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I think my soil testing to see how much water it could hold is done.I did two test,the top soil held about 53% of it's own weight and the better clay held about 74%.I know my test isn't the same as the real world but I found it interesting to get some idea how much water it could hold.It holds more than I thought it would.

Last edited by Bobbss; 03/19/18 01:59 PM.

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I think the rain is pretty much over for me for the day.I ended up with about 1.15" at my house,not to bad.I had something going on this evening so I had to go check on the pond earlier than I wanted to.I probably only got about another .08" or so after I checked on, but the water was still running in pretty good.I will check it in the morning but I think I'll end up with about a foot of water added.


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Bob,
Leaking ponds are so frustrating! If my efforts to stop the leak this year do not work, I am inclined to have it filled back in and go into hay field. Maybe it's once a leaker, always a leaker?

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John, I hope it don't come to that!


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Bob, I'll bet your pond holds water alright. It may evolve into a slow leak like mine has done. It's not ideal, but I can live with it. Mine is 15' deep, so even if I lose 4' of water, I think I've still got enough there to keep the fish alive. It's not as nice to look at as it is when it's full, but I'm still happy it's there. Maybe it will seal itself a little better over time. I'm still thinking you are early in the game. Don't lose hope.
Jeff

Last edited by SetterGuy; 03/20/18 11:04 AM.

9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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My old refurbished pond was likely originally built some time before I was born (64 years ago soon). I remember as a teenager my dad contracting a neighbor that had a D7 to break the dam and clean it out. That pond always had a seep on the back side of the dam. I know because there was a spot probably ten feet in diameter that we did not mow with the bush hog unless it was the driest of times or the mowing tractor would get stuck. Don't ask me how I know. It was a cattle watering pond although there were many days it had secondary use as fishing and swimming.

Point is that pond always had a leak or at least a seep. According to my NRCS guy lots and lots of farm cattle watering ponds have those seeps on the back side of the dam. He gave us plans for a core trench to help prevent that when we built our main pond. The seep was never enough to seriously detract from the ponds main use.

When I rebuilt it a few years ago I completely dug down the face side of the dam and added probably three or four times the material on the back side of the dam to both try and stop the seep and also make the slope safe for mowing. It had always been too steep to mow the back slope. I also dug down as deep with the dozer as I could where the seep had been before adding the additional dam material over it and compacting. I either 1. stopped the seep (because it is no longer wet there) or 2. pushed the leak lower down the bank where it seeps into a seasonal creek right behind the pond. But at any rate, either fixed or transferred to a new area, it is no longer wet on the back side of the dam.

Point is ponds can have small leaks or seeps and they can still work for many years. When the leak is too big to keep the pond at proper levels or the leak is such that it leaks enough to cause dam erosion and eventual failure then the leak is a big problem.

As long as the water is not flowing enough to cause erosion in the leak area, there is hope that sediment will eventually fill the pores enough that the leak will be only a minor seep. If the leak is fast enough to erode soil, it likely will only get worse.

Last edited by snrub; 03/20/18 10:21 AM.

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Thanks Jeff and John!I haven't given up all hope yet and will always have some.lol!I don't really have hope that the bentonite will help, but after seeing how much water my soil will hold, I have a fair amount of hope that the dam will hold and I just haven't got enough water yet to saturate everything in front of the dam.I have seen no signs of water getting past the dam yet.Until I do,I feel like I should have a fair chance that it will hold.
I need to get enough rain to see if it's going to hold, or enough to figure out where it's leaking if it's not going to hold.It looks like we may have a good chance for some rain coming up in a few days, so maybe by this time next week I'll know more.
Jeff, I think I've said this before but I'll be more than happy if my pond turns out as good as yours!If it will hold well enough to keep fish alive, it's better than no pond!


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Due to having ponds and watching rainfall closely for the past three years or so, I am going to become an official rainfall reporter for the NWS.

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Well if the bentonite won't help the way I used it, maybe things are starting to get saturated.I was loosing about 3" every 24 hours, and I only loss about 3/4" or less in the last 24" hours.I know that's not great but it seems to be a step in the right direction.There isn't a lot of water in it right now but it has a few more inches in it than when I pumped it down to work on it and it was still loosing water when I pumped it out.If after I get a few more feet of water in it, and it still holds this well, I'll start feeling a lot better about my chances of it holding ok in the long run.


