Hi all. My son and I are novices with ponds. We just built a 25ft x 15 ft 2-4 ft deep pond. It looks beautiful except for one thing. The skimmer is too low and so the water level needs to be higher. We are not sure what we can do. Relocating the skimmer is a possiblity but we don't know how to patch the hole that the skimmer will leave. Anyother suggestions? We don' enough liner to raise up the skimmer in its present location.
crazyforponds
- Thread starter crazyforponds
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Usually you can attach a scrap piece of liner to the main liner. Can you post any pictures?
View attachment IMG_0203.MOV
Thanks for replying. Here is a picture. The edges have been finished with some stone and flagstone. The water level does not look too low here however we had some leakage around the skimmer and I had a professional come in and reseal. I think in the process he dropped the skimmer down lower so that there is a lot of rock showing above the water level. Also I looked at the level of the water last night (marked a line on the rocks) and it looks like we are still loosing some water.
Thanks for replying. Here is a picture. The edges have been finished with some stone and flagstone. The water level does not look too low here however we had some leakage around the skimmer and I had a professional come in and reseal. I think in the process he dropped the skimmer down lower so that there is a lot of rock showing above the water level. Also I looked at the level of the water last night (marked a line on the rocks) and it looks like we are still loosing some water.
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Welcome to the GPF, Crazy!!! Beautiful pond, too.
Hmm ... that was a very short video, and I see your waterfall (beautiful!) but not certain where your skimmer is. I see rocks all the way around your pond. Assume the skimmer is at the edge in the front of the pic, but not sure.
When the weather has been dry, as it was and is again here in IL, I can easily see where the leaks are if they are on the outer edge of my pond, since my ponds are built up with 1-3 landscape stones. However, a hole deeper down will typically not show at all. If your skimmer is on the outside of your pond as you are stating, you should be able to look around it and see if the ground is wet there. If so, you still have a leak.
Can you post a pic of a close up of the skimmer opening? Do you mean where the skimmer is now, the water level is too low for your liking, and you would like your water level to be higher, thus the need/desire to raise the skimmer? Keep in mind, you don't want the highest level of your pond to be too high, as sooner or later you will get a heavy rain, which will make your pond overflow. Be sure you have a "designated" overflow area when that happens.
Hmm ... that was a very short video, and I see your waterfall (beautiful!) but not certain where your skimmer is. I see rocks all the way around your pond. Assume the skimmer is at the edge in the front of the pic, but not sure.
When the weather has been dry, as it was and is again here in IL, I can easily see where the leaks are if they are on the outer edge of my pond, since my ponds are built up with 1-3 landscape stones. However, a hole deeper down will typically not show at all. If your skimmer is on the outside of your pond as you are stating, you should be able to look around it and see if the ground is wet there. If so, you still have a leak.
Can you post a pic of a close up of the skimmer opening? Do you mean where the skimmer is now, the water level is too low for your liking, and you would like your water level to be higher, thus the need/desire to raise the skimmer? Keep in mind, you don't want the highest level of your pond to be too high, as sooner or later you will get a heavy rain, which will make your pond overflow. Be sure you have a "designated" overflow area when that happens.
For some reason I can not view the video.
I will try to upload some newer pictures. Thanks for helping. I'm at work right now (Im a nurse) so as soon as I get home I will take some pictures. I have not seen any wet spots around the skimmer. We let the level of the water fall until it stoped and it stopped just below the level of the skimmer. I have not seen anyother wet spots around the pond at all.
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If not wet by the skimmer, how is it plumbed past the skimmer? In other words, does the water line go on the outside of the pond, then reenter at the waterfall filter maybe? Or, where does your skimmer go to, what does the water "feed"? Your leak may be in that water line, too. Once it's below the level where the skimmer works, it can't leak. Or maybe you mean you shut everything down and then it stopped losing water at the bottom edge of the skimmer opening. If that's the case, then your skimmer must be the problem or you have another problem that is exactly at the level as the bottom of the skimmer opening. Good luck finding it!
Yes the water line goes outside the pond n enters the waterfall. We did shut down everything when we let the water line drop down. We r thinking of relocating the skimmer to the higher side of the pond below the flagstone. We hope that this will bring up the waterline. What do we do with the hole in the liner left by the old position of the skimmer. My son wants to backfill the area of the old skimmer to bring the hole up to ground level but I'm afraid this will ruin the shape of the pond. Can you add liner to the existing liner? How? Is this affective or can it leak? Thanks
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So, if I understand this correctly, you shut everything down, your pond slowly lost water, but stopped at the bottom edge of the skimmer opening, right? Then I would say you likely have a leak where the skimmer is attached to the liner, at the bottom edge. Didn't you say you just had it "professionally" redone to fix this possible problem?
And, if you move your skimmer, it makes sense to me to fill in the hole left by the skimmer box, as that is outside of the liner, so you should close that up completely. But, before you go moving the skimmer, why not try to raise it where it is? That makes more sense to me. My skimmers are both "inside" the pond liner. I didn't want to cut a hole in the liner, so I bought smaller skimmers that sit on a "shelf" on the edge of the pond. Water goes all the way around them. So far they have worked wonderfully for me.
