The other day I decided to replace my skimmer box and clean out the bottom of my pond. I bought the house about a year and a half ago and the skimmer has never worked. The pond had about 12-18” of dead leaves and pond muck at the bottom on top of the gravel. I moved the fish to a temporary container drained the pond and spent an entire day getting all the dead leaves and muck out of the pond using a sump pump and manual labor. I then started had enough time at the end of the day to dig around and remove the old skimmer housing. That is where I left off. I’m fortunately, the next day it rained torrentially. I had covered the empty hole with a tarp but I didn’t leave the sump pump in the pond. The pond filled up quickly due to the rain while I was at work. I called and asked my wife to put the sump pump in the pond which she did. I’m not sure what the water level was when she put the pump in the pond or if it had started to overflow into the empty skimmer hole yet. When I got home I everything seemed alright but now my pond liner has a bunch of water under it. My guess is like an average of 6” across the entire pond with about 12” of bulge in a couple places at a time. As luck would have it I’m expecting a week more of straight rain. Any ideas or suggestions on how to get the water out from under my liner. One other note, I moved a large boulder into the middle of the pond while it was empty. I was careful but I’m worried I might have punctured my liner. Also my pond is in a low point in my yard which is in GA and with clay soil, has terrible drainage. I’m also not sure if this has always been a problem that I just didn’t notice because of all the stuff at the bottom of the pond.
Water under pond liner.
- Thread starter Sem454
- Start date
Welcome to the GPF!
Water under the liner is indeed a problem, as you have found. Many call it a "water hippo" because the water can literally push the liner to the top of the pond and look like a hippo is floating under the surface - not fun.
First thing I'd do is wait for the rain to stop - not much point battling Mother Nature. Then take a good look at your pond - are there areas other than the obvious missing skimmer box where water could run under the liner? This happens when the edge treatment is too low, with no lip or berm to keep the water running away from the pond. If not, assume it's just the skimmer area that's allowing infiltration and deal with that issue.
If you did have water under the liner previously, the leaves, debris and gravel would not have held the liner down - you would have known. Water pressure is a tremendous force.
Water under the liner is indeed a problem, as you have found. Many call it a "water hippo" because the water can literally push the liner to the top of the pond and look like a hippo is floating under the surface - not fun.
First thing I'd do is wait for the rain to stop - not much point battling Mother Nature. Then take a good look at your pond - are there areas other than the obvious missing skimmer box where water could run under the liner? This happens when the edge treatment is too low, with no lip or berm to keep the water running away from the pond. If not, assume it's just the skimmer area that's allowing infiltration and deal with that issue.
If you did have water under the liner previously, the leaves, debris and gravel would not have held the liner down - you would have known. Water pressure is a tremendous force.
Can also dig down right next to pond until you get below the pond bottom and add some gravel and a piece of pvc pipe extending above the pond edge. This will let the water come up and out the pipe.
j.w
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