Repairing/replacing pond liner in summer?

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Kuikentje
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Repairing/replacing pond liner in summer?

Post by Kuikentje »

Our pond has developed a bad, bad leak. Filling it up every night isn't enough, and anyway that won't do it any good.
The trouble is, how do we fix it without losing all the wildlife? Sadly we have no frogspawn this year so at least there won't be any tadpoles (no idea why this is), but there are the usual wee beasties that inhabit the water.
I don't think it can wait till winter when everything is hibernating.
What's the best way to fix it? There isn't anywhere we can put the remaining water and critters. Should we just accept that we have to get in there and do it while the weather is fine? If we leave it till winter there's every chance we'll never get round to doing it.
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kitla
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Re: Repairing/replacing pond liner in summer?

Post by kitla »

I'd have thought you'd want to keep as much of the old water as possible so the
pond creatures can go back into it. couldn't you gather as many containers as you can
find/ borrow, plastic bins should hold a fair bit. If you pile the muck from the liner to the side by the pond, lots the creatures should be able to crawl back in when you're
done. (so long as you don't leave them too long). Is it a plastic sheet liner or a rigid
one?
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
--Immanuel Kant
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Kuikentje
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Re: Repairing/replacing pond liner in summer?

Post by Kuikentje »

Thanks, Kitla. There isn't any of the original water left, due to the top-ups. I've decided the only thing we can do is just get on with it and decide on a day to do it, we need to buy a new pond liner first (it was the best quality, heavy duty one, so something has somehow punctured it, I guess) and then just do as you say - there won't be much water to store if we don't top up for about 3 days, and we have a spare wheelie bin that water can be stored in (there won't be more than a wheelie bin full if we let it go down) and yes, good idea, we'll just pile the silt and waterweed and stuff up by the side.
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kitla
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Re: Repairing/replacing pond liner in summer?

Post by kitla »

Apparently you should put an underlay beneath the liner which will protect it from
punctures. My son works part time in a fish & pond shop, he knows more about
tropical fish than ponds but I'll ask him anyway.
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
--Immanuel Kant
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