Water under liner, AFTER pond cleaning

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Hi all !
Hope all is fine.

I need some help and advises.

We have had our ponds cleaned by a company.

All those ponds have been around for years (we bought the house 2 years ago).

I had the bad surprise to find in one of the ponds the liner was completely lifted and floating.
The waterfall was running for 2 days and i had not noticed any loss of water but once i realized the liner issue it was very obvious that the pond was loosing water.

I stopped the waterfall refilled the pond. the water level has been maintained but the liner still doesn't go down.

I added two big round rocks it helped a little.

I've called the company but they are so busy they don't know yet when they can come back.

This pond has been around for years and never had this problem.

When they cleaned they moved some big stones but didn't put them back exactly where they were before... It looks like they had a purpose.


Is it gonna be a big mess to fix that ?
It's built on clay so it takes long for the water to be "absorbed" and disappear.
Would you have any recommendation to seal the waterfall (what to use) ?
 

addy1

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Look real carefully at your waterfall, see if you can find where the ground, rocks are wet, not heading into the pond. That will give you a starting point for fixing the leak.

how do they clean your ponds? just vacuum or drain and power wash? Just curious if you don't mind saying

I have used the pl black roofing sealant to fix leaks and path water the way I want it to go.
 

taherrmann4

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Has it rained there lately? Trying to figure out if it is rainwater or pond water that is getting under the liner. If it is a leak do what addy suggested.

You need to get the water out from under the liner, what I have done in the past is use a pump like a sump pump, place it under the liner about 6" down on one side where you can see water then turn it on and watch it do it's thing. To do this you may need to remove a few rocks on the side of the pond to be able to have enough movement in the liner to place the pump.

To prevent this from happening in my pond I have strategically placed about 6 large rocks in the bottom, I get some rainwater under it but not much like I used to. I have clay soil and it holds water very well.
 
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I would not "seal" the waterfall, I would fix it which means finding the problem and correcting it. Falls shed water, they're not generally seal to be water tight. Like shingles on a roof, if you have a leak and you go up there with a caulk gun to seal every shingle it'll take forever and you're unlikely to get lucky enough to fix that one problem spot. But I do understand the strong desire to goop things up.
 
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Hi All

Thank you for your answers.

addy

They drained it and cleaned with soft brushes rinsing with the hose.
But they have moved rocks on the waterfall and the water doesn't go down the same way it used to.... it sits in some corners where I can clearly see the sealant is old.

Taherrmann no it hasn't rained or not enough to be causing a problem in fact. I thought about it also and we have had terrible rainstorms here that never caused the liner to do that...

With the two big river rocks and the water I added the liner in one corner has gone down a lot. looks like the water under it also got drained in some ways... but I haven't tried the waterfall again.

waterbug I know and you're right just this was a huge and expensive project 3 significant size ponds that have been cleaned and we can't afford to have that very well built waterfall redone anytime soon.
They are huge rocks sealed in concrete. Doesn't look like there's a liner under there and the sealer I can see is worn out.

And I have to put those fish back eventually :s so if the roof sealant works for now without killing the animals (which surprises me I would have thought that was kind of toxic) we might just go with it.
 

addy1

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i have used it a lot and have not killed any of my fish. I used it to install my skimmer.
 
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interresting.

Although coming back tonight... the pond had lost more water... like an inch and a half... with no pump working at all...

Definitely looks like they made a hole in the liner... It wasn't warm enough for that much evaporation... it is so frustrating :grumble:
 
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...we can't afford to have that very well built waterfall redone anytime soon.
They are huge rocks sealed in concrete. Doesn't look like there's a liner under there and the sealer I can see is worn out.
"Well built" and "no liner" seems like an oxymoron to me.
 
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It's possible the big rocks punctured the pond and by moving them a leak has been revealed...

Try stopping all pumps, falls and see if the water level continues to drop.

It could be you need a big paddling pool for the fish a while if the water plods steadily down to the bottom of the pond

Regards, andy
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I said it doesn't look like there is... there are tons of rocks and vegetation also around it so I don't know for sure wether there is a liner or not.
Well built for me meant with big material and that you can't just undo and redo... you have to break it apart get rid of old concrete and redo it.

adavisus thats' what I've done and the pond has lost water... they haven't been able to come back yet.

Thx
 

taherrmann4

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You may not have a leak, it may be the water under the liner is still draining therefore causing your liner to settle down more which would make it appear as though you a leak.
 
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Hey all...

So after a few days where I refilled the pond.

No pump and it has lost no water. This big pond has in fact a hose that connects to another small pond next to it. When it rains too much it helps balance the levels of water I believe.
I refilled those to ponds at the max and no loss of water.

For the water under liner I came to the same conclusion taherrmann.

I will also turn the waterfall back on tomorrow and see what happens. If it's a normal loss or if it's significant.


Thank you all very much for now for all your analysis :)
 

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