Center block pond, what liner?

[Anton]

Hello, I'm new to this group. In the process of building my first pond. So far I have a 6inch concrete base, center block walls with rebar. My question is use liner or paint? Paint is appealing to me because of the lighter color.

Any opinions would be great. Any material / paint, etc. would be a great help.

The pond is 12 x 12 foot and 4 foot deap, semi raised.

Thanks for any pointers,

Anton

[koiczar]

Anton

Welcome to the board!!

In answer to your question - liner or paint

There are two schools of thought here. Some people like liners 'cuz there easy to install, hold up even in the sun (provided you use 45 mil EPDM material). The downside is in a square pond you will have folds to deal with. It's not too bad if you make one fold along each wall from the corner and tuck the excess material of the fold in behind the main piece of liner. That way you eliminate all the wrinkles from view. You will need to be present as the water fills to make sure you can work on the folds. Start with about an inch of water in the bottom and work out the wrinkles on the floor. Any more water than that and you'll have a helluva time getting them out - you could damage the liner!!

Then work on keeping your folds tight and in the corners. The eventual weight of the water as the pond fills will compress the liner flat against the walls. You'll need to put some sort of "cap" on top of the pond to hold the liner in place.

Now on to paint - there aren't too many products out on the market that will give long lasting results. After just a few years(or maybe less) they start to peel and chip.

There is a new product on the market that I just became aware of today. I saw the ad in Koi-USA. Spoke to them and checked out there website at www.pondarmor.com. It's called Pond Shield. Looks like it will do the job you're seeking without the extra expense of Polyurea spray. Comes out to about $2 - $2.50 a sq. ft. You can do it yourself pretty easy. Check out their website - they even have a few videos you can watch about application and product.

Good Luck

Mike

[Ruth Rice]

Hi Anton,
I'll not comment on your main question of liner because we only have epdm experience. We do have a raised pond though and I really like it. If you want to have koi I 'd recommend going a little higher if possible. Your temperature will be more stable the deeper you can make it. Also did you install plumbing for bottom drain/s? You will be much happier if you use them. Good luck trying to catch fish with that wide of a pond.
Whatever liner you use, it will. eventually become a very dark green when algae grows on it,so I wouldn't be too concerned with the color. Lighter colors do not show off fish well and it will actually make them get lighter and washed out looking. (Sort of a chamelion effect).
Best wishes in completing and I would really consider putting in the bottom drains now.

[joe bauer]

center block?

[Swan]

Hi Anton,
Have you considered using fibreglass, in my experience fibreglass is the way to go,
It isnt as expensive as you would think and as far as cleaning goes its second to none.
It will last a lifetime and you wont need to worry about a leak as you would with a liner.
Good luck!
Jim

[mulberryjen]

Quote: Originally Posted by joe bauer center block?

Joe, pretty sure he's talking about "cinder" block......

[Steve Nguyen]

if I have a choice, I would go with blocks. somehow, concrete pond looks cool. if you plan to build your pond with liner, you can have the line up a couple inches above the waterline and then add blocks on top to give an impression that it's a concrete pond. I saw a few liner ponds built that way and they look really nice.

12x12x4 is a good size of pond

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by Anton Hello, I'm new to this group. In the process of building my first pond. So far I have a 6inch concrete base, center block walls with rebar. My question is use liner or paint? Paint is appealing to me because of the lighter color. Any opinions would be great. Any material / paint, etc. would be a great help. The pond is 12 x 12 foot and 4 foot deap, semi raised. Thanks for any pointers, Anton

[joe bauer]

there is some place that makes custom liners if your pond is truly a box shape. i would look into that as it would be easier to install than a regualar liner and would not have all the folds.

[Steve Nguyen]

really? I spent days searching for this but came up empty. saw a lot of pre-formed but not liner. if you have info on where to custom order liner with shapes, please forward to the list for future reference.

use the tape to hold the fold in place and it looks better. the tape is expensive though.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by joe bauer there is some place that makes custom liners if your pond is truly a box shape. i would look into that as it would be easier to install than a regualar liner and would not have all the folds.

[joe bauer]

i have never used one, but intend to on my next pond. i would like to hear from anyone who has used one.

here are three outfits that make custom liners to your dimensions, again i have never used one.


We can also fabricate our liners to fit custom-sized three dimensional cavities.
http://www.dlmplastics.com/ponds-y.a...OVMTC=standard



Custom fabricated flexible and UV resistant LLDPE Pond Liners are pre-fabricated to your specific dimensional requirements. Small, large, round, square, we can fabricate them all. Super sized sheets of the LLDPE Pond Liners are also available up to 40,000 SF in a single panel. Both the 20 Mil and 30 Mil LLDPE Pond Liners must have a width dimension divisible by 5' increments.
http://www.geocheminc.com/lldpepondliners.htm


http://royalliner.com/Pond_liner.htm