Snipe, I've talked to TJ a couple of times, he is very helpful. My pond is slowly doing better, but not as fast as I want it to. The next time my water level is high and I have the extra funds and my body is doing well and the weather is warm enough, I plan to try soilfloc if it isn't doing much better. A lot of ifs have to come together to make it work. Lol!
Bob, ponds do build up material that helps to seal them. Clays that settle from run off accumulate not to mention organics. In some parts of world, where clays are not part of the landscape, ponds are sealed on sandy soil with nothing more than manures. So this trend you see will probably continue. The fact that it is a trend is evidence supporting the notion that your leaking problem is diminishing.
I haven't given much consideration between costs of the different approaches one may take. So I don't know the cost of Soil-floc or bentonite for example. It seems like I have read that soil floc comes in two parts and I do wonder why. One thing that occurs to me is that one part floats. IIRC the polymer which absorbs water and is activated by water is what floats. So perhaps the other part is supposed to floc with it and sink the polymer. If this is so, then I do see other possible treatments that may work as well or perhaps even better than soil-floc at less cost.
One thing that comes to mind is bentonite especially in combination with a flocculant like gypsum. The treatment would involve mudding the water and then clarifying the water with the appropriate amount of gypsum. Such a treatment shouldn't adverse affect PH and should ensure the Bentonite makes it to the bottom without flowing out of the pond. The binding with the gypsum should prevent muddying by organisms stirring the sediment. My hunch is that this would work every bit as well as soil floc for long term reduction of filtration.
My father-in-law's place has a small pond on it that was built with box blade. It was built on a slope of a sandy hill and after they had constructed it never held water. A few years after construction, an oil driller asked if they could move a location to the pond (as it was already constructed) in order to dispose of tailings from the cable tool drilling. Now keep in mind, a cable tool doesn't use mud for drilling. But as they pounded their way through shales, a natural mud was created and these were disposed of in the leaky pond. The well was dry and they moved the rig away, but the pond there after held water and was still holding water 60 years hence when he told me about it some 30 years ago.
