Raised rigid liner pond

[Shakey]

Hi I'm Shakey.
I live in the South Island of New Zealand ,I have just purchased two rigid pond liners and I'm going to put outside my patio in my back yard. I have a small concrete waterfall and three small pumps. I don't no much about ponds some I'm reaching out through other peoples experience , my biggest worry is keeping my water clean with out having to keep changing it. I will add more later as I'm only just out of hospital from surgery ,I also have Parkinson's so I'm on a slow recovery and can't doe much for at least another six weeks before I can try lifting any thing so thanks for your time.

 

[Dave 54]

Shakey Welcome to the forum sorry to hear about your ill health but your not alone in your suffering my friend we have one member with MS my partner Val has MD myself suffering from chronic Ostio Arthritis and Fibromyagia ? MS.
I will say this to you though buy a book about ponds before you start it'll give you an idea of the many differing thing ou can do with them , plus you know your getting it right .
One fish I know you wont be stocking your pond with Koi (public enemy number one in New Zealand yes ?

Dave

 

[addy1]

to our ponding group!

There are a lot of diy filters you can build that will help keep your water clear. Ask all the ??'s you want to.

 

[dieselplower]

Preformed ponds do not do well above ground. The odd shakes need to be supported under the shelves etc. It would be best to get something more like a "stock tank" that has straight sides and, often times, a drain near the bottom.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

I know that your main concern [in your post] had to do with filtration, but there are a lot of other things to consider while you are in the planning stages. Check out some of the other forums here, like the "Construction" forum, or the "DIY" forum for ideas and suggestions. You can buy filter systems or you can make your own. But, unfortunately [I know.....] there's always going to be something that has to be cleaned at least periodically.

You didn't say, but are you planning to have any fish, or is this strictly a garden pond?

Once you're feeling better, it would help us if you could post pictures of the pond liners, and maybe draw out a rough design for how you were thinking of setting them up in relation to your patio.

What size are the liners [dimensions and depth]? Were you planning to dig a hole and bury them, or use them above-ground? As Dieselplower stated, pre-forms don't do well as above-ground ponds since they need support. But there are ways around that, depending on your resources.

 

[TAHOE]

I am new also and I am currently using a preform liner completely above ground as a basement turtle pond. In my case, I made a plywood frame around pond to support the top edges and the bottom sits directly on the floor. As stated, you need support around the middle section of the pond, especially under any shelves. I ended up lying pond on s pice of plywood, drew the outline on the plywood then cut out the shape until I could slide the plywood halfway up the pond to the shelf level. Then I cut pieces of 2x4 to support the plywood off the floor and at the proper level.
This support the shelves, but mainly kept pond from bowing outward in the middle from the weight of water, it worked great.
in your case, you can use the preformed above ground, but you will need some type of outside perimeter support as stacked stone, timbers, etc then fill in will dirt around the pond until it is completely supported. Bowing outward is the biggest problem I have found with using liner above ground.
I made my own filters, one is a 5 gal bucket, the other is a 30 gal barrel, using instruction from this site.

 

[dieselplower]

One other thing I will point out is that when I had a preformed pond liner above ground, I did support the shelves with cinder blocks. This worked for a while, until one of the bottom corners of the liner crushed under the weight, since the sides were not supported by anything. So yes supporting the shelves may work for a while, but in my case, it still wasn't enough.

 

[TAHOE]

One other thing I will point out is that when I had a preformed pond liner above ground, I did support the shelves with cinder blocks. This worked for a while, until one of the bottom corners of the liner crushed under the weight, since the sides were not supported by anything. So yes supporting the shelves may work for a while, but in my case, it still wasn't enough.

I found that off first thing when we built the indoor, as soon as water level got to the top, the sides started bowing out and top edge started to roll over towards inside. Once I put the pywood around the whole pond about half way up, it keeps the middle from bowing and also supports shelves at the same time. I tried a ratchet strap at first, but it needed that ridgid framing the plywood provided. The top edge is also support by the top sheet of plywood too. Going on a year and half with no issues on ours.
I think I have pictures somewhere i would have to find.

