Pond liners are made of impermeable materials designed to retain water. An additional layer of protective lining is recommended to form a barrier between the soil and liner to protect from sharp edged stones and rocks, which may be pushed up over time due to ground movement. To minimise potential issues we recommend buying the correct type and thickness of pond liner to meet demands of pond size and reduce maintenance issues over its lifetime.

Here are a few common mistakes to avoid when buying and installing your pond liner:

• Guided by price alone:  We recommend you choose a membrane that is thick enough to resistant puncturing, one that is not likely to deteriorate when exposed to the sunlight and that is strong enough to line a pond for many years. It is worth spending a little more upfront to avoid problems later. Plastic or PVC liners are not as durable as rubber liners such as Butyl or Epalyn. The best choice for a garden pond would be a 0.75mm thick EPDM (Epalyn) liner.

• Ordering the incorrect size pond liner: Once you have dug the hole, measure it accurately in three directions – the length, breadth and depth. Then go online to put these figures into a pond liner size calculator to get the exact dimensions. Remember to factor in extra for the lip to anchor the liner over the edge of your pond – at least 2 feet/0.15m overlap to go around the entire rim of your pond.

• Not adding a protective underlay to your order: A pond liner needs to be protected ideally from above and below. If no protection is added by way of lining your pond with a geotextile protective underlay before installing the pond liner, it may tear.

• Failure to secure the edges of the liner: When installing the liner, generously overlap the edges to make sure your feature is water tight. If the overlap is insufficient, the sides of the pond will become exposed as you start to fill your pond with water. The overlap must then be secured in place with your choice of edging material.

• Not installing a box-welded liner to a formal design: Fitting a flat sheet to a water feature with vertical sides and right angles will be very challenging. A box welded or tailored to fit liner welded to the exact requirements of the pond design will avoid this. These liners are made with a welded base and flange at the top for fixing. The benefit of this type is that there are no unsightly folds which also have the potential of harbouring debris.

Avoid these mistakes to ensure you create your dream garden pond that will give you years of pleasure.

If you looking to make your garden more wildlife-friendly, why not add a pond. This can be lined with a good quality pond liner to successfully contain the water. PVC, Butyl and Epalyn pond liners are all non-toxic therefore fish and aquatic-life friendly.

Garden ponds represent a freshwater habitat that could play an important role in supporting macro-invertebrates (damselflies, dragonflies, water beetles, snails, aquatic worms) biodiversity. Garden ponds may also play an important role in the conservation of floral communities.

Any permanent water will bring all sorts of wildlife to your garden. By having a garden pond you create somewhere for residents and visitors to drink and bathe. A pond also provides a breeding and feeding place for amphibians, insects plus wildlife that prey on them. Continue reading →

The magic of water has fascinated us for centuries. Virtually all cultures on earth have found a way to incorporate water into their gardens and homes in some way. Garden ponds continue to hold the same fascination today. They bring a new dimension to our outdoor living space and create a stunning focal point in any garden. Ponds lined with a pond liner and constructed with gently sloping edges can also provide an important habitat for wildlife native to the area.

Today, with the availability of modern material such as pond liners, pumps and filters, creating an attractive garden pond is not a difficult task.

Before you begin the construction of your pond, it is well worth the time and effort to design and plan for it. There are five key areas, which must be considered in the planning process. These are the style of your pond, the size, type of pond, position and whether you want moving or still water.

Ponds are often described as ‘formal’ or ‘informal’ based on their design. A formal pond design is one with straight edges and is symmetrical, whereas an informal pond is designed to look natural and is suited. An informal pond design is most suited to those intended to attract wildlife.

The size of the pond is an important consideration and will depend on the intended purpose for the pond and the overall budget. The size of the pond should also reflect that of the garden. If the intention is to stock fish, the pond size and depth are important. For large fish such as Koi, you will need a depth of 90cm (3ft) and a large surface area versus that of smaller fish, which require a pond of 45cm (18in) deep and a surface area of at least 3m2.

