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Greetings all, I inherited this pond when my wife and I bought a piece of property. I am not sure the size of the pond (my guess would be about 5 to 6 feet wide), nor now much gallons of water it contains. There are kois, in it (10-15). Our challenge now is to change the liner, the one in it is torn close to the top.

We would love some advice on getting the liner changed without harming the fishes, dos/don't
best practices etc.

Thanks for the input.
 

sissy

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welcome to our little pond nut house and hope you enjoy your new home and pond
 

j.w

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techjunkie
Are you just going to mend the liner or put in a new one?
 

sissy

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going to be a lot of work as when I did mine it meant buying a big tank thing from tractor supply filling it with the pond water and emptying the rest onto the lawn (green lawn was the greenest after) and then liner and then cycling the water for 2 months in my case since farm equipment was putting up a lot of dust here and of course it just gets attracted to water (my luck)
 

Ian

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Welcome to the forums techjunkie :yikesu:. Do you have any photos of the pond?
 

addy1

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Photos help us a lot to help you! Do you have pipes running out of it? a bottom drain, skimmer etc. You might, might be able to mend the liner if the tear is near the top, depends on why it tore (worn out) or something else.
 

DrDave

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Welcome to the Forum

As for the liner change:
1. Get some new or sturdy trash cans or a Kiddie Pool and pump some of the pond water into them. Save as much water as you can and filter it well to avoid contaminents. use trash can liners to make sure it is sterile.
2. Add an areator to provide circulation and oxygen to the Koi.
3. Catch the fish when you are ready to make the change ( I would pump most of the water out making that easier).
4. Transfer the fish to your temporary holding tanks. (Cover them to avoid jumpers and to help calm the fish)
5. Remove and replace the liner.
6. Refill the pond
7. Slowly add the fish back making sure they are in their old water and the temp is equal to where you had them.
8. Add dechlor as necessary as you top off with your garden hose (unless you have well water).
9. All of this should be done in the same day, so start early and be prepared to spend 8-10 hours to do this.
10. Have a nice glass of wine and enjoy.
 
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Welcome! You have a big job ahead of you. If there is anything else you want to change in your pond it sounds like now is the time to do it. Good luck and have fun!
 

sissy

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you may need to go bigger as koi I have learned in my 6 years with them .They get big fast as my 1 koi Auntie Ag is around 2 feet long and I do not see her shrinking any time in the near future lol She was an itty bitty thing when I got her 6 years ago
 
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Hi techno, Welcome to the forum. You want to make sure the water is really well oxygenated for your koi to avoid problems. I would suggest to use your pond water for the holding tanks and you may even want to oxygenate the new water for 24 hours before reintroducing them to the pond. The larger the fish the greater their needs for O2. A friend of mine learned this lesson the hard way.
 
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I have abetter idea, why not build a second pond? Then you could pump the pond water from the old pond into the new, repair the old and voila! You will have TWO ponds! OK, sounds like a great idea, I would love to do that, but reality sets in. Welcome to the forum adn good luck, you'll get lots of great help here, for sure!
 

addy1

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Way to go mouseams, thinking like a ponder!
 

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