School me on Sodium Bentonite

[Witchgrass]

How many surface acres is your tank? I was quoted almost $30k in Bentonite to put a 4” layer on a tank that was to be 1 surface acre (210’ x 210’). That’s just for the material.


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My tank is tear drop shaped. Widest part is about 70’. Longest ‘useable’ length is about 120’. Roughly 5,000 square feet. Deepest part looks to be around 8 feet if completely full, which would probably never happen.

[Mike D]

i have a neighbor that tried clay lining and Bentonite on. his tank. Spent over $20k trying to get it to seal. He finally broke down and put a liner in it.

as many sand veins as we have I’m not wasting my time or money on it. I can have a liner installed for $25k and I know it will hold water.

Bentonite probably works great if you have enough clay and no sand in your soil.


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[S-3 Ranch]

i have a neighbor that tried clay lining and Bentonite on. his tank. Spent over $20k trying to get it to seal. He finally broke down and put a liner in it.

as many sand veins as we have I’m not wasting my time or money on it. I can have a liner installed for $25k and I know it will hold water.

Bentonite probably works great if you have enough clay and no sand in your soil
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Can’t disagree about the liners, work great and I know a guy who installs them and he is s hurting from the oil slow down

[RR 314]

Can’t disagree about the liners, work great and I know a guy who installs them and he is s hurting from the oil slow down

You are correct. There have to be miles of material sitting in yards now. I had a buddy stuck with tons of it last time oil was $8-12 per bbl.

[Mike D]

Can’t disagree about the liners, work great and I know a guy who installs them and he is s hurting from the oil slow down

Hmmmm, didn’t think about that. Their price might be a little better now.


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[S-3 Ranch]

Liner tutorial

Hmmmm, didn’t think about that. Their price might be a little better now.


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Just a small tutorial I just watched about liners

https://youtu.be/jFRWComcwlo

Heck I might even think about buying a koi pond liner and breaking out the track hoe and building some in my feed pens ( I built some yard ponds for my mom and it was easy and held water great)

https://youtu.be/jFRWComcwlo

[Witchgrass]

it is a good deal. and the stuff works great.
my tank would never hold water either. So back in the day I bought the 70#bags of the stuff and just spread it around on the tank bottom and not very thick ( your results may vary).
25 yrs later, that tank has never gone dry and we've been through some tough droughts.

Yeah, I’m thinking this is the way to go. I got my tractor down in the tank over the weekend to try and pack it down as much as possible. I have a 1” pvc pipe to put water in it. Re estimated the (more actuate) actually square footage. Probably 40’ on the bottom end, and about 60 in length.. The dam and part of the sides are actually too steep to drive up and down to pack them in. I probably ought to get a good dozer/pond buddy friend of mine to look at it and give suggestions prior to putting bentonite on it though. It may need to be re contoured.

[Witchgrass]

Latest.

[camoclad]

Any updates?

[dclifton]

Me and my dad got lucky a few years ago with his pond. We knew about where the leaks where and we went out and shook it out in bags in the boat and it’s sealed that pond up like a cork! I was shocked!! Now we may not be able to do it on the next 100 ponds.

You might start with a thin layer on the lower 1/2 and see how it does. I agree with the statement of feeding cows around it and letting them stomp it in I’ve seen this work also.

[Witchgrass]

Any updates?

Kinda at a stand still right now. About 3 weeks ago, we had a 2.5” rain within about 3 hours. The water level came up to with about 3 feet of the top of the dam! It’s dried up since then. 👎
I had a dirt guy friend of mine come out and look at it and give me an idea of what it needed. He’s estimating SEVERAL truck loads of bentonite, and about $6000 to fix it.....

[Smeone]

soils professor at a university in east Texas said that Calgon (The Ancient Chinese Secret) works well

it is a flocculant that will cause the soil to settle and compact

it will depend on soil type as well though

[camoclad]

Kinda at a stand still right now. About 3 weeks ago, we had a 2.5” rain within about 3 hours. The water level came up to with about 3 feet of the top of the dam! It’s dried up since then. 👎
I had a dirt guy friend of mine come out and look at it and give me an idea of what it needed. He’s estimating SEVERAL truck loads of bentonite, and about $6000 to fix it.....

Dang! Not good

[Kingfisher789]

http://www.texassodiumbentonite.com/

[CabezaBlanca]

Build a pen around it and buy 10-15 pigs. Feed them out until the tank is full. They’ll pack it down good! No more leaks!