Leaking Preformed Liner - need suggestions

[schilcur]

Thanks for reading the post. I bought a house back in February and it came with a small garden pond. I didn't really pay any attention to it until I noticed there were two fish swimming around. About two months ago it was finally warm enough to tackle cleaing it out (pretty disgusting). I transferred the fish (small koi I believe) into a temporary container, drained the liner, scrubbed it out, replaced, refilled, dechlorinated, yadda yadda yadda. All told, it was a success... until two weeks ago when I noticed the pond had lost most of the water. Filled it back up, drained by itself again. Great, there's a leak somewhere. Last monday I had the liner out (moved the fish to temporary living quarters), scrubbed off the bottom and went over it with a fine-toothed comb. Nothing obvious. I set the liner on some newspaper and filled the lower section (that's where the water drained down to) and was surprised to find no wet spots. I imagine the hole will stay sealed up to some pressure then lets go.
Long story somewhat shortened, is there some coating that I can apply to the back that will restore integrity to the liner and possibly prevent future leaks. I plan on filling the hole with some sand to soften the bottom but it will be for naught if I can't seal the liner itself.

Thanks in advance,

Schilcur

 

[MassKoi]

My suggestion would be to either buy a new liner or find the leak and patch it. What people do to find the leak is to fill the pond and let it leak. When the leak has stopped then the hole is somewhere near the water line. Hope that helps.

 

[koiguy1969]

i would yank that liner and just buy a flexible liner, use the oppurtunoity to enlarge the pond..make it deeper if you like and design your own shape. youve already got some of the work done...why not? or even just lay a 20 mil vinyl liner inside. for a cheap lasting fix.

 

[schilcur]

The more info I collect the more I realize that going bigger is the path to follow. I found a local place (Something Fishy in Blountville, TN) that has the EPDM liner and purchased a piece big enough to line a 4X6X2.5 pond. Now I get to deal with the rest of the issues. Plumbing up a bottom takeoff and have to decide what filtration system to go with. Had a lot of fun "enlarging" the hole. Thanks for all the feedback. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

Schilcur

 

[DrDave]

Why plumb the bottom??? Use a submersible pump and you will be much happier.

 

[koiguy1969]

dont cut the liner for a bottom drain if thats what your thinking just a submersable pump. your pond will be close to 450 gallons. put your submersable pump in the deepest part, run flexible tubing up to your filter. make your filter a skippy style..either a stock tank style or 55 gallon barrel style, you can use a sturdy outdoor plastic trash can if you like. the brute line from rubbermaid are strong thick flexible plastic. they will do the job.. plans can be found here. my 70 gallon skippy filter in diy forum and 55 gallon bio filter in the equiipment forum both are basically the same. look them over and adapt to the design you choose ma 33 gallon brute would serve you well. alittle rock and some ingenuity you can easily disquise them as waterfalls,and that just makes your pond all the more estetically pleasing, and provides aeration