Sand bottom before liner?

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jamal-188

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 4, 2003
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I"m guess I shoud lay a couple inches of sand on the bottom of my hole before the liner, what about the sides. Some people said to use burlap bags or old carpet/blankets. Are the sides really necessary?
 
It depends on your soil, but better safe than sorry. Repairing leaks is a HUGE pita!!!
If you have a lot of rocks, tree roots, anything that could present a hazard to your liner, you want an underlay. PA, I obviously don't know what part, but I'll bet you have at least some rocks in your soil. I sure do in MD. You prolly already did this, but check the sides and bottom very carefully for rocks and roots that you exposed while digging. remove all hazards that you can.

I went to the fabric store, bought sveral rolls of quilt batting. It's basically sheets of polyfiber, nice and cushy, and pretty dern cheap. I put that under all of my liner, bottom and sides.
 
Yeah there are a ton of roots, a pear tree was right next to the pond but we did a pretty good job of removing the roots. I think I'll try to get some fabric like you suggested.

Thanks
Chris
 
i went to homedepo and got a piece of cheap thick carpet laid it on the bottom and put 1 inch foam on the sides mine is a 6+12 above ground 4 feet deep good luck tim
 
i went to homedepo and got a piece of cheap thick carpet laid it on the bottom and put 1 inch foam on the sides mine is a 6+12 above ground 4 feet deep good luck tim
 
I got a coulpe of bags of sand and covered the bottom. Then, I wetted down somea plastered the sides of the pond. To hold that in place I took some of that landscaping fabric and wrapped the whole pond.
 
lol wet newspaper? wont that decompose? or was that a joke. i think sand is a good idea. and so are all the others. because we didnt put anything under outs cept dirt. because dirt can compact and make things uneven but sand is big enough to stay in place
 
Actually no..It was reccomended on TLC's Rally Round the House. And it wont decompose if its not exposed to the air. That is the problem with a lot of our land fills...nothing decomposes because its all burried.
 
I would suggest underlayment. It is very strong and virtually unpuncturable. I managed to excavate just a foot of my pond today(which is right next to a very large tree) and we ran into a lot of roots. However, i am using underlayment and liner, and i am not worried at all. I would only use sand and burlap bags and wet newspaper for preformed ponds. If you are new to ponds, i highly recommend the Pond Builder's Bible, made by Aquascape. $50, waterproof, tearproof (as in rips) and definitly worth it!
 
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