Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Liner

I have just dug a half acre pond. my soil conditions are a sandy clay mixture. I know I need to add a liner but am confused about what to use. I am considering 20 Mil HDPE Poly. Some say it is ok, some say I should use 30 Mil. This will be a fishing pond with no access for wildlife. I will be adding Christmas trees for structure.I need your help guy's, The dam is done and I am ready to put in the stand pipe.

Look up Bend Tarp and Liner and go to their website. I used their liner in my Koi pond and found it to be good quality and has help up great for 4 years with nothing covering it.

Bob

Bob, what mil poly did you use. I will be starting a project hopefully next year creating 300 plus feet of streambed and 2 or 3 kio ponds with a waterfall from my main gravel pit lake, 1 pump..pumping 8-10000gal/hr up into a waterfall pond (approx 15' head) then flowing down and back into the lake to recycle back up hopefully with no biofilters etc..just recycled lake water. Thanks

Rowly

I used the PPL-24 was fairly inexpensive and worked out great. It was a little hard to work with as I had a horseshoe style pond but after the folds wer made it turned out good. I believe they will send you a sample if you request it.

Thanks Bob......my 2 or 3 lined ponds will be fairly small in diameter and my streambeds not to wide or deep so hopefully this will work easily.

Rowly

Is there anything wrong with using 40 mil EPDM? I plan on using it for a small(8' x 10') koi pond with a waterfall down to the big pond.

Not at all just a little more expensive.

Bob

Sandy clay isn't unusual. How do you know you will need a liner?

Bearbait, When my pond was constructed we dug a 20ft test hole and took samples at different levels in it for testing. Soil was sandy clay and at 20ft it was 100% sand.
We decided to go with a depth of 9-10ft, 2% sand and this level was considered marginal by the testing company.The old timers in the area said it would never hold water and even my escavater was doubtful I would ever get it full!
The first year they were right as running water in as fast as I could only gave me a little mud hole down at the bottom. Keep in mind that this is a tank, the only inflow is a large hydrant off my house well and 6 acres of runoff.
Did more research the second year and was told to pack it so I hired a Vibrapacker which is a huge machine that has a roller with spikes on it and it vibrates the ground like your having an earthquake.
After that I was helped out with a couple of nice rains, with that and pumping as fast as I could I filled this 3/4 acre pond in just a few weeks and now 2yrs later its still full.
Its fun when I run into one of those doubters and get questions like how did you ever get that pond full, did you put a liner in it or something!
Dont know if my experience will help you or not but good luck!!