Rocks or water first?

[xSWMIx]

I've seen a lot of videos of pretty accomplished people building ponds. They put down the liner and lay out all the rocks and gravel, then fill the pond. I've been reading a lot as well, and much of the reading I'm doing has people saying you need to fill the liner with water FIRST, then put in rocks. This is supposedly so that the liner doesn't tear when being stretched against the weight of the rocks when filling. Seems much more difficult to put rocks in a full pond though. Maybe I'm misreading? I plan to rock in/cover the entire pond with boulders rocks and gravel. Any thoughts? Thank you!

 

[combatwombat]

Some folks might fill the pond to allow the weight of the water to form the liner to the contours of the hole. Then drain it and place boulders. Seems wasteful. If you're careful about placing your liner so that it is loose against edges and place boulders from the bottom to top, you won't have any issues.

 

[Jhn]

My advice is same as cw’s, leave slack in the liner and the layer of non woven fabric above and below the liner if you are using large rocks, then be careful. I would follow the pros,that do it for a living not just general people on the internet that have built one pond with more than likely limited construction experience. First of all, how are you going to put rocks in a pond full of water after 2 or 3 rocks go in , you are going to have a cloudy pond and can’t see what your doing.

@combatwombat maybe they can borrow Barney since he has that echolocation thing going, ( wonder if it works under water), rename Barney..Flipper.

 

[GBBUDD]

I don't know what kind of experts you found but as @Jhn said it' s beyond memorizing to place rock into a pond even with only a little water. one the silt and not being able to see a thing. the other is you need to get in the hole up close and personal to set boulders and the straps can slip off when wet and you can not get out of the way fast enough if your in water. I have watched so many youtube videos of pond builders some really bad ones to boot and never saw add water then stone. the only time i have seen adding the water is to a bald pond no rock and to use the weight to smooth out the wrinkles which does work really well. The Pond Digger has a video on just that topic alone
But as was mentioned above You do want to make sure that there is more then enough liner to push into every milk and cranny WITHOUT STRETCHING THE LINER. any where that might settle down the road leave a small fold in that area so if it does it has material to use and not pull the edge of the liner down or your selves or worse yet tear

 

[xSWMIx]

I knew turning here would be the correct information well and confidence builder. Thank you folks, much appreciated!