Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Gypsum and seepage?

The bags of gypsum that I saw at the store say they are for "Loosenes clay soils. Increases water and air penetration." Isn't this exactly what I don't want? Will adding gypsum to clear muddy water lead to increased seepage or possibly even leaks through a clay liner. Will it make leak repair more difficult? If so are there any alternatives that do not have such side effects? I just got the darn thing to fill and I would hate to cause it to start leaking.

I also saw a web site that said not to use gypsum if you used a soil dispersant to seal your pond. I haven't. I have quite a thick layer of clay going. But the clay is permanently suspended due to current water chemistry. I took a gallon jar of muddy water and it did not clear in a week. Some gypsum cleared it but left it a tiny bit milky. I don't mind milky white as it would lead to a beautiful blue cast to the water due to the fact that blue scatters better than other wavelenghts.

I also want to clear the water so I can make a visual inspection for leaks. So far I have found and fixed 15 leaks in up to 6 feet of water. But I have had to do so blind. I went from 7 gal/min leaks, to 3, to 8, to 100, to 30, to 15... as the pond filled and found new cracks and small cracks opened up deep in the very muddy water. I now have some quite ingenious ways of finding leaks, learned the hard way. The pond is full but I am not out of the water yet because it rained hard and it is difficult for me to tell what my balance of inflow, outflow is since there is water running everywhere. I just think a visual inspection would be much easier.

Hey Brian, I don't know much about gypsum, but your post has prompted me to ask you a question. What are your ingenious ways of finding leaks??? I have a similar issue with silty/clay water and although I am not concerned about the colour, finding leaks is an issue even if it wasn't silty I don't have any great ideas on how to do so.
Chris

I don't have much time but.. what I did was measure the temperature of the water leaking out. Then I used a min/max thermometer to determine the depth at which the water matched that temperature. I then took either chest waders or a pole and a canoe depending on the depth of the leak. Mark the depth on your pole or poles and start probing where the water is that deep. Can't do on windy day with canoe. Having to probe only at the proper depth reduces search area considerably. When found use five gallon bucket which has rope tied to handle and to hole drilled in bottom. Fill with wet mud and lower using rope attached to handle. Then pull on other rope to flip bucket and shake until mud comes out. Bottom hole where rope attaches should be on the side of bucket so it is not completely verticle. I dump about 8 buckets of wet clay then push down all around using garden rake then broken up dry clay on top. It works.

This method will only work if you have a clay bottom. If your pond is seeping because the entire bottom is to porous then the leak will not form a hole or pit to probe for.

By the way... it is much harder to find a leak with the pole than the chest waders. I found many leaks with the chest wader in less than 15 minutes. I just purchased a dry suit (with no valves) so I can go in deeper water. I tried it last week and found two small leaks. I think that I only have a few more to go. My contractor visited the pond and it just filled this wednesday. I am not celebrating until I am sure there are no more leaks.