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My newest pond built 12/16 leaked last spring, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch a day. It was low all fall and winter, but filled again over three weeks ago. It doesn't seem to be leaking at all now, after a year of settling and haying equipment driving on the dam.

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Great news for both of you.


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John, I hope mine does that good.I always figured it would leak a little at first and slowly get better.As deep as my pond is,if it didn't loose more than a 1/2" a day,it might look like crap but I could go a long time without rain and not have to worry to much about fish dying.


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Yes. My first pond is 11 feet deep when full, but leaks down to about 8-8.5 feet deep and stops. It looks really bad then with exposed structure, but is not that dangerous for the fish.

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Good news all around! Now, a little more rain would be icing on the cake. lol


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Thanks Jeff,I don't want to get my hopes up to high yet but I feel better about things than I did.We have a lot of chances for rain in the forecast so hopefully will get some out of all of it.lol!


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Jeff, I was watching channel 2 news this morning and they say the rain should be starting later today and it looks like you should be getting even more up at your pond!
At my pond there is still no change,still dropping at the same new slower rate,it may be slowing down a little more but I can't say for sure.


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Chairman, Pond Boss Legacy award; Moderator; field correspondent
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Bobbss if you suspect a leak feel free to ping me - my time is free to all PondBoss family and I've worked on dozens of leaking pond projects the past 3 years. Happy to chat anytime!


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Originally Posted By: Bobbss
Jeff, I was watching channel 2 news this morning and they say the rain should be starting later today and it looks like you should be getting even more up at your pond!
At my pond there is still no change,still dropping at the same new slower rate,it may be slowing down a little more but I can't say for sure.


I'm hoping. Everything seems fine as far as fish are concerned, but it sure looks a lot better when full.
FYI, I used some of TJs soilfloc (see post above) I believe it has helped to slo down my leak. I wish someone made something for rain production. wink (I know,, a well, but that's way out of budget limits!)


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Thanks TJ!I'm hoping things are getting better,at least they seem to be.I'm hoping my biggest problem was the drought, and that things are starting to saturate.I hope to get enough rain soon, so I can tell better.

Jeff,if I ever get a major increase in my budget, a well would be at the top of my list.lol!


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I got .90" of rain last night that gave me right at 11" more in the pond.They just said that rain is coming back in on Monday morning and that we should get around 2.78" before it stops on Wednesday!


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Good news Bob. I think we got .5" up at our place. So far none of the rains have had any runoff, so pond basically gains .5". More coming though, so I'm hopeful. I was with my son yesterday four wheeling down near Farmington. We were supposed to get rain the whole day. We ended up with just a couple of showers in the afternoon. No telling how much we will end up getting up north. It changes hourly. It does look like the farmers will get enough to put some moisture back in the soil though.

Hope your water level is holding.


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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No rain at all here. Only 0.2 inches so far this month.

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Thanks Jeff,were you riding at St. Joe? I almost lost my leg riding there.
When I checked the pond yesterday,I think it was over 6 hours after the heavy rain had stopped,not that I really seen or looked, but there was probably still a small amount trickling in.When I checked it today (about 26 hours later) it was still right at the same level.These last 2 rains haven't been big enough to get run off from above the sediment pond, the heavy woods soaked it all up.As wet as things are now, and as much rain as they say we might get over the next few days, I'm thinking I should get some really good run off.If we get what they say,I think I should see 3'-4'.


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Bob, we were at a place called Washita. Or, that's what it used to be called. It's been bought by a paramilitary training company. They have all kinds of firearm training there now. 1,000 yard shooting lanes. Shooting into cars, etc.. I understand it's expensive..
It used to be a big Offroad riding place. Lots of trails, marked like ski slopes, green, blue, and red (extreme). My son is an avid 4 wheeler/rock crawler.
Looks like more rain today and tomorrow up at our pond. Hoping for more than a 1/4" of gentle rain this time.. Ha!


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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Jeff,I've been to Washita also.There are some pretty rough trails there.

Last night on channel 2 they said we could see 4"-6" around here today and tomorrow and there is a chance of rain almost every day for the next 7 days.Sounds like we should get a lot in the next week.I hope you get a lot up north as well.

I checked on my pond this morning and it is still dropping about the same.I'm guessing that if my biggest problem was it needed to saturate, it will still soak up a lot as it fills.


Bob


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