Water Under Liner

[Indy Lindy]

Hello All!
I found this site looking for an answer to a question.
I think I found a wonderful place to find what I need to know now and in the future!
First, a little background so you understand what is going on......
I moved to this house, with this existing pond about a year and a half ago. It has a non-working pump/waterfall and I am trying to get it up and running.
It hasn't been cared for in about 3-4 years so the bottom was filled with all kinds of leaves, sludge and gross smelling ick. Full of frogs though! lol
Anyway, I decided to pump the water out and clean the bottom, at least the best I could. I got the water down to about a foot and it was getting dark so I quit for the night. The next morning I had a bubble that, I am assuming from my research, is water under the liner.
So, this is my question......when I put water back in, will it push this bubble back down from the water weight?
Should I put a big rock on the bubble first to help it down, or what?

Also, how clean should the remaining water be before starting to fill it back up?
Any info anybody can give me about anything pond and fish would be most appreciated since this is my first.
Thank you!

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to the “water hippo!” I honestly can’t tell you how to fix it. We have a high water table, so any time I drained the pond, even a little bit, I got water hippos! Rocks didn’t actually help. The way I took care of it was a pond rebuild, where I made the pond level higher than ground level. Maybe, if you could get a hose down there, you could pump the water out from under the liner. Sorry, I know that doesn’t help you, but maybe someone else can.

 

[Indy Lindy]

Thanks for your reply!
The pic I posted was taken before the 'hippo' .......it came up between the middle bottom rock and the green plants.

 

[GBBUDD]

Welcome
it depends greatly on your soil type as well as the water table if you have sand person there's a good chance your water pressure will redirect the underlying water. if your on clay you have less of a chance your pond does not look that deep you could dig a hole about a foot away dig to depth and see what happens if that releases the hippo fill your pond up.before it has a chance to build up pressure. if nothing happens try undermining the hole toward the liner but do not have too much water in the pond it could break through into your hole and rip the linerif it does work put pipe that won't crush due to soil placed around it and when the pressure buds again it should rise up your pipe .

 

[addy1]

If the hippo wasn't there when you had if filled, it might go away once you put water back in. Only way to tell would be to fill it and see how it works out.

Welcome to our forum!

 

[addy1]

Also, how clean should the remaining water be before starting to fill it back up?

It does not need to be sparkly clean, you mainly need to get all the muck debris etc out. The water will still have some dirt in it after you refill it. The filters will help remove the dirt.

 

[sissy]

had that happen to me and it was because a hose got redirected and it almost emptied the pond and I did not notce because there was ice on the pond and a snow storm started .It slowly went away as the water pushed on it

 

[j.w]

@Indy Lindy

 

[CometKeith]

Hello All!
I found this site looking for an answer to a question.
I think I found a wonderful place to find what I need to know now and in the future!
First, a little background so you understand what is going on......
I moved to this house, with this existing pond about a year and a half ago. It has a non-working pump/waterfall and I am trying to get it up and running.
It hasn't been cared for in about 3-4 years so the bottom was filled with all kinds of leaves, sludge and gross smelling ick. Full of frogs though! lol
Anyway, I decided to pump the water out and clean the bottom, at least the best I could. I got the water down to about a foot and it was getting dark so I quit for the night. The next morning I had a bubble that, I am assuming from my research, is water under the liner.
So, this is my question......when I put water back in, will it push this bubble back down from the water weight?
Should I put a big rock on the bubble first to help it down, or what?
View attachment 128140Also, how clean should the remaining water be before starting to fill it back up?
Any info anybody can give me about anything pond and fish would be most appreciated since this is my first.
Thank you!

Hi and welcome! It looks like a very nice pond. Water is pretty heavy so it probably will push the liner down. I’m guessing if you put a rock on the bubble it will pop up somewhere else close? Another name for this is FLS. Floating liner syndrome. Some people get it if their pond edges are too low and water gets under the liner. I would remove as much muck as practical and let your filter do the rest to help clean it up. You may need to do some more frequent filter backflushes at first to help clean the pond. Good luck!

 

[Mmathis]

This thread is a year old….