Puddle Seal FAQ's

Puddle Seal is a non-hazardous, multi-purpose polymer-based pond sealer and pit liner. It provides an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional pond lining systems such as plastic liners and bentonite clay.

Puddle Seal serves a wide range of applications including farm and ranch stock ponds, recreational fishing ponds, residential water features, municipal waste reservoirs and lagoons, golf course water features, and oil and gas operations (flowback pits, reserve pits, freshwater frack pits). A unique feature of Puddle Seal is that it can be applied to tanks with preexisting water.

Puddle Seal is designed for long-term performance. Accelerated degradation testing shows only 0.87% loss in effectiveness after 120 years. The oldest pond treated with this technology is 22 years old and still performing.

Yes. Puddle Seal is 100% eco-friendly and biodegradable. It does not release microplastics or harmful toxins. The product has passed OSHA PEL (Permissible Exposure Limit) testing for environmental safety.

Puddle Seal poses no hazard to cattle, livestock, or wildlife - either during application while on the ground or after activation when animals drink from the pond.

Yes. Puddle Seal is safe for fish and aquatic life. Unlike plastic liners and bentonite, which can transfer toxins, Puddle Seal is non-toxic. Note: Special application procedures are recommended for ponds with existing fish populations (see Application section).

The pit or pond must have less than a 65 degree slope, and it is preferred and recommended to have a 3:1 slope (three feet horizontal to one foot vertical: as stated by the Railroad Commission in the surface waste management manual). The pit should be free of foreign materials, such as brush, trees and large rocks. It is also preferred and recommended for base and sidewalls to be back dragged and/or compacted with a roller system. For new construction, the ground should be dry, as moisture can prematurely activate the liner. Fish habitat structures and spawning beds should be placed after application but before the final wetting.

For projects with existing water, a topwater application is made using an agricultural drone flying in a grid pattern to achieve uniform coverage. For new construction or dry ponds, it is recommended to disc soil to a depth of 6-8 inches. The product is then evenly applied with a drone, disced into the soil at a depth of 4 inches, and finally watered in. For best results, water should be applied as soon as possible following installation. A successful application will show a clear sheen when water runs across the treated surface.

Yes! If you know where your leak is, Puddle Seal can be spot applied to effectively seal the problem area without having to cover the entire pond.

For topwater installation on ponds with fish, treat half of the pond one day and return a couple of days later to treat the other half. This allows fish to move away from the treatment area and prevents suffocation risk.

Yes. Limestone and clay soils are ideal and require less material. Sandy soils are more challenging as they shift more and require approximately 1 pound per 5 square feet, along with gradual water application during installation.

Puddle Seal will form up around and bond to any small rocks in the pit and will use the rocks as part of the actual liner.

Yes. Puddle Seal can adhere to existing plastic liners as long as a topwater treatment approach is used.

Lily pads and dense aquatic vegetation should be removed or cleared before application, as they can interfere with proper coverage. However, their return to a pond will not negatively affect the liner.

Thermal imaging has progressed rapidly over the past few years, and the cameras on our drones are some of the most advanced technology available. This means that, when we see an animal, it’s not just a bright blob, but rather a detailed outline. This outline not only shows us their body shape, but also any horns or antlers, even when they are out of velvet. 

With their extensive experience flying thermal drones, our pilots have seen almost every native and exotic species in Texas. However, there are certain cases where you may have multiple species with very similar body shapes on your ranch. The most common example of this is a property with axis and whitetail deer. While we can easily distinguish bucks of those species apart thanks to their antlers, does and fawns are much more difficult. 

One option you have in this case is to count all does and fawns as unidentified, and apply the ratio of whitetail bucks to axis bucks to the total number of does and fawns. We realize that landowners often want better accuracy than that, so we’ve added the option of mounting a spotlight on our drones or flying in the early morning. This allows us to view animals through the visible camera, even in the middle of the night. While the visible camera add-on is an additional cost, it ensures correct identification of 100% of the animals we see. Learn more about the visible camera add-on here.

We fly most surveys at 125ft above the ground. For the most part, no animals are scared by this! The small drones we use are much quieter than any helicopter or even your 4x4. Unless your property is heavily hunted with a ton of pressure already on your animals, we are able to get within 25-50 feet of an animal without it running off. 

This depends on what sort of brush it is. For the most part, we are able to see through any sort of low brush, no matter how thick it is. If your property is heavily wooded with tall, thick trees, it may be more difficult. If you are unsure about whether a thermal count would work on your property, please feel free to send us an email! We can take a look at the location and a google map satellite image of your property to compare it with past surveys and give you an idea of the sort of accuracy you can expect.

Yes, our drones are able to see through brush and trees to identify most animals even when they are bedded down. This is a major advantage to a thermal drone survey because they do not require scaring animals with loud rotor noises. That being said, thermal imaging is not x-ray vision, and you should never expect 100% accuracy with a survey as some animals will be in the perfect position to remain invisible even under the thermal. 

Yes! Contrary to what you might expect, we are able to see antlers with the thermal camera whether the deer are in velvet or not. So, for most every species, we are able to easily determine gender. However, some species, like oryx for example, are more difficult.

While our pilots do everything in their power to prevent double counting, it is inevitable on most properties. Our drones fly transects back and forth across your property, and there’s always a chance that a few animals will move from an already counted transect to one further along in the flight. With big, easily distinguishable groups, we are able to correct any double counting when reviewing the footage. Any error generally balances out as double counting is equally as likely as not counting an animal that moves from a future transect into one that has already been counted.