Will unloading 10 tons of river rock directly into a pond damage the liner?

[JamieB]

Back to the OP’s original question: would dumping 10 tons of this rock in all at one time damage the liner? Somewhere along the way, I seem to recall that @Hop-frog was going to be using a 20 mil liner, possibly other than HPDM. I think we can all agree that there will be a lot of crud and rock dust involved, but is there any potential risk to the liner by using the dump-it-all-in-at-one-time method?

Yes, there is danger to the liner. Split stone, sharp chips, and then there is danger from an accidental overly strong dig with the shovel. If I were to go that route, I would lay down a strong heavy duty tarp prior to the rock being dumped, then work to remove the tarp once rock was in place. However, I believe I would rather move pre rinsed rock from the tarp to the pond via wheelbarrow, and not risk my liner, were I in that situation. Might be a bit more manual labor, but less risk to expensive liners and pump by dumping near the pond and then rinsing prior to placing in the pond.

 

[Crash78]

I'm not sure what they are called, but I used a shovel with lots of holes drilled into it when I moved my river rock. It let a lot of the dirt and dust fall through . I didn't rinse it until it was in the pond. I just put a pump in the lowest spot and kept rinsing and draining until it was clean. I do have VERY cheap municipal water though so it wasn't a big cost.

 

[Crash78]

I'm not sure what they are called, but I used a shovel with lots of holes drilled into it when I moved my river rock. It let a lot of the dirt and dust fall through . I didn't rinse it until it was in the pond. I just put a pump in the lowest spot and kept rinsing and draining until it was clean. I do have VERY cheap municipal water though so it wasn't a big cost.

Just realized this was a old post. Haven't quite mastered this site yet.

 

[Lisak1]

Just realized this was a old post. Haven't quite mastered this site yet.

That's OK - happens to the best of us! And when someone is reading through here looking for help a few months or years from now, it won't even matter!

 

[huckleberryfinn]

we drilled holes in bottom of our wheelbarrow...washed rock...

 

[mgmine]

Hose it off and add a pre filter that will get the initial dirt out. But be prepared for a lot of work in the future. You will never be able to clean your pond and if you have leaves they will never be able to be cleared out. If algae takes hold you will not be able to simply scoop it out. Rocks and gravel are like invasive species of plants. They are nice in the beginning but not so nice as the years go on. Should there be a time when you have a leak or simply want to be able to easily maintain the bottom what do you do with the 15 tons? It sounds like a Tennessee Ernie Ford song.

 

[GBBUDD]

So, I'll just have them dump it near the pond and shovel it in. Any suggestions for getting rid of the dirt before it gets hand-shoveled into the pond?

The best and realy only way is to create a grate somewhere if its holes in the bottom of compound buckets ,or in the bottom of a wheel barrel or actually make a screen with 1/8 inch holes or there about put it so its lifted and your buckets barrels what ever your using to cart the stone.
you can dump a hose or ten hoses for that matter on a pile of stone and the stone is going to do just as we want it to it will trap the fines and do virtually nothing as far as cleaning it out.