A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Water Gardens leak in new pond lining... help

New member here.. building a pond by myself. Help!
I've laid out the lining for a new pond yesterday, filled it, it leaks. :-(
It only fills to 3 of the 4 feet I've dug out. Big setback for me.
Anybody have any experience to share with me? I can drain the pond easily,
but don't even know how to start to look for a leak in the 15x8 foot lining.
Thanks in advance,
Sharon
www.picturetrail.com/sharwood (mostly art pics)

To look for the leak, it will be near the top edge of your fullest water line. So about that three foot mark? Look for wet soil outside of the liner if you need to.
When you find the it, you can patch the leak.
Do you have deep folds in your liner? It could be a place where the fold has slipped down below your maximum waterline.
We have a 4 ft deep pond about an irregular 5 ft by 10 ft kidney shape. We do not have a regular liner in it at all. We have a thick clear plastic that comes on a four foot roll. And that was a freebie from someone. We sealed the seams with pvc glue to make the liner big enough. It has lasted 16, almost 17 years now.
My suggestion would be to use clear pvc glue and a patch that won't be too visible as well. I love clear plastic.

Thanks Tina, makes a lot of sense. I can see why clear plastic would be so nice, as I will be spending a lot of time trying to make that black stuff look
like a natural pond. I will drain the pond a bit and look for that leak, with
some trusty pvc glue by my side. I tried to add a small pic, don't know how.
Thanks again,
Sharon

No leak, it was a deep fold gone wrong that I didn't see, as one kind person suggested! Geez, very happy about that. Spent the last 2 days placing earth and rock around the pond. It's 30c.+ here, and black fly season, so the work is done in spurts til I can't stand it anymore. But the pond is full now, and the stream is going through nicely. 2 frogs have come up from my small pond to
check out this new territory, I think they approve. :-)
I have a question... I've noticed that where I've put cedar mulch in my rock garden that there is no "earth run-off". The mulch seems to keep everything in place, even on hills. Are there any harmful effects to the pond from cedar mulch? Cuz it works so well that I would like to use some around the pond until things are settled.
Actually, while I'm on the question, are there any negatives to the mulch, even
just in the garden? I never used it before, but this year I put down alot to
help keep the garden moist. The improvement to the health of my plants is quite
remarkable, so I am sold on this stuff. But am wondering if there are negatives
to using it.

Thanks, I am enjoying this forum!
Sharon

Thank you so much for the update. Sometimes we don't hear back if we helped or not.
I don't know of any detrimental effects of cedar mulch. I live in a very wind prone area and keeping mulch of any size/type from blowing away is difficult here. One more benefit is it does repel insects as well. Might keep some of those black flies at bay a little.

congrats on the pond now, you need to post pictures for us!

and i'm with tina, thanks for the update. we love updates.

as for the mulch, i don't know of any detriment other than you may get some water discoloration for the wood itself. like the discoloration from leaves.

if you need a picture posting tutorial, it is in the new member's section under member benefits. if you can't find it, let me know, i'll post a link!

The only problem I have had with mulch, and I don't use it anymore but that's just a personal preference, is that if the underside stays wet it will grow mold and that could harm the plants.

I love cedar mulch...I use bags and bags of it each year with zero harmful effects. My pond is totally surrounded by it, but it doesn't get in there because of all the rocks around it. I'd say mulch away. :wink:

Hi: I like the idea of using the clear plastic! I have a gold fish pond and was searching cedar on the internet. Perhaps as a gardening forum no one here is dealing with fish but I've registered now so will ask. Does anyone know if using cedar lattice over the pond at night for security reasons could poison the water. We've had so much rain that any treatment on the wood could be getting to the pond. Since the cedar is not pressure treated I was hoping it would be safe though. However, I have had to treat my fish for an illness today and the cedar was the only new addition that I can think might be a problem. I won't be using it again unless I am sure.

Thanks for any thoughts.
Essie

I honestly can't answer your question. I just don't know.
But welcome to the forum, Essie. We do have fish people here, so someone might have a better clue than I.

I'm not sure either. I know that I'd discussed making an arbor over our pond out of the plastic fencing stuff, so that no chemicals would drip down into the pond(something I hadn't thought of).

I'm not sure if untreated wood would cause any harm to the fish or not. You would think not.....but I guess anything is possible.

The rain running off the wood might be changing the pH of your water and that stresses out the fish, which eventually makes them sick. It could be something else though. You should always check the pH of your water. You can get some pretty decent test kits at your local pet store.

I'm not positive but I think that goldfish like a neutral pH 7.0