The pond type is really dependent on what you want your garden pond for. You may wish to create a pond designed only to attract wildlife. These ponds tend to be informal in style, and require a lot of planting around the edge of the pond as well as in the pond to create a safe haven for wildlife. A wildlife pond must have at least one gently sloping edge to allow wildlife to enter and leave the pond easily.

Ideally a pond should be positioned where it can receive six hours of sunlight a day. Sunlight is important for plant growth. It should also be sited away from trees. The roots of trees can damage pond liners, so avoid placing your pond near them. You also need to build a pond where there is access to an electricity point as most pond pumps and filters require to function.

Then, lastly you need to decide whether you want to enjoy the sound and tranquillity of moving water through a waterfall or fountain. Moving water is also very beneficial to the pond and those that inhabit it, as it helps to aerate the water improving its oxygen level.

Having gone through the planning process, you will then need to decide how to construct your pond. The options are to use preformed moulded plastic, brickwork or flexible pond liners. The flexible liners are the most popular choice for constructing ponds as they allow for design flexibility and are easy to install. There are different types of liners available characterised by their durability, weight, cost and strength. Butyl and epalyn liners are stronger and more UV and weather resistant than PVC liners.

The availability of flexible flat sheet pond liners allows for design flexibility. Ponds need not be a regular square, rectangular, or a round shape. Flexible Epalyn and Butyl rubber pond liners mould to the contours of ponds, are durable, resistant to the damaging effects of ultra-violet rays and won’t go brittle with age. Ponds with adventurous shapes add charm and fascination to any amount of garden space. To calculate the pond volume of an irregular shape is a little more challenging and less likely to give an absolute accurate surface area measurement relative to regular shaped ponds. In this article we offer a few tips on how to calculate pond surface area and average pond depth to get as accurate a pond volume as possible.

Calculating the volume in gallons or litres is important if you are wanting to stock your pond with fish. It is also necessary to help determine the size pond pump to reach pond water turnover. Having an accurate measurement of pond volume is also important if ever you have the need to add healthy bacteria or algaecide to the water.

Steps to calculating pond volume

To calculate pond volume of a regular shaped pond, you need to measure the length, width and the depth in either meters or in feet. If your pond is an irregular shape the easiest approach is to divide your pond into regular shapes, determine the surface area of each shape and add the sum of each together. If, for instance your pond is kidney shaped, then divide your pond into three basic shapes – two circles and a rectangle. Measure each separately. Add the three totals together and then multiply by the deepest pond depth to determine volume.

Taking measurements is easiest done prior to filling your pond with water.

• Draw a square or rectangular shape around your pond by knock stacks into the ground and using string to get as a accurate a shape as possible.
• If a single rectangle doesn’t fit the shape of your pond, then add other shapes to the layout – or a combination thereof
• Measure the longest length then do the same for width.
• Using a sheet of graph paper draw out the shape of your pond using these dimensions.
• From your drawing of an irregular shape divide it into shapes that are easy to calculate surface area – trapezoid is half the width multiplied by the addition of the two lengths, a triangle is half of base x height and a circle is 3.14159 x radius2.

Or, take a length of rope and lay it around the perimeter and calculate surface area as per example:

• Pond is say 14 meters
• Divide 14m by 4 = 3.5m
• Multiply 3.5m x 3.5m
• Equals surface area of 12.25m
• Multiply that by the deepest depth of 2m
• Volume of 24.5
• Multiply by 1000 to get volume in litres.

If pond has been filled with water you can get a depth measurement by wading into your pond with a stick and marking off the depth/s.

Volume is surface area multiplied by the deepest depth – for ponds with out ledges.  For those with planting ledges, again divide your pond into sections as per the different depths. Measure each depth then add them together and divide by the number of measurements taken.

The purpose of calculating pond volume is to make sure you buy the correct size filter to maintain adequately healthy water conditions for the long-term well being of all pond inhabitants. All filters have a guide to the maximum pond size they will cope with. Manufacturers recommend that the entire volume of a pond should be passed through the filter approximately every two or three hours. It is important to also note that for a filter to work efficiently, it must be teamed with a pond pump that supplies it with a sufficiently strong flow of water.

