Cistern turned pond

[sissy]

you should really not need carpet since the sand is clean

 

[guitarman023]

I'm more concerned with the concrete sides, there are some sharp edges and I'm hoping the carpet will help even out the sand on the bottom for a smoother surface. I've packed the sand by water logging it, but it's still hard to get it nice and smooth on the surface.

 

[sissy]

I put sand one the bottom of mine and just used deer corn bags cut up on top and weight of water evened out the pond bottom as time went on .

 

[guitarman023]

Ok, so I got more done last night than I thought. Got the carpet underlayment put in and also played with the liner. The corners really bug me though. Since it's a square hole, the corners are all bunched up and wrinkled. I haven't found a neat way to fold them yet. Any suggestions?
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I got my slope perfect though, the water follows to the lowest spot.

 

[27goldfish]

Corners are hard to deal with. I just folded over my flaps as best I could and just filled it. Looks nice. What is total depth on this?

 

[addy1]

I went into the pond as it filled, used my feet to push the wrinkles around. You won't ever get perfect corners, I just did the best fold I could, using feet and hands. You won't even notice them later.

 

[sissy]

yep you will be tucking and pulling for hours and still get an ugly fold .Just the way it goes .My pond is rectangular and just really tucked them in the corner .Someone on here showed how to make fake rocks also that hang over the side .They look like an L shape and would be perfect for your pond .

 

[guitarman023]

The pond is about 3.5 feet sloping down to just over 5ft in the debris catch area.

 

[guitarman023]

How long should I let the pond sit before adding fish? I obviously used tap water/rain to fill. I think my municipality uses chloramine instead of chlorine

 

[sissy]

Your filter will need to be up and running and if you can borrow pond water it will help start the pond .i waited 2 months but had water from my old pond

 

[guitarman023]

I planned on draining half of my current pond to help with the new pond. I was just curious about when the water would have low enough levels of chloramine so that it wouldn't kill my existing biological filtration.

 

[guitarman023]

lots of collected rain water this week got the pond almost full. I need some advice on seaming pvc liner. The cistern is lower on one side by about three inches and I need to add about 6-12 inches of liner to one side. Any of you have experience in seaming liner? I'm still debating on whether I should use something like oatey x-15 cement or seam tape?
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[addy1]

My successful seaming, had some failures, just raising edges, involved double side tape, pl roofing goop, and liner tape over the edges. I overdo rather than redo. Also clean it well, acetone, get the liner as flat as possible. Seal it then let sit in nice warm sun without moving, seems to make the tape stick and gooier.

 

[guitarman023]

My plan was to use seam tape or oatey x-5, make a three inch overlap, and then fold it a couple times and put rocks on the seam. Any other suggestions?

 

[sissy]

if you are wanting to seam because you are building a waterfall you may not need to seam it .I did not seam mine just layed it over by 2 feet