 

[j.w]

Shakey

I have no experience w/those hard shell liners but just glad you joined and hope you can rig yours up so it is nice and sturdy

 

[Shakey]

Preformed ponds do not do well above ground. The odd shakes need to be supported under the shelves etc. It would be best to get something more like a "stock tank" that has straight sides and, often times, a drain near the bottom.[/QUOTE



Hi,
Thanks for your import ,this is the very reason I thought I should join the site,I'm going to put the ponds beside my decking which is about the same hight. My thoughts at this stage is to mark the base on the ground which is solid concrete then build a base box of marine ply with a 200mm clearance and put a level base of sand 100mm deep and pack around my pond with sand to just below the top then put a row of cobble stones around the out side under the lip of the pond and cobble stones around on top of the lip to hide it the area around the out side will be treated half round posts which I will bolt to the concrete and pack another 200m of sand between these and the ply box. I'm hoping this will kep the shape . Cheers

 

[Shakey]

Thanks for the help this is why I joined the site to be able to learn from other peoples experiences .my thoughts at this stage are, the decking I won't to go next to is of similar height to the ponds so I thought it would mark out the base shape on the ground which is solid concrete and build a box 200mm wider than the ponds,one for each, this will be out of marine ply wood and then pack it tight with sand, the outside surround will be made of treated half round posts with a gap of 200mm around the other box and also pack this with sand ,I will put cobble stones on top of the sand under the lip of the ponds and the same on top of the lip to hide it, I will also dyna bolt the half rounds about every third one to the concrete ground to stop any movement. This is my thoughts for the first stage once I'm aloud to lift things in about six weeks time. Please tell me if I'm on the right or wrong track.

Cheers
Shakey

 

[Shakey]

Hello and welcome!

I know that your main concern [in your post] had to do with filtration, but there are a lot of other things to consider while you are in the planning stages. Check out some of the other forums here, like the "Construction" forum, or the "DIY" forum for ideas and suggestions. You can buy filter systems or you can make your own. But, unfortunately [I know.....] there's always going to be something that has to be cleaned at least periodically.

You didn't say, but are you planning to have any fish, or is this strictly a garden pond?

Once you're feeling better, it would help us if you could post pictures of the pond liners, and maybe draw out a rough design for how you were thinking of setting them up in relation to your patio.

What size are the liners [dimensions and depth]? Were you planning to dig a hole and bury them, or use them above-ground? As Dieselplower stated, pre-forms don't do well as above-ground ponds since they need support. But there are ways around that, depending on your resources.

 

[Shakey]

Hi ,yes I will be putting fish in but I first want to get my head around water quality and plants. I know that I will have to clean my ponds but I'm hoping to be able to only have to doe this once or twice a year but I still want to maintain good clear water so as to be able to see my fish in the pond.
Cheers, Shakey

 

[addy1]

Sounds like you have though out a good support system for your ponds. With the preform ponds you can usually use a shop vac to clean them. Down the road when you have fish plants etc, don't ever empty them completely and do a scrub of the pond. That sets you back to the new pond syndrome.

 

[TAHOE]

Thanks for the help this is why I joined the site to be able to learn from other peoples experiences .my thoughts at this stage are, the decking I won't to go next to is of similar height to the ponds so I thought it would mark out the base shape on the ground which is solid concrete and build a box 200mm wider than the ponds,one for each, this will be out of marine ply wood and then pack it tight with sand, the outside surround will be made of treated half round posts with a gap of 200mm around the other box and also pack this with sand ,I will put cobble stones on top of the sand under the lip of the ponds and the same on top of the lip to hide it, I will also dyna bolt the half rounds about every third one to the concrete ground to stop any movement. This is my thoughts for the first stage once I'm aloud to lift things in about six weeks time. Please tell me if I'm on the right or wrong track.

Cheers
Shakey

I think that will work, but you must make sure those side panels are not going to bow out with the weight of the sand plus water inside pond. My indoor liner has done well with just the plywood frame around middle keeping it from bowing.
My outdoor liner pond is approx 200 gals, I use a about a 300 gal pump and have a home made 30 gal barrel filter. I do a spring clean up from winter debris ( leaves or whatever), pull pump out of the filter box, clean it about every 2 months ( maybe more if alot of heat/sun due to algae bloom), then I do a fall clean up/shutdown and bring my filter inside and hooked to our indoor pump to keep it alive, then pull pump to shallow shelf and run a small water line just to keep water circulating.
Since you are in NZ, you maybe able to just run your pond all year round.