Sounds like many have used soilfloc with good results. Does the amount of muck on the bottom impact how well the product works?
Now for my funny, but expensive story on how my leak developed.
Bought house with a .75 acre pond on it in 2005. About 40 feet to the east is a small creek that everyone has run there overflow to. When we arrived there was a basic 12 inch corrugated pipe that carried the overflow to the creek. Happy with what seemed like a healthy pond in place my wife wanted to build an inground pool slightly downgrade from the pond (really the best place for it) so that work was completed and while I was concerned with the pool being down grade of the pond I felt pretty good that the 12 inch corrugated would keep rising water going where we wanted it (to the creek, not the pool).
Anyhow, 1 day after the pool was completed the remnants of Katrina made the trek to southern Ohio which is where I am at. We watched in horror as the 12 inch pipe could not keep up with the rising water, yep, the 1 day old pool, down grade of the pond took on quite a bit of the ponds overflow. When the rains stopped and the chore of clean up began we found blue gill and water snakes happily swimming in the 1 day old pool. Amazingly, flocculent for the pool and lots of vacuuming had the pool looking good again about 3 days later.
So, what does that have to do with a leak, right?
Well, we never wanted to have another situation where the overflow could not be driven to the creek because of capacity issues so we had an engineer come out and assess our overflow structure. The recommendation to improve capacity was to add a concrete bulkhead and catch basin surrounded by rip rap with one 24 inch corrugated pipe running out to the creek. We were told only a 500 year flood could ever cause that size overflow to not be able to handle the rising water. If we wanted to go overboard they could run a staggered set of 2 side by side 24 inch corrugated pipes to the creek. The costs was not that much more so we had the concrete bulkhead, catch basin, rip rap, and 2 24inch diameter pipes put in. When they were done it looked freaking great and more importantly was functional.
So, what does that have to do with a leak, right?
Well, 2 years after having everything set up and running great my grand son was out fishing with us when I notice a build up of leafy debris in the catch basin. It was Summer time, and the material was dry and I noticed snakes going in and out of the leaf debris. I hate snakes of any type (sorry snake lovers) and I didn't want to risk my grandson inadvertently getting bit even if they were non poisonous. Here is where the fateful decision occurred. 1. Do I get a rake and rake the leaves out of the basin or get the blower and blow them down the 24 inch pipes OR 2. Do I drop a match on the leaves because fire is a great tool and instead of moving the leaves I get rid of them altogether and perhaps burn out a few snakes at the same time. I made the wrong decision, I dropped the match and began walking away, approximately 15 seconds later it sounded like a bomb went off (methane had built up in the corrugated causing the explosion), I looked over and the corrugated pipe was on fire, the bulk head and catch basin were cracked. I fully expected that the ground had shaken so bad a leak would develop, a big leak. I watched closely over the next few weeks and while the pond held water the level did drop to about 6 inches lower than the bottom of the catch basin, fortunately it did not drop lower.
Since then I have not been able to find a single contractor in this area willing to dig out the old and replace with new. When the water does come up now it runs UNDER the corrugated pipes instead of through it because the explosion separated where the pipes abuted the catch basin. The snakes I had hope to rid now use the gap below the corrugated pipe and the sinking ground running out to the creek as their get away paths. Snakes 1 Human 0
For me, step 1 is getting the old basin, bulk head, and pipes out and replaced with new. Hopefully during that process I will be able to remedy the ground in that area to hold any leakage through the board.
Probably one of my greatest regrets in life was dropping that match. I think God was sending me a message, even snakes are his creatures and I had to be taught a lesson.