Knowing the size and capacity of your pond also allows you to calculate how may fish and number of plants to add to your pond. If you intend to have a highly stocked fish pond then it is advisable to install a filter to cope with one and a half times the capacity of the water in your pond.

Designing garden pond that brings you the perfect outcome is down to research, planning, budget and passion. Achieving all four of these steps is sure to set you up to get digging.

Humans have been irresistibly drawn to water since ancient times for it’s healing and transformational properties. Today, water continues to play an important role for many psychological reasons. We are known to turn to water to find inner peace and tranquility. Garden ponds are a closed system of water that can also provide that calm place for contemplation. Adding a fountain or stream running into a pond will bring added peace and serenity.

But, it isn’t just humans who are attracted to water – the quickest way to attract wildlife to your garden is by building a pond.

The first step to designing garden pond is to decide whether you want it to attract wildlife, to grow a variation of aquatic plants or to keep fish. Still not sure? Then go online and start researching pond ideas. Join forum groups where pond enthusiasts share photographs of their ponds from start to finish, what has worked well and challenges they have faced.

Build a pond anytime of the year but it will establish fastest if you build it in Winter. This is also a time when you aren’t spending as much time outdoors gardening so you can use that time to start putting the plans in motion. It is less demanding on the body to start the building process when the ground is still damp enough to dig. A lot of thought and careful planning is required before you go ahead and randomly dig a hole in the ground for your pond.

The second part of the garden pond planning process is to decide what design would best suit your garden, surrounding landscape and the intention for which you want a pond. As part of your initial research it also a good idea to spend time on the week-ends visiting public gardens and looking at the water gardens that have been created. No matter what your intention is for your pond, whether it be for mixed fish, Koi or as a wildlife pond, they should all have one characteristic in common: a simple, open design. The bigger a pond the easier it is to maintain.

Designing garden pond to blend with your surrounding landscape is best done by drawing a diagrammatic plan of your garden with exact dimensions. Add to that a number of garden pond plan designs of different shapes and sizes. Locate them in different points within your garden. Or, you could log on to your computer and look for a garden design website, which offer the ability to draft your own plans. There are some points to consider when siting your pond: needs to be close to a power supply to run a pond pump and filter, site away from trees as the roots can cause damage to the pond liner and some trees have toxic leaves or fruits which, if the fall into the water will change the water balance. It is also a good idea to make sure that your pond is accessible from all sides. A

Your pond design should work in synchrony with your overall garden scheme. For instance, if your garden is wider than the length, installing a pond that is deeper than wide, can make the garden look awkward. Or, a wide pond in a long, narrow garden.

Once you have made a firm design decision, you are then ready to mark it out on the ground using a hosepipe or sand and start digging. Happy garden pond designing!

Designing garden pond with a budget

Budgeting will need to include a pond liner and protective pond underlay, pump, filter, aquatic plants and, perhaps fish too.

To know how much pond liner and underlay to order, you will find this article helpful ‘How much pond liner do I need?’

For next steps on building your garden pond, this article takes you through the different stages including installing the underlay and pond liner ‘5 Steps to building your pond“.

SAGA offers free garden and pond design software and can be found here >> Virtual garden design software

Pond liner use is two fold, namely to retain the water in your pond and to maintain water quality. The choice available to pond builders is either a preformed pond liner, flexible flat sheet liner or to line with concrete (the latter of which is seldom used today due to cost, maintenance and durability). Flexible pond liners include PVC or a rubber pond liner of which the options include Butyl or Epalyn (also called by it’s generic name – EPDM rubber liner). Flexible, flat sheet pond liners offer the best choice in pond design and the ability to create a more natural looking pond build.

Pond liner advise as given by the experts

• buy the best pond liner you can,
• don’t buy a pond liner in isolation but also give serious thought to the protective underlay
• don’t buy your pond liner and underlay until the exact dimensions of your excavation are known (to avoid wastage or disappointment!)
• allow enough pond liner for an overlap around the edges to secure in place by using appropriate materials such as boulders or paving bricks.

