How to seal a clay pond?

[JacqG]

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas 😎

I created a trio pond project a few years back, had it looking wonderful with pond lining (many hundreds of dollars worth), was growing Lillies etc and it was all fabulous. But I had not reckoned on kangaroos jumping through the ponds at night; consequently the lining was ripped and useless! I am living rural on the south coast of NSW.

SO. I took the lining away and started researching what a "wilder" pond project would look like. I heard about Bentonite clay, read about it and reckoned it would work.

It didn't. The pond is clay so I do not know why the water eventually just ran away or underground or where ever it went!?

There are no large stones in the clay... can anyone assist?

I used  50.5 kilos of the stuff all over the empty dry pond...

What am I doing wrong? And is there another solution?

Thanks everyone (Pics are taking long to load...)

[EricL]

Hi @JacqG 

Let me tag @Dave-1 to make them aware of your question. I believe Dave-1 was suggesting having a thicker clay wall up to 20cm thick. My proposal is to use @Jewelleryrescue's idea of using concrete and using pond sealer to make it waterproof. It is possible to put soil at the bottom of the pond so that plants can grow in it. How ever the soil needs to be deep enough so that the plants roots can grow deep in it.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Evening @JacqG 

Yeah the walls and the base need to be much thicker, I think I said 20cm thick all around at a minimum. Pricey unless you truck in a load of clay for dams. With the pebbles (and I mean palm sized rounded rocks at the smallest ) the ponds I was thinking of are shallow sloped as 20cm height for 40cm distance. That way they will stay in place and if you had a few layers of the stones on top of the plastic liner (have seen a bunch of videos lately with a soft underlay of some kind under the plastic liner) You will loose water space but hopefully no leaks.

Dave

[Dave-1]

Evening @JacqG 

I just came across an install of a pond/stream type deal that looks like it would work for you in the Big blue F social media place

Have a look for "Ecosystem Gardener" and their reels will show you a large install of a stream/pond. You could definently take some of the steps especially the gravel at the base (Hadnt thought of that one) with rocks on top. Why not, the gravel wont absorb but will protect the lining from being punctured. 

Dave

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @JacqG 

Well here is another idea use a quality liner and then use a  layer of earth/clay   100mm  Layer of smooth stones and then lay house  bricks seconds  on top as a protective layer ontop of the base

Kangaroos could  push  bricks down thats why the 100mm  buffer layer.  But house  bricks on there edge will lock into each other and with stand things standing on them. A double  layer of bricks over lapping each other will be  extra secure un cemented.  If you wanted to cement /mortor them in it will be a concrete alternative.

Potted plants can be used in ponds.  While they are in ponds they can be moved around too.  People like  putting in steps for pot plants to sit on to so various plants might like different depths.

There  are also floating pot plant holders around as an option.

Polymer is the latst high tech way of sealing some pond  types and can be used in juncuntion with  clay on sandy  floors.

Research Polymer dam sealer for the best one that suits  you and the pros and cons re  kangaroo /stock use vs water  holding.