Pond advise and tips please.

Hello people.

I've come here for some advise and tips with a water feature/pond I've started work on already.

I know, I know I should of gained advise before I started but China, Bull, Shop are words often used when my trouble and strife describes me.

I've dug a hole and created a slight raised area around it to house what I hope will look like the side of a rock face which I plan to plant out.

I popped up to the local aquatics place and bought 4m x 4m of PVC liner but the chap in the shop had run out of underlay. He advise I use old carpet so I got some from the loft and spent an hour cutting, shaping and sticking the carpet to the inside of the hole and face of where I want to have water cascading down the 'rock face'.

I have popped on here to check on a few other questions which I will get to later, only to find comments like Old carpet will not do!!!

Really? Will carpet rot down to such an extent that a stone/root could pierce the liner? have you seen this or are you only commenting on something a 'man in the shop said'? If so please let me know and I shall pop to another aquatics shop in the morning and get some underlay.

Another question I had was is it ok to use standard cement on PVC liner for a pond that I may have gold fish in or will it cause harm of some kind to either the fish once I fill the pond, wait a few weeks then introduce them or the liner its self?

Thanks in advance people. I've taken some pics of work so far and will post them when photobucket has uploaded them.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Dean, i'm sure Watergarden will be along to sort you out shortly

 

(As if by magic, a post appeared)

Hello Dean, welcome to the forum.

Old carpet, news paper anything like that, really is a waste of time.

Two main reasons.
1) Both will rot, one quicker than the other.

2) Any guarantee you had is now void.

It really does happen, its as if the stones are pushed up through the liner. But since that can't happen it has to be the weight of the water pushing down on the liner that does it. But yes, stones do puncture liners.

As for "what the man in the shop said" It depends on which shop and which man. Often they will tell you you can fill the pond, leave it for 24 hours then add loads of fish. Or they will say, yes, it is only a goldfish, and goldfish only live a couple of years.

(You should "cycle" a ponds filter which can take a couple of months, but is often less. Goldfish are part of the carp family and can live to 30+ years)

Cement does no harm to the liner. But it does kill fish. Really it does. Its the Lime that is in it that is lethal. You should build what ever you want, let it dry for at least 24 hours, then "paint" the cement with a sealer such as G4.

You can also leave it for a few weeks then spray it with water, empty the pond and do it again, repeat until the water Ph is normal.

OR, make a water feature which has no fish or plants.

 

Thanks for the welcome,

Here is a few poor photos of what I did this afternoon.

 

Thanks Waterdoode.

I was wondering..........

How about if I paint the carpet with a rubber paint?

Just a thought. Just being stuborn about the hour I spent/wasted cutting carpet up and taping it to dirt.

Is it only really the bottom that is an issue with stones cutting in? Could I put down a sheet of stab wall?

I just saw a video clip on you 'know it all' tube where a guy used expandable foam to seal in the large stones in the waterfall. Any thoughts on this? No only because I'm trying to do it on a budget but also because I think it would be a great way to help me achieve my design 'in my mind' idea.

 

Oh and thanks for the tip on the fish. I hear you on that one.

My dad is some what of a marine expert with a 30sq foot pond in the garden and a 13 foot floor to ceiling marine fist tank in the lounge. Unfortunately we don't talk any more or I'd ask his advice.

Anyway he would always tell off the guys in the aquatic shops he would drag us around as kids for putting down gold fish.

 

I always thought people want to get paint off of carpets, not put it on.

Sorry, anything you put on the carpet will be a waste of money / time. (So was the tape, you used, as the weight / pressure of the water holds anything in place )

You can use fine sand if you have some (ok, lots), needs a 2 inch layer at least. It has to be on all 5 sides, as not only does water push down, it pushes outwards, just as this burst, water filled balloon shows. (water pushing in all directions.)



Also pond sides should be at an angle of 35 degrees from the vertical. Any less and there is a good chance of a fall in. (Its why some ponds have bulging inward sides) But you should be ok on 2 sides due to what look like paving slabs (so long as they are either tilted outward or secured)

Foam.

There was a black expanding foam made just for ponds, I have heard no more about it. It may have something to do with the fact foam breaks down over time.

Expanding foam is normally pale yellow, it starts to decay when it turns dark brown. (The longer its left the darker it gets) When used as it often is, to fill in gaps around door and window frames, it is left to dry, sliced off then "sealed in" be that by paint or cement. When sealed in, it does not decay very fast at all, but as you will be using it near water, I would not like to say how long (or short) it will last, and what, if any effect it will have on any fish.

------------------------------------------

I also seriously suggest you sit back, and do some more reading, it will save you money in the long run. You may go out and buy "item G" then find out its not really suitable but you can't take it back, where as "item H" would have been better if you had known about it. There really is more to building a pond / water feature than it looks.

Don't get me wrong, its a worth while project, but you only want to do it once.

Interesting pictures.

 

FWIW I used both a layer of sand and underlay on my pond.

 

I'll second that ... but only once !!

 

Here is a diagram of what I've done.

The photos are hard to see as 1, its dark, 2 the flash distorts the image and 3, theses exspernations always sound better when there are three.

 

I just found this on tin ter net thingy. ona forum. I wont post where for obverse reasons.

Any thoughts?

 

Go ahead, try it and see, then take your pond apart in 6 years and find out am I right or wrong.

The poster has only said what they want you to know, what you don't know is what was the carpet made of, what was its backing made of, what went in the hole first, what is the water table like, what is the soil conditions like.

You should not use carpet because over time it collapses / compresses then rots, the wetter the ground the quicker it happens.

Speaking of the poster only saying what they want you to know.........

You chose to not mention the post under the one you mention. It says

I understand your frustration at cutting a carpet up to make it fit, only for me to say its a bad idea, but as you yourself said in your introduction, "bull and china shop"

If you want something to last for many years you construct it with good quality and correct materials.

Perhaps its time to speak to your father again, he is only a phone call away, one of you has to make the first move.

 

Not likely mate. I do really appreciate your words though. Regarding my father I mean.

I'm not at all questioning you WG, even though it really looks like it. I can see you know your onions but I't just I know of lots of people using carpet in the past but as you said I've not been there 10 years down the line to see how it lasted.

I shall keep you posted.

 

Please do.




(But I bet you don't, and I hope I am wrong)

 

I've done all as suggested but now i need to cement in the granite. What mix should I use?