I just applied one unit of this along my dam last night, which is just over 5000 sq ft of product. I believe my leak is on the face of my dam so I'm attempting to spot treat my first time. I can't tell if it worked yet obviously and won't be able to tell for a couple of weeks when I turn my well off. But wanted to note a few things about the application process while fresh in my mind.
1). Rather than throwing 2 ounces of product out at a time as recommended I put 28 ounces of each product into a hand held fertilizer spreader and spread it. This was approximately enough product to treat 150 sq ft at a time. Since I was only treating 15 ft out from my dam I had alternating flag colors along my dam at every 10 ft. These designated my 150 sq ft units to be treated. 2). We began by anchoring in each unit and spreading the product. But after treating about 4 units the product created a slime so slick we could no longer pull up the anchor. So we had to come up with a Plan B. 3). For the rest of the face of the dam we filled 2 spreaders at a time and found a boat pace that allowed us to apply at about half rate. So we simply drove back over a second time and attained the full rate application. This worked much better. Although if treating an entire pond I think having people controlling the boat with ropes from shore would be the best route to apply thoroughly. 4). Make sure that you have plenty of wet and dry towels in the boat. I don't think there is any way to describe how slick and slimy anything becomes when a small amount of this product gets on it with water. It was nearly impossible to stand in the boat after the first 20 minutes. 5). Put your pets somewhere away from this water for a few hours. My dog drank some and he struggled as it seemed to gum up his throat and he was left puking and coughing for 10-15 minutes. 6). I'd advise wearing eye protection. I got just a bit in my eye and it bothered me for 20-30 min. 7). I lost 20-30 FHMs that were feeding on the surface and had their gills get gummed up due to the polymer. 8). The water seems a different color and quality today. TJ said it would clear my water up, which there seems to be some of. But it also appears to have made it more blue than it has been the last few weeks. It seems to have a similar appearance to when I apply dye. I'm guessing the floculation and settling of suspended particles caused the change.
All in all it took about 2.5 hrs with 2 guys to apply one unit. Although if we would've used the back trolling and spreading method from the beginning I think we could've done it in less than an 90 min. We spent the majority of our time trying to pull up a slimey anchor rope and move to the next treatment area and then coming up with another idea of how to apply the product. If it works it is certainly worth the money, time and effort.
