Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Bentonite first...Now a Sealing Polymer...?

I can get my grass carp to easily come to small pieces of bread thrown in the pond. Don't see why you couldn't put a hook in a piece and catch them that way for your relocation.

Something that we need to keep in mind. No pond stays full all the time, Evaporation gets some, all dirt leaks. The term acceptable level is a good one.

Good advice Mike. Is there any level anyone would like to say is acceptable? I just tested mine yesterday and it lost a half inch in 24 hrs. Actually about 5/8" but we has 1/8" evaporation that day according to the bucket I had sitting out. Is .5" normal for dirt to lose?

I think for a new pond 5/8" is acceptable. More than in inch is not. It also depends on how deep the pond is, and how much flow you get back into the pond to replenish the loss. You may find over time as things settle that your losses will slow, and be even more acceptable.

In my case I was loosing about an inch per day when the pond was new and I had no inflow. Now the pond dam seems to have settled some, and the loss rate is lower, though I don't know how low yet. The inflow has not yet stopped.

I'm clear with Mike and Bob to promote the product. Feel free to PM me and we can set up a time to chat. Happy to help anyone with information or advice.

I just can't wrap my mind around such a thin layer of any polymer sealing a pond for very long at all. I also envision any time the bottom is walked on, the seal gets broken, etc. Like Bentonite, I'd feel much more confidence in it, if it were tilled into the best soils and compacted in a 2 foot thick blanket.

Good point, and if the product worked that way, it would be a concern. However, the product isn't designed to act as a liner or blanket, rather it enters the fissure as water escapes through it and carries the linear and crosslink polymers where they expand and seal. The fissure is stopped below the bottom/side of pond - it's not a blanket like you're thinking. If a pond is entirely permeable and holds no water whatsoever, I don't think this treatment would be effective for the reasons you cite.

Product can be applied during construction [dry] or after [wet]. The biggest benefits are that it's non toxic to fish, can be applied to full pond, don't need to drain seine, dry out and spend thousands on reconstruction, and it costs a fraction of ESS 13.

I don't know how long the seal lasts,and that part does concern me. However, for the minute amount of product I needed to treat my pond I wouldn't mind applying it annually if I had to - I'll still be way ahead using the well. I will be saving myself millions of gallons of water and thousands in electric bills pumping water into that formerly leaking pond over the next several years. For the price and ease of application, it was definitely worth the effort and cost in my scenario.

Can it be used as a "liner" for some sieve of a gravel pit? I don't know, but then again I don't think anything will fix a pond like that - it just shouldn't have been built in the first place, probably.

Or that gravel area plated over with clay when the pond was constructed!

It works a lot like ESS 13 for a fraction of the cost. Think of it like pond dye which finds the leaks and escapes through it...same logic, it just plugs, expands, and seals instead of releasing through the fissure.

I haven't promoted this product until I used it on a few projects and researched it extensively and spoken to several customers who have also solved their issues. $432 worth of product solved my problem where two dozer/backhoe/trackhoe repair projects and $3500 later did nothing - plus I got to drain, seine, and dry my pond out over 3 months....twice. Good times.

TJ

Now that they've given you the okay, are you a distributor for the stuff, or do you have a source to recommend for everyone?








Now that the rains have subsided here in central OK, I need to get a measuring stick back in my pond and check its levels daily as I was before...

Now granted my pond would probably still be considered new, I drive around and see many ponds that dont appear to drop any, or at least enough to tell. I know all the ones I see cant be well fed, and I am only talking about noticing their levels when we've had no rainfall...


I honestly feel like 1/2" of water lost per day in winter is too much. Over 2 acres, thats over 27,000 gallons a day disappearing. That is more water than a normal size in ground swimming pool....

See my post made tonight on forum. Feel free to pm me for help anytime.

All great info.

When I talked to one of the reps for the product, they assured me that the material does bio-degrade over time, but it also captures minute particles out of the water during the sealing process and brings them along to form the seal. When the material finally disappears after a few years, a natural plug )not quite as good as the polymer plus particles) will remain. The thinking was if the leak is still a problem, re-apply again and more natural material is brought in.

My thinking has been that my pond filled very quickly before the dam had a chance to settle, preventing the soil from compacting under its own weight. This buoyancy allowed water to perc through the dam, maintaining the seepage and the buoyancy. If I were to plug the seeps with polymer, the soils of the dam could drain/dry properly in the summer, and then the soil may be able to better compact without water in the way. Not saying it would be tight as a drum, but reduced leakage.

Perhaps my thinking is off, but a lot of leaking dam problems seem to be associated with quick fills.

I am now waiting for the inflow to stop to get a gauge in how much seepage I have this year. If I am still losing an inch a day, I will likely nuke the chara and apply polymer.

TJ, I'll be PMing you when I get some time to plan my approach.

I'm curious about some general questions though. There seems to be at least 2-3 similar 'self sealing polymer' products with different names. Is the polymer all the same and marketed under different brands or are there different 'shapes' of the polymer or different strength 'bonding' of the polymer to the dirt? Why the huge cost variations from one vendor to the next?

Squid if I can help at all, feel free to contact me. I'm far from an expert, but have been learning a lot through my trials and research.

Canyon feel free to PM me and we can set up a time to chat - I'd like to finally meet you, anyhow. About time, you've been here a couple years already, and I want to talk about Jim Harbaugh.

From what I could tell is some sources are expensive, others are cheap but the same stuff. Otherwise they had different styles of polymers: One for outright leaks with respectable flow, and another for seeps like mine. If I remember correctly, the leak version forms a fairly jelly-like slippery globs to jam up larger holes, and the seep style is like slug ooze and flows a bit so it can penetrate small pores.