16 replies to this topic

[Ragnaar]

Hi everybody, I'm new here so go easy on me.

We have a wildlife pond that has frogs and newts in. At the moment I think they're all sat at the bottom out of the way of the cold weather. It's about 6 feet across and maybe 4 or 5 feet deep.

Unfortunately my wife managed to put several holes in the liner with a garden fork when trying to break through the ice a month or so ago! I've got some spare liner and some repair glue, and am managing to repair the holes - slowly. We've lost about two foot of water depth.

My question is, assuming I can get all the holes properly repaired, what is the best way to get the pond filled up? I'm guessing I shouldn't use tap water due to the chlorine, but I reckon if I wait for rain to fill it up, it could take a very long time - It's quite a lot lower than normal and I'm concerned that the wildlife could find it difficult getting in and out, and there could be space issues at spawning time. Lots of frogs return to the pond in the spring, which is obviously not very far away now.

Any advice welcome!

[DrDave]

Welcome Ragnaar. A fellow Viking?
Tap water is fine for small percentages like 10%. Any more and some dechlor may be used to make it safe.

[koiguy1969]

i would tell your wife to set a pan of hot water and a couple handfulls of rocksalt under it to melt holes in the ice...never chop holes in the ice the shockwaves can severely stress and even kill your fish ( if thats some thing your concerned about)...OH! and another benefit,,,no more holes in the liner

[koidaddy]

Do you have a lerge container you could fill and let sit for a couple days, say 50 gallon or so? Sorry not sure what the metric conversion is on that. @200 litres?
The clorine should disapate by then. Also it is better to to use a hard spray (jet blast from hose)when filling this container, this will halp disapate the clorine as well.

[oldmarine]

www.tricker.com sells several types of Chlorine Removers. One is a Chlorine Remover Hose Attachment, it is a easy to use filter that attaches to you water supply line and comes complete with brass garden hose fittings. Check it out online, all of the information is there.

Their website has all of the contact information just in case you have any questions about overseas shipping, and cost.

I would imagine that the UK would also have some type of Chlorine Removers available more locally. Check with your local plumbing supply and see what they might available for removing / filtering chlorine.

Happy ponding,

Rich:beerchug:

[Ragnaar]

Thanks for all the advice!

I do have a large water butt that I could fill up with tap water using a hose, and I guess add some de-chlorinator to that, or maybe even just let it sit for a while.

I guess if patching doesn't work then I'll have to put in a new liner, and transfer the wildlife into the water butt whilst I'm installing it...

I'll keep you posted!

[undrtkr_00]

What's a water butt? I only know of one kind of butt - the kind you sit on.

[oldmarine]

Must be an expression that the Brits use. I have a butt, and I know to butt something up to something else, BUT I am really curious what kind of a butt are we talking about.

Happy ponding,

Rich

[DrDave]

Here you go...
Noun 1. water butt - a butt set on end to contain water especially to store rainwater
butt - a large cask (especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 hogsheads or 126 gallons)

I didn't know that a hogs head could hold 63 gallons! LOL:lol:

[oldmarine]

Whatever you say, Doc. We didn't grow up talking that way on my side of the tracks.

[Ragnaar]

oldmarine said:

Whatever you say, Doc. We didn't grow up talking that way on my side of the tracks.

You crazy Yanks!

It's just a big barrel with a tap at the bottom that stores rainwater that runs off our shed roof...they say you learn something new every day...

[oldmarine]

You got that right, Thank you.

Happy ponding,

Rich

[koikeepr]

ah! that "butt" is called a rain barrel on this side of the pond.

I love the differences in our languages...so interesting.

[oldmarine]

During World War II, my father served in the Army for seven years. While he was ther his recon unit faught their way from Normandy beach, France, thru germany and later ended up in England before coming home. One day we were talking about expressions that people use in different countries. This may have changed by now, but during that war, in England the expression 'getting screwed' was the same as 'getting paid'.

Ragnaar, let me kow if that has changed like most everything around here. Kids all over the world these days seem to there own language. And I still say 'cool' more than I should.

Happy ponding,

Rich

[Ragnaar]

Rich, I've not heard that expression before, in terms of getting paid, but it is interchangeable with the expression 'getting laid', with which I am sure you are familiar, being a man of the world etc..! Maybe the paid thing has slipped out of common usage? I hope your'e familiar with the different meaning given to the word 'fanny' in our country...

On the pond front, I patched up the 20 or so holes in the liner on Saturday and spent considerable time topping it up on Sunday, adding some treatment to remove Chloramine (which our water supply is treated with). I removed the tap from the bottom of my butt and sprayed water into it from my hose, balanced on the edge of the pond.

Fingers crossed the repairs work - if they don't I think I may break down and weep like a little baby...