Charles.........not quite true. There is southern bentonite and it is
as its name implies, only found in the south. There is a huge
southern (calcium) bentonite mine about 10 miles down the road from
where I live............its a montmorilliate (sp?) clay, and has
properties similar to sodium bentonite (western) but not exactly the
same.......It takes blends of both calcium and sodium bentonites to
use to make foundry sands........but both are colloidial clays meaning
they swell and expand when exposed to water.....but both bentonite.

I have both kinds of bentonites in my pond, but personally I do not
believe in the hype of koi clay which they say is a special bentopnite
clay....there is only two types western or southern so it has to be a
blend of both or one or the other, probably southern if I was to make
a WAG on it, since the koi clay I saw one time did not swell up
anywhere near as much as western does. They sure do make a lot of
claims as to its so called merits, and its miracle
workings........Such as making koi get better color, reducing parasite
infestations, and eliminateing algae.........With as much bentonite
clays of both types that my pond contains, I should be algae free,
never have a sick fish, my fish should be huge monstors, and the
colors should be bold and bright enough to see at night without a
light.........My fish are just typical koi nothing special even with
all the bentonite my pond contains.....I think koi clay is yet another
myth, to be put up with all those other snake oil remedies on the back
shelf. Maybe it does some things, but I have a hard time to believe
all the miracle stuff its does supposedly. My way of viewing it is
perhaps with all the filtration and aerations etc most perfect koi
ponds have there is an element missing, and koi clay may provide that
missing element to some extent, in some situations but its certainly
not necessary for all koi ponds, nor does it do all that is claimed in
all situations.


On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 05:10:43 GMT, "George"
wrote:

===
==="Charles" wrote in message
===news:90e3711ng56do34nj91pc1674rqf8gjmei@4ax. com...
=== On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 00:01:25 GMT, (~Roy~) wrote:
===
===Well if you were in this area I could load you up with all the
===bentonite you could carry for free. I just got a heap of it for free
===yesterday from a well drilling company as well as a free pond relining
===with bentonite.........I have bentonite in powder form of 220 and 300
===mesh size, in granular and also pellet form.......a form to cover
===virtually all needs.......all in 50# bags. In all reality bentonite is
===probably cheaper than dirt would cost. I can buy calcium bentonite
===here (southern type) for my foundry use for under $6.00 a 100#
===sack......but cacium does ot swell up like sodium bentonite does. ALL
===well drillers use sodium bentonite for their slurry mix.
===
============================================= ====
===Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
===
===
=== you should sell it like these folks do:
===
=== http://www.koiclay.com/
===
=== http://www.pondpetsusa.com/pond_clay/
===
===
=== --
=== Charles
===
=== Does not play well with others.
===
===It is a rip off. I don't care what they say about their painstaking efforts to
===find the best bentonite. All commercially available bentonite in the U.S. comes
===from Wyoming and Western South Dakota. These people want to sell you 2 lbs of
===it for $7.00. You can buy a 100 lbs bag for about the same price, or maybe a
===few dollars more at any drilling supply, well supply or pump equipment outlet.
===It is like the difference between buying Bayer aspirin or a generic equivalent.
===In other words, there is no real difference, except of course, the price.
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!