The pond that was....... I really need ideas and help

I have learned that this group is a great place to share, laugh, and cry, so I decided to share a sad yard problem I have and hope that some of you here might have some helpful solutions. I built a beautiful huge pond 4 years ago in my back yard, which at the time was my mother's home. I was living with her and caring for her 24/7 as she is 83 and wheelchair bound. I dug it myself and was so proud of it. We all know that although we sometimes love people dearly, it can be a severe mental strain to live in the same house. I am young, but in bad health (take around 11 prescriptions per day most days) and caring for my mom alone was killing me. (I have brothers locally but no one would help a bit.)

To try and shorten this story, for my mental and physical health, my husband and I moved out for a year, forcing the rest of the family to help care for her. All is fine now, she is living in Houston in a nursing home right next door to my sister's house, and having the time of her life, and our relationship is great. I have now inherited her home and am very happy as it's the home I was born and raised in. The downside is...........I was not in a position to care for the pond daily, and during the time I was gone the expensive black liner suffered sun/heat damage I guess and became as riddled with holes as swiss cheese. The water all drained out, and my beautiful huge Koi all died. The pond is now a riddled hole with no fish, and I have decided never to line it with the black pond liner again, as I feel like I want something I'll never have to replace, concrete.

The problem is, we are poor folks and living paycheck to paycheck. I have no idea where to begin. How on earth would I do it? How much is concrete? How much would it take? How would I apply it? How hard would it be since I tire so easily with really physical work now? So many things to worry about on how to get it running again. I just about cry every time I look at it now. I don't really have anyone to share this with other than you folks, and I guess I'm hoping someone here might have inexpensive concrete connections, ideas, or might be willing to offer support or advice to me. With my health problems (diabetes and Bi-Polar disorder, which is manic depression to those of you who don't know), the pond was a major healer for me, as I would spend hours a day listening to that pretty water falling. The fish were healing too. I need that in my life again, and just want to thank all of you who read this for sharing a little bit with me. I created a little mini slide show that depicts the before and after of my poor pond. I hope you will be able to see how pretty it was before, and what I pray I will have again. Love to all of my new DG friends, and God bless, Karen

Click on this link, and enter darkmoondreamer as the username, and then click go to see the slideshow.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/browse

Karen... hate to hear all your troubles.. but we all have them.. just hang in there, and KNOW HE is GOD and that YOU are LOVED!!

I haven't a clue about the pond.. concrete.. stuff... just wanted you to know I want one too..lol I bought a lil pond kit last year, but haven't "dug" it in yet.. as I have a pomeranian that LOVES to swim... dirty water or not!! I wouldn't think it is normal though for the liner to get soo holey in 1 year ?

I hope someone answers your questions.. cause it will help a lot of us I am sure!!

Good Luck!!
Becky

Hi Karen....wish I had gotten to speak with you at the RU this last weekend. I know how flustrating it can be to deal with bad health and elderly family members and also the pond problems.
I didn't download the file required to view your pictures, but I sure I know what pond disasters are. We have had a plastic poly one get cracks, low mil liners get leaks before we ever started a pump up. But....we now have a 750 gal pond that has a 45 mil liner we built in 2003. We have put rocks in the pond taken them out and plan on placing them back again. We have walked on it, thrown pumps in, had water lilies, EEs, and Horsetails go wild with roots; nothing has penatrated it! We did have a leak last year but after trying different things to find the leak, came to realize it was the waterfall lip cement that needed replaced not the pond liner.
So..... my suggestion for you would be to replace the current liner with a 45 mil. After cleaning out debris in there now, just lay the liner over the existing form you have there, liner and all. Concrete is hard work. I would never attempt to do that EVER. Also nothing is permanent just because it is concrete. Look at driveways, bet you will look at a lot before finding one without cracks. Wish you the best of luck with you decisions and hope you can find your way back to relaxation soon.

Went searching and found a store in Tyler that carries the 45 mil, but didn't sign on to get pricing. Figured you could call if your interested also. Here is the link. http://www.horizononline.com/about_us/locations/showstate.phtml/Texas

Hi Darkmoondreamer,

Take a look over here on this thread in the watergardens forum, some of the folks there use metal stock tanks. That would be a more permanent way to go but with much less work.

I have an in ground pond with a liner but I love the way the stock tanks look above ground. You could always sink it into the ground for a more natural look.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/870256/

Thanks bundles for sharing that Prickle! That would definately be another option. Just seeing the ideas that each brought was worth the read.

So very sorry that you have suffered the way you have. Depression haunted me from the time I was a teenager, but a new family doctor and a change in prescriptions, saved my life about five yrs. ago.

