10-04-2016, 07:17 AM
There was a natural pond on our property in the Acres when we moved here. We cleaned it up, added plants and tilapia. A couple of years later, I came out to find the pond empty of water, and the fish flopping in the mud. Whatever sealed the cracks shifted for some reason; I suspect it might have been lotus plants that rooted in the bottom of the pond.
We got some bentonite (the clay used to seal ponds), but apparently not enough; the pond stays empty.
For another spot, we lined a natural hole with chickenwire and cement (or maybe concrete, I can never remember which is which); the water seeped through the uncracked coating, and the pond emptied quickly. We lined the concrete pond with 6ml plastic from Home Depot; that has lasted 4-5 years so far. I read about a liquid coating you can apply to seal concrete, but it was expensive. Someone told us that a layer of the plastic under the concrete would have worked. Let me know if you try that...
A friend just above Mt. View, on the North side of the highway has a natural pond that doesn't leak (or at least, hasn't leaked so far). She mentioned that she has clay soil.
If your pond is small, you might ask a pond builder about scrap liner.
Come to the Big Island Water Garden Club--great place for all kinds of pond info. Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday every month, 7pm at the Keaau Senior Center behind the police station. Usually, there's a speaker, potluck pupus, plant auction, and free plants. Often, there's time to ask questions of the group.
Newcomers are welcome, members are friendly. Come for free, join if you like; I think it's $10/year membership.
At least 2 pond builders and one fish seller are regular members.
><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>
We got some bentonite (the clay used to seal ponds), but apparently not enough; the pond stays empty.
For another spot, we lined a natural hole with chickenwire and cement (or maybe concrete, I can never remember which is which); the water seeped through the uncracked coating, and the pond emptied quickly. We lined the concrete pond with 6ml plastic from Home Depot; that has lasted 4-5 years so far. I read about a liquid coating you can apply to seal concrete, but it was expensive. Someone told us that a layer of the plastic under the concrete would have worked. Let me know if you try that...
A friend just above Mt. View, on the North side of the highway has a natural pond that doesn't leak (or at least, hasn't leaked so far). She mentioned that she has clay soil.
If your pond is small, you might ask a pond builder about scrap liner.
Come to the Big Island Water Garden Club--great place for all kinds of pond info. Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday every month, 7pm at the Keaau Senior Center behind the police station. Usually, there's a speaker, potluck pupus, plant auction, and free plants. Often, there's time to ask questions of the group.
Newcomers are welcome, members are friendly. Come for free, join if you like; I think it's $10/year membership.
At least 2 pond builders and one fish seller are regular members.
><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>