Replacement of cracked pond liner in wildlife pond

Posts

• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  February 2022

  Mine is a foot lower than it should be. I put more stone in the shallow end. I tried patching it with black sticky tape used for gutters but that didn't last long. It last got emptied  at the start of the first lockdown as it had silted up too much. We couldn't get a liner at that time, so it just got filled up as far as I could.  It took all day to empty and clean it out .  The butyl liner lasted about 20 years so not bad, but yes, wildlife damage the edges if they can get hold of it.
  

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• Pete.8 Posts: 11,340

  February 2022

  I have a butyl liner in my fish pond that developed a hole.
  I used a bicycle inner tube puncture repair kit which worked.
  The area must be completely dry for it to stick.

  
  Billericay - Essex
  
  Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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• WonkyWomble Posts: 4,541

  February 2022

  Thank you both 
  I think it's past the point of repair so I'm just researching options for the liner!! This is going to be a mucky job!!

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• philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742

  February 2022

  I had to replace a liner in a pond in my last garden.  Quite a sizeable pond ( 4 mts x 2 and 1 mt plus depth ).  It was in late Spring I think and I tackled it bit by bit.  Bought new liner ( not Butyl this time but a decent one - which of course I cannot remember the name of now - sorry !). I laid it out and roughly trimmed to size.  I then began emptying the pond - clear water went into buckets and containers along with Tads and Newts until I ran out.  Plants hoiked out and into buckets again. The next most important thing to me was the sludge which contained various larvae.  I was lucky in that someone had already given me one of those little prefabricated ponds which I was able to put the sludge in and empty some of the pond water into.
  It took us about a week from start to finish to empty, re line and refill - seemingly without losing too many creatures as the pond was as lively as usual a couple of months later. 
  Hope you manage to do yours without too many problems

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• fidgetbones Posts: 17,618

  February 2022

  Just enjoy being a mudlark for the day, use buckets for animals and save a bucket of sludge to innoculate the new pond water.
  

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• WonkyWomble Posts: 4,541

  February 2022

  I've got a new liner,  I've removed stones, and pins plants in containers. I've disturbed some under age amorous frogs and am draining slowly until I get sludge the bailing that our into buckets to save larvae. So far so good!! I am enjoying it @fidgetbones, not sure the frogs are but they will love the upgrade when it's done!! 
  Thank you @philippasmith2 I'm really glad mine is a metre and a half by  a metre but I'm planning on making the upgrade slightly bigger with a hopefully paddling pigeon proof shallow end!!

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• philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742

  February 2022

  You sound as if you are already well on the way @WonkyWomble. Hope the weather behaves so that you can finish the pond without getting blown away

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• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  February 2022

  You can lay the new one over the old one to make it easier too @WonkyWomble.
  After taking everything out of course...

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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• WonkyWomble Posts: 4,541

  February 2022

  I've got a far as I can with it for now.  Still a foot of water in the bottom and access out so it will be continued after work tomorrow!! 😄

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• WonkyWomble Posts: 4,541

  February 2022

  @Fairygirl I worried my friend earlier with a predictive text typo... told her I would be decanting pond water into my bowel 🤑😱 she said we should post it on the Internet as there is a niche market for everything these days!! 🤣

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