the past so i am hoping he sees these posts. Another thing i did this year is to put a 8" valve in my siphon pipe on the pond side of the dam (originally put it on back side but it forced my siphon pipe to leak on the back due to pressure)so i put it on the front top and have a 8" pipe with cap to allow me to get water tool down to it to open and close as needed. no need to open yet. smile that should allow me to fill the pond to the very top and use just the run around or in heavy rains open the valve some as well if i have to. my goal is to be able to go into next summer when my spring stops with a pond full of water. this pond was built mainly for aesthetics but also to occasionally fish. my original dirt mover came down and dug all around the site in 12 or so locations to see what kind of clay we had and assured me what we had was good. afterward he said "well we knew the site wasn't the best". grrr.



If your pipe was leaking on the backside, I would get those joints sealed or it may not siphon at all, just drain like a normal pipe. There is actually very little "PSI" pressure on the pipe, just the vertical weight of the water.



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To those who have commented on their leaky ponds and techniques of repair. I ask, how are your ponds doing so far this year? My parents acre pond is the fullest its ever been only 20" from being full (pic above from last spring). We applied the rest of the DB-100 we had. We expect with the rainy months ahead we should make it to full pool. This is only the second spring the pond has seen with all runnoff directed to it so we are catching everything we can. The question is will it hold?

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