substitute for pond liner?

[ididntdoit99]

My pond is made from an above ground pool, it was a pretty large one and I cut the bottom off of it and used that as my liner. Only problem was that I had two choices, blue, or white with little blue dolphins on it. I went with blue and I had it like that for the first year but I really couldn't atand how it looked. so i ended up buying a huge plastic painter tarp, it wasnt very thick, and I knew it wasnt going to hold up very well, I just needed to dim down that blue!

Im sure there are holes in it and there is probably water between the white plastic and the pool liner, but it hasnt bubbled up badly or anything, so I'm happy. There are a couple shots where you can see the liner, I'll have to search around to find some pictures from the first year when it was blue, I know i have some on facebook.

on that first picture was after a big storm, and the rain washed away a BUNCH of sand, right next to my son you can see the white painters plastic, and if you look a bit further back, you can see a little bit of blue, thats the pool liner. the second pic is below the water, sometimes when you look at it right, you can still see a tint of blue. when its not covered with algae

 

[BeeWrangler]

My pond is made from an above ground pool, it was a pretty large one and I cut the bottom off of it and used that as my liner. Only problem was that I had two choices, blue, or white with little blue dolphins on it. I went with blue and I had it like that for the first year but I really couldn't atand how it looked. so i ended up buying a huge plastic painter tarp, it wasnt very thick, and I knew it wasnt going to hold up very well, I just needed to dim down that blue!

Im sure there are holes in it and there is probably water between the white plastic and the pool liner, but it hasnt bubbled up badly or anything, so I'm happy. There are a couple shots where you can see the liner, I'll have to search around to find some pictures from the first year when it was blue, I know i have some on facebook.

on that first picture was after a big storm, and the rain washed away a BUNCH of sand, right next to my son you can see the white painters plastic, and if you look a bit further back, you can see a little bit of blue, thats the pool liner. the second pic is below the water, sometimes when you look at it right, you can still see a tint of blue. when its not covered with algae

I had been thinking about the color of the pool liner and how it would look but your idea of using a tarp over it is great. I was going to cement over top and place flat rocks in it but have had a few people on here mention it is not the best idea, I guess it could put holes in the liner if it cracks? I had also thought of putting 1/2 foot or so of gravel layer on the bottom of the pond to keep it from doing the bubbling, I figure it would help root any waterplants I add and figure gravel is not very sharp and has lots of weight to it so it should work. Those are great pics, I love your pond! and your little boy looks very content sitting there

 

[j.w]

Geez, after awhile you can't tell the difference in the color cuz it all turns brownish from the nice good build up of soft algae. I can hardly see any signs of your old colors 99. Looks good to me!

 

[j.w]

If you put gravel on the bottom of your pond you might be sorry. It's harder to clean the bottom and mulm builds up between the gravel and causes bad bacteria to grow. Some have rocks or gravel on the bottom here but most do not. With a smooth bottom it is much easier to just net gunk off the bottom. I suppose a few large rocks placed here and there would be better and could help hold it down. Then you still might have to move them when trying to net out the yucky stuff but better than having to get all that gravel out.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Thanks! I need to take some new pictures, that storm taught me alot! I now have a small border of river rock around thpond to prevent the rain from washing sand into my pond again. and that dock he's sitting on in the picture is actually done now.

Anyway, you may not want to put rocks on the bottom of your pond, most people here dont recommend it, and most people that do it, regret it later. It makes it very difficult to clean the muck from the bottom of your pond if there are rocks in there. If leaves, plants, and excess food settle down in there and decay and then you cant get them out.

 

[j.w]

Ha Ha great minds think alike 99!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Geez, after awhile you can't tell the difference in the color cuz it all turns brownish from the nice good build up of soft algae. I can hardly see any signs of your old colors 99. Looks good to me!

oh, when it was blue, there was no amount of algae that could cover that up, I'll find the pics tonight, i had it like that for the whole first summer and it was still BLUE!!

 

[j.w]

Prolly would take longer than one summer to get that blue covered.........maybe 10 yrs, lol!

 

[ididntdoit99]

I already had the pond drained and the liner out to dig it deeper, so throwing that plastic in there wasnt a big deal. I sure would have left it alone if it wouldnt have been for the fact that i was draining it for another reason.

 

[BeeWrangler]

Guess I will scrap the gravel and rocks idea, glad I joined this site otherwise I would have done everything wrong and been pulling my hair out lol! Thank you both for you helpful advice. Back to the drawing board for me I look forward to seeing more pics 99

 

[taherrmann4]

If you are concerned about holding the liner down you can strategically place some good size rocks throughout the pond. I had to do this and it works well but I would forgo and gravel or small rocks on the bottom.

 

[ididntdoit99]

If you are concerned about holding the liner down you can strategically place some good size rocks throughout the pond. I had to do this and it works well but I would forgo and gravel or small rocks on the bottom.

oh yes! i forgot to mention that, I do have a few large rocks holding the fold of the liner down in places.

 

[addy1]

Guess I will scrap the gravel and rocks idea, glad I joined this site otherwise I would have done everything wrong and been pulling my hair out lol! Thank you both for you helpful advice. Back to the drawing board for me I look forward to seeing more pics 99

When we picked up the fish from that pond, the muck on the bottom stunk horrible, that is what will happen to the gravel once the pond junk starts to build up, it would be really hard to keep clean. We have all done the wrong thing when we first started, even after building a bunch of ponds still make errors, just not as many...........lol