Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I highly recommend the heavy duty EPDM stuff especially if there will be rocks and concrete on/around/behind the stuff. The EPDM rubber pond liner is generally fish safe, I've used the Firestone pond guard brand liner myself and been very happy with it's durability and flexibility.

My current pond is not fancy, simply a hole dug in the ground with liner in it and wood around the top edge to hold the liner up above ground level to keep rain run off out of the system. I'm also using the same kind of pond liner for my grow beds that are constructed of wood or wood and ground.

TCL we have a saying here " we're not fancy but we're cheap"
( 2 buckshop slogan)
... if it does the job all is good

opinion on this?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4M-pvc-pond-line ... 2ea4d1b0b0

MarkA - I used that stuff to line my growbed. It's only half a millimeter thick - which is, well, not very thick at all. It's strong, but easily punctured (since PVC's not elastic like EPDM rubber) and it hardens in sunlight (making it weaker over time). It worked fine though for lining a growbed, but I wouldn't recommend it for a pond.

I got mine at a fish store for 1,50 euro per square meter (that's about AU $10 for a 4x1 meter piece) so I think the liner in the ad is overpriced! If you can find EPDM at that price, I'd go for that instead.

oh dear, i read it as 0.5cm not 0.5mm
my mistake, i'll keep shopping
thanks

this stuff looks pretty good, bit more then i wanted to pay though.......... ( i think i need about 4x4 to get near 3000lt )

http://www.creativepumps.com.au/zpumps/ ... _liner.htm

Could try these guys as well... They also have good price for pumps... which what they have been recommended for many times on this forum...

http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/categories.asp?cID=132

IMO if you are going to dig a pond and put a liner in... do it once... and get a good durable liner...

That last link has some really heavy duty stuff

I would definitely recommend EPDM liner. The link that ivansng suggested are very competitively priced and delivery is cheap and quick its also 1.4mm thick
I lined a leaky old concrete pond with EPDM you can see the process that I used
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6502
You'll have to excuse the picture being in the wrong order

My only recommendation is to check the available sizes of liners and design your pond around this keeping in mind that the less complicated the shape the easier it is to install
The process I used was to place concrete blocks around the existing pond to increase the depth, the pond was smoothed with clay and then covered in old carpet, with an extra layer around the top of the concrete blocks
When the liner was installed it was simply lapped over the concrete blocks and placed in a 10 inch trench that was backfilled with soil
I have placed large rocks over the edge being careful with any sharp edges The stone bridge that probably weighs about 250 kgs has an extra layer of carpet over the liner.
IMO lined ponds are an excellent method of creating a reasonably priced fish tank that are:
[*] Well insulated
[*] When landscaped are much more visually appealing than a manufactured tank
[*]Can be customised to your site
Good luck let us know how your project progresses

One thing that was mentioned to me while investigating pond construction was spray on bed liners. If you know someone that has access to the equipment, you can end up with a beautiful durable pond for very cheap. Large tree roots are a concern of mine though, so I did not investigate more into it.

Mark

here is something on the two ply liner Xavan............

Posted by lily316 z5PA (My Page) on Mon, Jul 2, 07 at 0:23
Just be careful with the Xavan liner which we have. A rock was knocked to the bottom in Nov of 05. It created a leak and havoc as we had a whole pond of koi. We gathered some in another pond we have and put the rest in a kiddie pool in the basement and they all lived till the next April. The Xavan people were pretty hard to deal with when we called..life time guarantee doesn't mean much. They wanted me to cut a foot size piece and send it to them and they would determine if it was acceptable or not. Meanwhile if they decide not, then our liner is worthles. They sent us a seaming tape and we put it on and filled the pond up, put the fish back and the thing leaked. We went to HD and got some sort of cement glue ..really heavy duty stuff and patched the the leak up with a xavan piece and it's holding still.

Well, looks like that rockaroundtheblock.com.au is the go.....now i need to work out how much i need......
might just dig the hole then messure it, or make a little scale model or something

i'll post a pic of the site and plan later i think

Don't forget to allow overlap both sides and ends...

wow, maths is stupid, i've tryed every formula, asussuming every shape.
just to get a rough idea of how much liner i need and total volume when its done, but in the end........

I figured it out with a ruler, a soup boal, and a piece of string

i'm thinking a hole 3m wide 2.5m long and 70cm deep will require 4m x 3.5m of liner + 50cm each side....
so 4.5m x 5m piece will get me about 3000lt, anyone see a massive proplem with my cave man math?

3 metres wide ,, plus UP each side 70cm = 4.4 ,, need lip overhang say 50 each side , so 5.4
2.5 long ..... just minus 0.5 from above so , 4.9

Sounds like a 5.5 X 5