Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions bentonite question

My wife just got me some bentonite at the coop and as the guy was loading it he told her it would kill the fish if I put in the pond. So, am I nuts or is he?

And before someone says drain the pond, scoop it out, line with bentonite and cover or to plow it, spread and mix it, that ain't gonna happen. I have fish in it and I have a leak. I've read nowhere that this stuff is harmful to fish. Just making sure. My wife is freaking out on me. I mean its just clay, right? notning toxic to humans or fish.

I can't comment on how likely it is a leak will be fixed by pouring bentonite into a pond, but the stuff can't be toxic to fish. At the first PBCon, Overton's big fish tank had sprung a leak. Todd & Clint were dumping in bentonite, thick enough that the water looked like it was half milk, hoping the leak would stop. The whole time all the big, beautiful fish Todd had in the tank swam around AOK.

Bentonite is not toxic to fish at least when present in water at in normal concentrations. I think the guy loading it for your wife had his concepts confused. Bentonite can if poured near a specific spot where a relativel small leak is occurring will be absorbed into the leak area and swell to help slow or even stop a leak. Problem is if this area ever becomes dry (evaporation, drought) and the soil cracks the leak reforms. The success of this leak fixing method has lots of "it all depends" and I would not call it a reliable method.

We are working on a pond inside the permimeter in Atlanta. Bringing in 118,000 lbs of bentonite for a 1/2 acre pond. We plan to lime the pond whe it fills but fish will be just fine without it. You are right it is just clay. Also I doubt the water borne method will work unless you put in quite a large amount in the area.

Thanks for all the encouragement, guys. I know it's shown to be the least effective method but right now the water where I believe the leak to be is maybe 2 feet deep. Maybe it'll stop, maybe it'll slow down. Either way seems better than doing nothing. We'll see but it is shown to work using this method.

This is a dumb suggestion but o' well....read the label and make sure it contains bentonite and nothing else that may be harmful.

bentonite is most notably derived from high silica volcanic glass/ash deposits. processed bentonite contains a high concentration of silica and typically sodium. processed bentonite comes in many forms (powders, gels, chips), most are pure bentonite and non toxic. However, some bentontie products are coated so it can be applied through water. the coating keeps the bentonite from swelling right away. the coatings can contain methanol, ethanol, and some other not so nice things but likely not in concentrations sufficient to kill yer fish.

See this thread on the subject.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=54844&fpart=1

Well, I didn't see much on that thread but I also had the idea of making a mud out of it after I saw how fine it was and that it floated long enough to spread too much. I sprinkled some one day and went back the next day and and saw, since it was lighter than my clay, that it had kind of surrounded a hole that I could not otherwise see. As soon as I have a helper (in case I get stuck in the mud) I'll mix some up and see if i can pour in the hole. I may also try quickcrete. That may fill the bulk of it. I'm still not 100% sure that's the leak but it sure looks like it could be.

The reason I asked this question to begin with is that my wife called me in a panic after she left Coop and said when the guy loaded it some of it puffed out of the bag and got on the bed of her precious truck. She wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be eaten by this toxic substance when she unloaded it at the barn and/or tried to clean out her truck (even though a human just loaded it for her). She's seen way to many horror movies. I just wanted to tell her all the pond experts here assured me it was not toxic to her and would not kill the fish.

Basically I think the conversation went like this:

wife: my husband needs some bentonite for his pond
dufuss: here ya go. this is what everbody uses in their pond
wife: thanks
dufuss: if you put it in the pond it'll kill your fish

So basically he told her everybody intentionally killed all their fish in their ponds. Nice. That's salesmanship.

bentonite is basically old volcanic ash that weathered to clay.

it really is not toxic in terms of how we usually think about toxic substances but if you get a face full of the powdered stuff it can be really irritating to nose throat and eyes....it is very high in silica, and there are probably warnings on the bags about prolonged exposure...silicosis...etc...

good luck on that leak oldcane.

Three things come to mind:

1. It's amazing how much misinformation you can get from sales people.

2. DIED sure knows a ton of stuff about dirt and rocks and chemicals and such.

3. I believe dufus is actually spelled doofus (and no my photo does not appear next to the definition so don't even go there).

Normally I do check spelling but I think I had another word stuck in my mind that started with a d and ends with ss but I figured that wouldn't be good to use in this forum.