Holes in the liner

[csdude55]

Just thought y'all would appreciate the drama.

Several years ago, I had a guy cutting trees around my house. Naturally, he dropped the biggest dang tree through my roof! And one of the limbs went straight into the pond.

After that I had a very slow leak, but recently that slow leak escalated; like 300 gallons lost in a few hours!

Good news: I finally found the leak today!

Bad news: the hole goes right through a fold, so through FOUR layers of liner! If I could unfold it, the whole area would probably cover about 8".

Worse, as I was looking for the hole I found several areas (in the dry section around the rim) that had dry rotted. So taking the liner out and patching it isn't an option for fear that the whole thing will fall apart.

Only option appears to be a complete tear-down and replacement.

But on the bright side, this will give me an excuse to install a bottom drain All I gotta do is find somebody willing to dig a 4' deep, 4" wide, 75' long trench...

 

[j.w]

Next time w/new liner make sure to dig a short shelf around the top edge to put rocks on and then more rocks above on the edge to protect the liner from drying out. You won't see the liner either.

 

[csdude55]

Yeah, that's part of the reason that I don't hate the rebuild, anyway. When I built it in 2012 nobody told me about that! LOL

I hid it pretty well with plants, I think, but I was always a bit disappointed with seeing the liner.

 

[j.w]

Yeah, that's part of the reason that I don't hate the rebuild, anyway. When I built it in 2012 nobody told me about that! LOL

I hid it pretty well with plants, I think, but I was always a bit disappointed with seeing the liner.

You will love it w/o seeing that liner! Plants love it also as the roots can be tucked in between the rocks. Fish love picking at those rocks on the shelf, lots of goodies

 

[csdude55]

@j.w , this is a slight tangent but... is the red in your Creeping Jenny just from the pic being late season, or do you have a red companion plant there?

I use Creeping Jenny around my pond, too, but mine was just a huge yellow blog so I pulled out a lot and put in thee varieties of ivy. That ivy looks ugly in the water, though, so as I'm redoing everything I'm pulling that ivy back out and looking for an alternative.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Not j.w., but to me that looks like some variety of creeping Sedum.

 

[j.w]

@j.w , this is a slight tangent but... is the red in your Creeping Jenny just from the pic being late season, or do you have a red companion plant there?

I use Creeping Jenny around my pond, too, but mine was just a huge yellow blog so I pulled out a lot and put in thee varieties of ivy. That ivy looks ugly in the water, though, so as I'm redoing everything I'm pulling that ivy back out and looking for an alternative.

It is a type of Creeping Sedum. Is greenish w/red and then gets more red and has pink blossoms. So many different kinds of creeping sedum to choose from.
Here is mine in a different photo:

Here is a site that shows lots of different kinds: https://ownyardlife.com/60-types-of-sedum-plants-with-pictures-and-identification/

 

[csdude55]

Thanks for the info! I have a lot of larger sedum that do well, but the shorter ones (lemon ball and dragon's blood) never survive my winter :-( I think I'm going to have to do some research to see what might live, though, because yours looks a lot better than mine!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Thanks for the info! I have a lot of larger sedum that do well, but the shorter ones (lemon ball and dragon's blood) never survive my winter :-( I think I'm going to have to do some research to see what might live, though, because yours looks a lot better than mine!

Sedum require very well drained soil, so if it's an area that stays damp over the winter, they might rot. I've found Sedum to be the sort of plant that will take over if it's happy, but if it's not... you can't beg or bribe it to live.

 

[j.w]

Sedum require very well drained soil, so if it's an area that stays damp over the winter, they might rot. I've found Sedum to be the sort of plant that will take over if it's happy, but if it's not... you can't beg or bribe it to live.

Yes we have very sandy soil here and also those around my pond are planted in the soil on a berm up higher so no sitting in water.

 

[csdude55]

That makes sense. My Autumn Joy, Autumn Fire, Black Embers, and Matrona do well, but they're bigger and spread out across gardens. My native soil is red clay, though, smaller sedum is probably getting too much water over the winter.

Oh well, the hunt continues! LOL

 

[csdude55]

More fun drama...

After the tree fell on the pond, it is FULL of leaves and sticks. I made the mistake of not installing a bottom drain, and there are too many rocks in the pond to be able to net it out. So today, in preparation for a complete tear down, I donned the swimming trunks and river shoes, gathered a few 5G buckets, and hopped in to start scooping everything out by hand.

After about 2 hours, I grabbed something kinda mushy; not a big surprise, a lot of it has been mushy. But as I pull it out... nope, snapping turtle!!!

LOL

I dropped him back in, but the water was so dirty at this point it was impossible to see where he was. I had no choice but to give up and maybe finish tomorrow.

Good times, good times!

 

[sissy]

That is the main reason i took out all the rocks in my pond . To messes and they never really looked as nice as they did when I first put them in . They just become more work . I just put a pvc pipe on the bottom of my pond with holes drilled in it to keep the bottom of the pond cleaner and it is hooked to one of my pumps and the rest of the water goes to my lava rock filter . i have 2 laguna pumps going and 2 lava rock filters

 

[csdude55]

When I replace the liner, I've decided to install a 2" bottom drain that will just flush into the woods. And like you, I'm really debating on whether to put a substrate back in, or just a handful of medium sized rocks for decoration. I'm thinking that the rocks have done more harm than good.

When you say "lava rock filters", are you essentially talking about a bog filter but with lava rock instead of pea gravel?

 

[GBBUDD]

When I replace the liner, I've decided to install a 2" bottom drain that will just flush into the woods. And like you, I'm really debating on whether to put a substrate back in, or just a handful of medium sized rocks for decoration. I'm thinking that the rocks have done more harm than good.

When you say "lava rock filters", are you essentially talking about a bog filter but with lava rock instead of pea gravel?

Careful with a 2 inch drain. That can be very strong and hold and kill your fish when the swim too close