Best quality liners are Butyl and Epalyn rubber liners. There is no financial compromise with these genuinely high quality products. Butyl is the most well known pond-lining product in the UK although Epalyn (EPDM rubber liner) is surpassing it’s popularity die to the price differential. Both types of rubber liners are hardy and have great qualities such as flexibility and elasticity. They are unaffected by all weather conditions and temperatures. They are also much more heavy duty versus PVC and are less likely to be damage. So, now to decided between Butyl and Epalyn? Both are high quality, but Epalyn has a higher specification, is slightly more flexible, has the same guarantee and is considerably more cost effective. So if cost is the deciding factor, then Epalyn would be my choice of pond liner. But, lets look at each in more detail.

Ponds are the perfect addition to any size garden. A water feature soon becomes a magnet to wildlife attracting them into your garden in a way that makes you feel very honoured to have their presence.  Ponds bring a sense of relaxation and reward. One aspect to maintaining a healthy environment is ensuring you don’t over-stock with fish. So here are simple formula to calculating pond water capacity.

There are many things to consider when planning a garden pond build, such as where the pond is to be sited, budget for the project, materials required and whether it should be a wildlife or fish pond. As part of the construction process you will need to measure the dimensions of the hole dug for your garden pond to calculate how much pond liner and protective pond underlay to order to minimise waste. Following these steps, you will also want to know the volume of your pond to then be able to shop for the correct size pond pump and filter. Continue reading →

Many children have a great fascination towards small creatures found in gardens, fields or ponds such as earthworms, frogs, tadpoles and newts. As a result of my daughters interest in pond wildlife, I find myself constantly on the look out for ponds noting the various species of aquatic plants, the type of edging added to protect the pond liner and whether there are fish present. Continue reading →

PVC pond liner repair is possible although there is the risk of it becoming brittle. Some pond liner repair kits are designed for use on rubber pond liners only so read the label first.

Pond liners if installed correctly and placed above a protective underlay liner, are less likely to puncture. However, a PVC pond liner doesn’t have the same UV resistant qualities as Butyl and Epalyn (EPDM) pond liner therefore over time there is a risk of the pond liner becoming britle and, as a result become more vulnerable to puncturing. The claws or sharp beaks of visiting wildlife can also be the perpetrator of a damaged pond liner. A drop in water level through evaporation will expose a pond liner to higher levels of UV radiation, weakening the pond liner and again heightening the risk of puncturing and the resulting drop in pond water level.

A PVC pond liner doesn’t repair as well as a rubber pond liner such as that of Butyl or Epalyn (EPDM), so depending on how big the puncture is, you will need to weigh up whether to try and repair the leak or just replace your pond liner given that PVC have a life span of around 10 to 15 years.

Finding the puncture to your PVC pond liner? 

If the water level of your pond drops at a faster rate than expected from evaporation alone then the next step is to find the cause. This may mean draining the water out, but only to the point where the puncture becomes visible. Use a garden hose to drain out the water.

For ponds that are home to fish, they will need to be removed and put in a temporary holding tank or plastic bath before draining your pond. Fill the tank with water from your pond first to reduce stress and risk to the health of your fish.

• If the leak is at the bottom of your pond, then repairs will be more of a challenge but not an impossible one. 
• Clean a wide area around the puncturea of algae, grit and any plant life using a clean rag.
• Rinse the area and dry it thoroughly (you can use a hair dryer to make sure that the surface is thoroughly dry) before roughing up the damaged surface with a wire brush. A rougher surface is more porous and holds the glue more effectively.  
• Mark the punctured pond liner by circling it with a piece of chalk.
• Cut a piece of PVC liner in a circular shape. The shape will need to be larger than the size of the hole.
• Spread PVC liner patching glue or waterproof sealant over the surface of the tear and the surface of the patch. Allow the glue to dry until it is no longer tacky to the touch. Press the patch, glue side down, over the hole in the pond liner so that the two glued sides are sandwiched together. Apply the patch uniformly over the hole to prevent wrinkles. Hold for 30 seconds. 
• Wait 48 hours for the glue to cure before refilling your pond and re-introducing your fish back into your pond.

Pond liner repair kits such as the traditional Mastic Tape are not suitable for repairs to PVC pond liner.