pond liners?

[skipperbrown]

The liner itself isn't slick. It's when you get anything on it. Then it's as slick as glass. I have just a little dirt, mostly sand, that has washed into the pond and it's impossible to stand on it. I really recommend you put a shelf in your pond about the length of your dog that is about 1' under the water level.

 

[Grouseman]

The liner itself isn't slick. It's when you get anything on it. Then it's as slick as glass. I have just a little dirt, mostly sand, that has washed into the pond and it's impossible to stand on it. I really recommend you put a shelf in your pond about the length of your dog that is about 1' under the water level.

Hello everyone thank you for the patience, I have been researching different ways to construct my pond. Here is a photo I was sent I Think it will help the slip factors.

 

[boggen]

head over to Koiphen.com a good amount of "pond liner" installs for koi to goldfish, including many folks with dogs, turtles and other aquatic life.

my initial re-action = you and the pups are going to be eating water a lot.

as soon as some algea grows on the liner. it will be slippery than snot. and you will need to crawl your way out.

your overall sides are "slowly gradual" to center. resulting in. even more frustration. having steeper sides right off get go (of what ever your soil will support), = water gets deeper quicker. this is a good thing. meaning you can "keep more of your body submerged" in water, before getting to edge. and not falling flat on face trying to climb up a slime floor of algea.

i would also look "TPR" trigental point returns. to make it simple. it means creating a "circular current" kinda like a tornado. as water spins around. this will help overall water quality. other words put a 90 on the water coming into the pond. so water shoots down the sides of the pond. vs pointing straight into the pond.

you might consider pulling the liner back now. and digging a trench, and install a bottom drain ""DIY 4" toliet drain"" it will make life easier with getting the muck out of the pond. and it will collect muck, twigs, leaves, and will become a sewer. dogs go in, they come out smelling like sewer. once the muck hits the air they will be nasty. as long as the muck is under water you will not smell it, it is once the muck comes out of the water and into the air.

if this is more dog training. you might consider tossing down 1 layer just for holding water, and then tossing another layer on top that is more for "nails" to puncture vs the 1st layer that is meant to hold water.

those dog nails can be rather sharp to point knife sharp, once the dogs start using them to pierce and claw there way out.

i would not really advise putting rock in the bottom. or less that is your plan to deal with dog nails. rock in bottom of pond = nasty smelling mess to clean. if you do plan to go with rocks... look at "aquascape" i think that is correct company. at some of there systems, and also post something on koiphen, they may help direct you a bit better.

 

[Grouseman]

head over to Koiphen.com a good amount of "pond liner" installs for koi to goldfish, including many folks with dogs, turtles and other aquatic life.

my initial re-action = you and the pups are going to be eating water a lot.

as soon as some algea grows on the liner. it will be slippery than snot. and you will need to crawl your way out.

your overall sides are "slowly gradual" to center. resulting in. even more frustration. having steeper sides right off get go (of what ever your soil will support), = water gets deeper quicker. this is a good thing. meaning you can "keep more of your body submerged" in water, before getting to edge. and not falling flat on face trying to climb up a slime floor of algea.

i would also look "TPR" trigental point returns. to make it simple. it means creating a "circular current" kinda like a tornado. as water spins around. this will help overall water quality. other words put a 90 on the water coming into the pond. so water shoots down the sides of the pond. vs pointing straight into the pond.

you might consider pulling the liner back now. and digging a trench, and install a bottom drain ""DIY 4" toliet drain"" it will make life easier with getting the muck out of the pond. and it will collect muck, twigs, leaves, and will become a sewer. dogs go in, they come out smelling like sewer. once the muck hits the air they will be nasty. as long as the muck is under water you will not smell it, it is once the muck comes out of the water and into the air.

if this is more dog training. you might consider tossing down 1 layer just for holding water, and then tossing another layer on top that is more for "nails" to puncture vs the 1st layer that is meant to hold water.

those dog nails can be rather sharp to point knife sharp, once the dogs start using them to pierce and claw there way out.

i would not really advise putting rock in the bottom. or less that is your plan to deal with dog nails. rock in bottom of pond = nasty smelling mess to clean. if you do plan to go with rocks... look at "aquascape" i think that is correct company. at some of there systems, and also post something on koiphen, they may help direct you a bit better.

Hi Ryan thanks for the information. I will putting a 4" bottom drain with a air aeration this unit will be solar. I would like to install a jet, pump and filtration system some day when I have more money for the solar system to run the pump. Right now the bottom drain with the air aeration. I will add a speed bump like in the photo,but using flat or bigger rocks. The photo of the finished pond is not mine, just an example. scroll back a page or two and you will see my pond.

 

[bdog]

I am currently having a liner installed in my 100x 200' pond. I am using 40 mil HDPE. They got about half of it in today and will finish tomorrow. The cost was pretty reasonable at $7,500. Would have been hard to haul in and incorporate bentonite for that. It may cost more in other areas I am close to the heart of oilfield country and there are tons of contractors that install this stuff for drilling pits and frac ponds. Expected life is 20 years.

 

[Grouseman]

I dug a pond your size in 2005 and utilized a liner from BTL Liners. btlliners.com Heavy duty pro type liner utilized by just about everyone. Very informative web site. Price is great for the product they produce.

Hello NubsNob, do you have picture of pond?

 

[NubsNob]

My PC was down for a week. I have plenty of pictures taken during the building, it is another thing to find them in the PC. I'll keep looking.

 

[innrkid]

Grouseman,
It sounds like you intend to build a swim-by pond ... I'm jealous!
I have a 6 acre pond that didn't hold water when originally built, so bentonite was mixed into the soil to seal it. Although it was built around 20 years ago (before I owned the property), it's still holding water just fine.
Earlier this year, a friend had a pond built and, despite all initial indications that it would hold water, it didn't ... so the pond was drained, bentonite was added to the soil, and now all is well.
For your purposes, I'm not sure that a rubbery liner would work because the dogs' claws may work through that liner.
GRR

How much bentonite did you use? Was ground clean soil or were some rocks present? I have a pond that is not holding the water it should. I have tried clay and that got it to at least hold some water. I'm thinking about bentonite mixed with clay...although not perfectly clean clay. Thanks

 

[Redneck in training]

How much bentonite did you use? Was ground clean soil or were some rocks present? I have a pond that is not holding the water it should. I have tried clay and that got it to at least hold some water. I'm thinking about bentonite mixed with clay...although not perfectly clean clay. Thanks

I have the same problem. Our pond drops in average an inch a day depending on water level. It used to drop about a foot a day due to seepage to sand. We bought 16 tons of bentonite had it spread and covered by about a foot of clay and compacted it by driving wheeled tractor on it. It dropped the leakage to about 1.5-2 inches a day. Then I purchased a polymer from Seepage Control Company. It dropped the seepage to about 1 inch a day. Since the leak is more or less constant for past few years it seems to me that there a hole somewhere. I suspect that the water leaks along the hydrant pipe. Hopefully I will find time to do something about that this season.