Last weekend we built a small pond, 18' x 24' x 3' deep, filled once with hose but was dry within 24 hours. We think the problem is failure to compact properly,
How did you build the pond? If you dug a hole in the ground, then the undesturbed soil is already compacted in most cases. If you built a dam, how did you build it?
Where did the water go? did it soak into the ground? Did it go through the dam?
Compacting soil is a science that can be very expensive, but it is not the same as making sure your soil will hold water. Saying that it's red and that your neighbor has a pond that holds water doesn't have anything to do with the dirt on your land.
To properly compact clay soil, you need a way to both mix it up and vibrate it. A sheepsfoot roller is ideal for clay, but as also mentioned, a jumping jack works great too. You are not just beating the soil so it will become hard, you are mixing it up to create an overlapping, solid barrier. If there is sand, rock or roots right under the clay, it wont matter how much effort you put into compacting it, it's gonna leak.
Find the leak and figure out why it's leaking. Compaction might work, but it could also be something else. Until you know why it's leaking, you will never be able to fix it.
Good luck,
Eddie
