Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Pond Draining Rapidly

Hello All,

I had my pond cleaned out last fall and they opened it up quite a bit. The pics are in my new comer intro post.

After that they didn't do anything to sides to compact them at all and over the winter and spring it actually overflowed, so I was feeling good. Now its been draining 2 - 3 inches per day. The sides are super mucky, and I can push a stick in the edges 5 - 6 inches. Around the pond the ground is really saturated which leaves me to believe I am losing the water through the walls of the pond.

When they drained it last year the spring kept up with pump they had in there for two days. I am concerned that I won't be able to get the pond drained long enough to get the bottom dry so that I can get some equipment down there...

I was told because there is a spring in the pond that a liner is not possible. So I am planning to go with the Bentonite route but not sure on how to do the compacting as the most I will be able to get at are the walls. I have a walk behind plate compactor and a lawn roller. Anything else I would need to rent or acquire.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I should start? I have not done the bucket drain test yet to find out how much bentonite I need per foot, but that is the plan here as the more of the pond drains out and I can get at more parts of the wall sludge.

Thanks,

HootenWeb


[img:left]https://goo.gl/photos/gHrQggF8yxbeTJDi7[/img]
[img:left]https://goo.gl/photos/4MQhdPDodkGBrjRE8[/img]
[img:left]https://goo.gl/photos/Y1fHroMHsBeDDCch9[/img]

Please look up SoilFloc by Aqua Ben Corporation, and see the SoilFloc thread on this site.

Thanks John.

Looks like the way to go. I didn't even k ow that stuff existed!

I'll keep reading and see what I can come up with. Sound alike TJ is the boss when it comes to this topic so that might be a good start.

Thanks,

Hootenweb

***UPDATE***

After talking to TJ about SoilFloc he gave me some recommendations.

I got the guy that cleaned out my pond back out to give me a quote on draining the pond, capping the spring and putting a liner in it. He told me the pond is at level and he would do that. If we want to dig it deeper we could so it would hold more water.

Its plenty deep and I am going to get a second opinion. So I have calls out to other guys who are willing to quote me what TJ and I discussed on the phone.

I am also in the middle of a season of "Safest Catch" pulling out full minnow traps of crayfish a night.

I will post pictures of these suckers so someone can help identify them as well.

Also I know I have from a previous post Central Mud Minnows, could these be causing turbidity in my pond? Anyone have experience with these? I keep catching them in the minnow traps and the crayfish keep eating 'em...

Currently its about 1 - 2 feet lower than the last pics I posted. I will post more this week.

~HW

Has anyone ever tried "dynamic compaction" on a pond dam? Seems to me it would work well, but don't know how expensive it would be.