Pond liners

[matthewY]

I'm looking at getting rid of my existing preformed pond and replacing it with a liner to fit the entire area. currently the pond stores about 100L adn 2 mid sized gold fish. I'm looking at getting possibly 600L - 1000L in that area and looking for a good liner to suilt.

Aftew things that have come up on trademe are PVC liners and polythene liners. I'm def looking for something that would last a while and would not puncture easily (esp if a cat falls in or a hedghog which was once a asad case which actually happened to me.

I'm thinking the .5 thickness but if theres something better, I would be very keen to know.

What do people use out there and how long should I expect the liner to last for befoe having to replace it.

The area is about 3M * 1.5M so quite small still, nothing to fancy so I can afford abit on a thick good liner, so long as I know what I'm looking for.

I remmeber someone taling about the sludge covers for farming... How do these compare to the .5 PVC liners? do the sludge covers come in different thickness too?

finally, what about underlay, most pond kits dont include undrlays, I wonder if that means u dont need them... what do people use?

Cheers

Matt

[Caryl]

It seems to be a case of you get what you pay for. The proper pond liners are thick and expensive but they often have 10 - 25yr guarantees.

A lot of people recommend the liners farmers use on their dams as it is a lot cheaper than the pond liner. It is thinner too and I don't know about guarantees. I think this differs from the stuff they use to cover silage.

As for underlays, this depends on your ground and how rough it is. Many use old carpet or sand. The use of some sort of underlay would definitely make the lining last longer.

[matthewY]

Hi Caryl,

so assuming money isnt such a big issue (the pond is tiny but I think the $100 - 200 mark for liner would be quite ok for my bank), would the same thickness PVC or polythene be better?

I did some googling but the obvious results seemed somewhat biased (the same company offering recommendation is also selling it...

but in general, I get the opion that the polythene stuff doesnt wether as well as the PVC stuff???

thanks for your advice

Matt

[Caryl]

I believe the PVC is thicker and copes better with exposure to sunlight. The polythene tends to break down over time.

The proper liners seem to vary a lot in price. If the pond is relatively small, which yours is, I doubt you need the high end thickest stuff. Bear in mind it also is very heavy so dragging a large piece into position isn't easy!

If you aren't on a tight budget and want to do the job right I would go for the pond liner. I think with the liner you will have less need for an underlay as the liner itself will absorb the lumps and bumps.

[Faran]

I did it on the cheap two year ago and got a polythene liner... been regretting it for the last 6 months now with a constant leak. The PVC you'll be able to repair but not Polythene so I'd recommend PVC for that alone, but all the builders I've spoken to recommend Butynol for lining a pond as it's pretty much indestructable and I plan on using that when I re-line my pond next month (waiting for the hundred or so baby WCMMs to grow out a little).

[minchton]

I have always used a "silage pit" cover from local farm supplies shop. 15 metre x 5 metre $49. I have never had any problem with it lasting except for a large dog jumping in the pond and putting a hole in it. My pond is 4m x 4m and has been running for about 5 years without replacement.