But, back to your situation. Figure out what you need to repair the opening where the skimmer is presently, seal it up totally, and then lift the skimmer up higher, so you can have your water level higher. Even an inch makes a lot of a difference. And, seems the skimmer is exactly where you want it, on the opposite side of the waterfall, so the flow from the waterfall will naturally move anything on the surface to the skimmer. I think there is goop to be used to repair holes in liner and some of it can even be used on wet liner, underwater. But, looks like you would be best to drain your pond down, dry off the liner, seal it with whatever someone else recommends (I used the black PL Roofing stuff Addy talked about plus a piece of liner, when I repaired a hole in the bottom of my bog ...). Then move the skimmer higher where you want your water level to be, cut a new hole, and voila. Problems solves - leak (hopefully you will find the leak there, too) repaired and skimmer raised!
Good luck.
And, if you move your skimmer, it makes sense to me to fill in the hole left by the skimmer box, as that is outside of the liner, so you should close that up completely. But, before you go moving the skimmer, why not try to raise it where it is? That makes more sense to me. My skimmers are both "inside" the pond liner. I didn't want to cut a hole in the liner, so I bought smaller skimmers that sit on a "shelf" on the edge of the pond. Water goes all the way around them. So far they have worked wonderfully for me.
But, back to your situation. Figure out what you need to repair the opening where the skimmer is presently, seal it up totally, and then lift the skimmer up higher, so you can have your water level higher. Even an inch makes a lot of a difference. And, seems the skimmer is exactly where you want it, on the opposite side of the waterfall, so the flow from the waterfall will naturally move anything on the surface to the skimmer. I think there is goop to be used to repair holes in liner and some of it can even be used on wet liner, underwater. But, looks like you would be best to drain your pond down, dry off the liner, seal it with whatever someone else recommends (I used the black PL Roofing stuff Addy talked about plus a piece of liner, when I repaired a hole in the bottom of my bog ...). Then move the skimmer higher where you want your water level to be, cut a new hole, and voila. Problems solves - leak (hopefully you will find the leak there, too) repaired and skimmer raised!
Good luck.
Thanks so much. I may just do that. What do I use to attach a new peice of liner? If I can get a whole new piece of liner attached and cut a new hole it may solve both the water level problem and the leak.
I have had to patch holes in liners and was able to find a patch kit at either lowes or homedepot. it is a long very stick piece of rubberlike material. I would feel confident saying you could use that as a sort of "tape" to attach 2 pieces of liner together. You may have to buy a couple patch kits, depending how much surface you have to join together.
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If you have leftover liner, you can use that as your patch. Then it's a matter of finding what works for waterproofing the seam. When I sealed my hole (I think it was from a turtle digging in my bog, 3 slices in a row), and since it was on the bottom, I had gravity working with me. I had to pull all the bog pea gravel out, so pulled the liner back, dried and cleaned it with acetone, then roughed it up with sand paper. I had bought a patch kit for a swimming pool, got the biggest kit for tear I could find, so would have more glue. Then I also used the PL Roofing stuff that comes in a tube like caulk. It looks more like roof tar when it comes out.
I put a piece of pond liner patch down, then the glue and PL stuff, then the old liner with hole. On the inside of the bog bottom, I also added another patch, doing the same thing. I didn't mix the two glues, but rather used one on the inside of the circle, and the other on the outside. My thought was if one failed I had the other as a backup. Then on the inside, I added a second much larger patch of liner material with just the PL Roofing stuff. No more leaks that I know of. Oh, and since I was in there, and since I had extra liner, I put a strip of extra liner down on the bottom of the bog floor as extra protection as well.
In your case, make sure the patch is on the inside wall, I would think anyhow, using the water gravity to hold it tight. I don't know how that will work, though, if your new hole is right above the old hole, maybe part of the old hole. I'm giving suggestions, but hoping someone that has done more with patching or knows more of the elements that need to be used chimes in. I just found that the PL Roofing stuff worked the best to seal anything and everything around my pond, from bottom drain on Skippy filter, to this pond liner leak.
Wondering ... since you said that the water level goes down just to the level of I assume the bottom edge of the skimmer opening, is there any way for you to remove the rocks on top of the skimmer, and look down into the hole where the skimmer is placed, and see if that is in fact the source of your leak? I would think you would first want to find out for sure where the leak is before you do the patch and skimmer moving, although I think you want to raise the skimmer either way ...
Good luck with your issue.
I put a piece of pond liner patch down, then the glue and PL stuff, then the old liner with hole. On the inside of the bog bottom, I also added another patch, doing the same thing. I didn't mix the two glues, but rather used one on the inside of the circle, and the other on the outside. My thought was if one failed I had the other as a backup. Then on the inside, I added a second much larger patch of liner material with just the PL Roofing stuff. No more leaks that I know of. Oh, and since I was in there, and since I had extra liner, I put a strip of extra liner down on the bottom of the bog floor as extra protection as well.
In your case, make sure the patch is on the inside wall, I would think anyhow, using the water gravity to hold it tight. I don't know how that will work, though, if your new hole is right above the old hole, maybe part of the old hole. I'm giving suggestions, but hoping someone that has done more with patching or knows more of the elements that need to be used chimes in. I just found that the PL Roofing stuff worked the best to seal anything and everything around my pond, from bottom drain on Skippy filter, to this pond liner leak.
Wondering ... since you said that the water level goes down just to the level of I assume the bottom edge of the skimmer opening, is there any way for you to remove the rocks on top of the skimmer, and look down into the hole where the skimmer is placed, and see if that is in fact the source of your leak? I would think you would first want to find out for sure where the leak is before you do the patch and skimmer moving, although I think you want to raise the skimmer either way ...
Good luck with your issue.