Good for you for having the strength to stand up to the family, which resulted in a better situation all around. The only downside to that was losing the koi pond, but I do agree with the others that you need to use the heaviest mil you can buy, which I assume is 45. That refers to the thickness of the plastic.

Concrete might be more attractive, but it's super expensive; not a job for an inexperienced diy'r; and it presents special problems when using live fish in the pond, as the cement will leach into the water.

Keep your chin up, and your eye on the prize...you'll realize your dream of a lovely koi pond once more. God bless all your endeavors!

Rose

darkmoondreamer - try this site for some ideas - www.pondarama.com & check out the preformed liners -they would be easy since you already have hole dug & they are pretty thick & all you do is unroll & drop in hole. www.gardenpondsmart.com also has good prices & even saw 1 on criag's list w/ everything for $200. LMK if you need anymore links - my nieghbor & I are putting in ponds ( her this year - me next - will practice on her's 1st before I dig my yard to pieces..LOL) & don't want a hassle & the preformeds are the way to go & most sites you can buy the liners pretty reasonable & I'm living paycheck to paycheck too so you know it's got to be reasonable if I'm looking at it. Hope it helps & remember God loves Gardeners!

Thank you all for your thoughtful and helpful replies. I will read all the information you've linked me to (thanks so much!) and try to figure something out. The liner I currently have is from Lowe's, and I actually have another package of it but unsure of the strength. There are some types of cement that don't leach out into the water for fish, but I can't remember which. The problem is, the way my pond was designed (huge with liner, and then chicken wire placed around edges and rocks concreted onto chicken wire) I would practically have to tear all the rocks out and rebuild the entire pond to reline it with the pond rubber plastic. If I reline again, and this happens again, it will be impossible to keep fish alive for the time it takes to reline AGAIN. Hubby says he won't do this every year or more, so he wants a permanent solution, thus the concrete liner came to mind. You have given me alot to think on, thanks so much. Love, Karen

I'm so sorry to hear about your health problems. I can offer a little information on my experience with a small pond and know how soothing they can be.
I had a pond with one of the precast liners. We dug down and put the liner about 3/4 of the way in ground and left a bit sticking up. I then put rock around the edges to cover the raised portion. It brought a lot of wildlife to the garden (and I live in the city). I never had Cardinals on a regular basis until I put that pond in. I bought a precast statue of a child to sit on the rock edging and it sprayed water into the fountain. It seems Cardinals are drawn to the sound of running water. I put a couple of water lilies in too. We had lots of frogs and tadpoles and a huge variety of birds. I located the pond just outside my living room windows and placed a concrete bench beside it. I could enjoy it from both inside and out. The preformed liner was fairly inexpensive and can be found at Lowe's and Home Depot. It also a lot easier to install than the flat liners and holds up better (in my opinion). Since you've already got the hole dug, that's the worst of it out of the way. If the hole is too big for the liner you get, fill in with sand, soil or rock. Good luck with the endeavor and let us know how it turns out for you.

Crow

Crowellli,
Your pond sounds lovely. How large and how deep is it? Would you consider posting a photo of it for us?

From the look of the damage it looks to be from the sun. It may have gone dry and thats when the damage occurred. Regular pond material will not do that. Try looking at the rubber liners. Thats what I got. Its a little more expensive, but will last a lot longer than the plastic. I have had mine in about 12 years with very few problems. The only leak I had was from the aquatic filter. When it filled up with fish poop. I need to clean it at least once a year. I use water hyacinths to filter the water and parrots feather and lava rock to keep it clean. Works like a charm. So don't give up. Get it back up so you can enjoy it. For cheap Koi try Petsmart. Here in San Antonio they have them occasionally. Mine are now about 18 inches long. The started out about two inches when I got them. They are probably
worth several hundreds of dollars now. Get out and start cleaning that pond up.

how thick is the cement on the chicken wire?
maybe WE could use a mallet and break it up to get it apart then take up the old stuff.

just a thought and you see I put WE lol

Phyllis you are such a dear, always willing to help anybody. Where do you get your energy? LOL.....I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm going to wait for cooler weather and really plan this out. The cement under the chicken wire is not thick at all, just a thin layer to hold the rocks in place.

I think since it is empty I am going to (over the winter) invest in a leaf skimmer and a bottom drain and new rubber or stronger liner. I may even need a new pump. This pond is about 3,000 gallons big, it's not a small pond and it's built underneath a pecan tree. Now that it's empty will be a good time to reexamine the whole works and make it last forever. I am hoping now to pick these items up cheaper in the winter and have it going again by next spring. All the suggestions here have changed my mind regarding cement. Thanks, and love to you! Karen

This message was edited Jul 11, 2008 7:31 PM