Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Using a Polymer to seal my pond-Follow up

So Several of you have been asking for a follow up on my polymer experience. I have been waiting because I wanted to make sure the performance was consistent over time.

I started pond construction this spring. One of the things I did (which was the cause of my headache) was install a drain that went under the dam. I did use bulkheads as I learned here, but when I dug the trench, I hit a vein of sand. When I back filled, I did not compact in lifts like I knew I should have, but I did a compacted layer over the trench with clay and thought it would be enough.

I started filling the pond in July when the monsoon started and was also using the well. I saw a good consistent increase in water level every time I went up. Then we had a couple significant rain events and my water level went up about ten to 15 feet, up over my drain and about 4 feet up the dam. At this point I was very excited. Although the pond was very muddy, it was almost full. Everything I had been dreaming about.

I went up a week later and to my dismay I had lost almost a foot of water. That's 325,000 gallons of water. Way to much for my poor little well to keep up with at 6 gal/min. So I contacted Sandra at Aqua Ben and told her my situation. I told her I had clay type soil so she sold me a product that was designed to fix my leak. She recommended I treat the whole pond area just to make sure I wasn't missing the leak. I was confident the leak was around the dam area but I obeyed and applied as directed. Within 2-3 days the leak appeared to have stopped altogether. I was thrilled. Sandra continued to call and follow up to make sure it was working.
Then, I started to see significant water loss again. It wasn't near as fast as before but I was losing water under the dam. I had a little pond forming on the back side of the dam. I called Sandra and she told me that happens when the hole is bigger than clay material and she made me up a new batch of polymers that were more coarse grain so they would get sucked in and expand even larger. I applied this second batch to the front of the dam area quite heavily and much to my pleasure, my water level came to an abrupt halt. So far so good. It's cold now and Sandra said the product works much slower in the cold water but it seems to be holding. I hope that it continues to work as the pond warms up!

Now for the side affects.

As I applied the product, there was a definite learning curve. I learned to wait in between layered applications or I would create a slimy film over top of the pond. It was nasty to the touch, but more important, it would blow to one end of the pond and create a build up of slime. Any minnow that swam into it would be captured and if it didn't exit quickly would end up suffocating and die. The upside to that film was that it completely coated the clay soil around the edge of the pond and stabilized it. When the wind would blow hard or my kids where in the boat making waves I didn't get any turbidity kicking up around the edges like I did before. Also, it completely flocked my pond. I went from 1 inch of visibility to 2 feet of visibility.
The down side was when I was in the pond a week later getting something off of the bottom there was some residual slime that would kick up as I walked through.
So far so good. My water level has stabilized and I even got some flock tabs to put in my pond and the ditch that fills my pond so the big rain events won't ruin my water any more. I have not had a chance to test those but as soon as we get a big rain storm, I will report on how well those worked.

Over all, I have been happy with the product and very happy with the service I have received. Sandra seems very vested in my project and it's success.

Great to hear. Thanks for the update.

that is very encouraging. Thank you for the information. I will be contacting them today.

captwho, please keep us informed how the polymer performs and holds up over time. Not many things that are used to seal a pond will make it past the 2nd year after application.

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"captwho, please keep us informed how the polymer performs and holds up over time. Not many things that are used to seal a pond will make it past the 2nd year after application. "


I think the idea is that as the product degrades, the natural processes in the pond generate muck that will maintain plugs for the holes. I'm not sure, but another polymer company told me that.

But, if the water table is high, and water is forced into the pond via the pond bottom, won't the plug be pushed out?

Maybe, but my water table is 500 ft so I won't be able to give any feedback for that. Sorry.

How does that work with clay? That seems like it would be impossible to fix.

captwho. what size is your pond? would you mind sharing cost to repair your leak?

I have a very old lake with a very large, tall dam. The back is much steeper than would be built today. Also, there are many large trees that were allowed to grow all over the dam including the back. Also, there have been beaver on the lake (they are now being "controlled"). Amazingly, the lake holds water well, but there is a slight leak suspected. I don't want see the leak get worse with time, so I'm wondering what can be done proactively without draining the lake ( 18 ac ) and rebuilding the dam. I'm wondering if the leak can be identified before it gets bigger by using dyes, and if treatment with hydrating polymer is appropriate.

My pond is about an acre and it ran me about $1900. That was enough to treat the entire pond but I used it predominantly on the dam where I saw water leaking to the other side.