Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Pond Leak maybe...solutions

Good stuff all around. Nothing new from me but I'll add a little anyway. I wish I had spent more time researching but there comes a point you learn from doing and then from failing. First time through our 1.25 acre pond, excavator 'compact' maybe by hand or something but not well and it did not hold water. It cost a little bit more but piece of mind was worth it so I found a guy who would rent me a 28,000lb sheepsfoot and a 32,000lb flat shell roller. I bought some DB-200 soil additive and laid down several lifts of marginal clayey soil. There was or is no substitute for the right compacting equipment. It cost about $1,500 for delivery (1 hr away), pick up, gas and rent on machines. I drove them so it saved some money.

Afterwards, the soil wicked for months. I have never seen anything like it nor expected it but all around the banks, the clay sucked upward water, sometimes 12 to 20 inches up the bank. Took awhile to fill 1.25 acres at 20gpm average 5 feet deep but it holds well and the fish are doing nicely.

Last summer I finished the perch pond the same way about 1/4 acre, stocking perch this spring.

piece of mind is to compact properly and hey, driving those rollers was quite a bit of fun!