Changing garden pond lining

[tezzor]

Can anyone tell me what time of year is best for changing the lining in my pond? I have a few fish in there, plus I get frogs and the occasional toad around it. The fish had young ones last year, plus the frogs did their thing, so I don't want to upset the balnace of any of that. However, the lining is very old and is leaking, so it needs renewing badly, even in winter I need to top it up frequently. Any help would be very much appreciated. Also, where do I hire one of those holding tanks, I live in the Reigate area, and are they expensive?
Cheers,
Tezzor

[galanthus]

Oooh that's a difficult one At the moment I would think any frogs or leftover tadpoles are hibernating at the bottom of your pond so disturbance may oust them into some late frosts and an early death . Then again they'll be spawning soon so that too isn't a good time either. Maybe late autumn after dragon and damsel fly laying and when tadpoles have left pond ?

in the meantime can you repair a small piece without draining the lot ?

Someone here will prob be able to tell you a good time to do it and advise on temp repair equipment.

Oooh and warm welcome type stuff to you !!

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by tezzor

Can anyone tell me what time of year is best for changing the lining in my pond? I have a few fish in there, plus I get frogs and the occasional toad around it. The fish had young ones last year, plus the frogs did their thing, so I don't want to upset the balnace of any of that. However, the lining is very old and is leaking, so it needs renewing badly, even in winter I need to top it up frequently. Any help would be very much appreciated. Also, where do I hire one of those holding tanks, I live in the Reigate area, and are they expensive?
Cheers,
Tezzor

A child paddling pool might be cheaper..

[m1.carson]

Hi,

We changed ours in late summer, and used a large full up water butt to put the fish in, with a cheap aerator pump running, also covered the top as the fish can jump out, we part drained the pond first, put all the weed and gunk into a large old tin bath so the crawlies could get themselves out including frogs and baby newts.

It worked OK for us.

Good luck, lots of work but we also used the chance to make the pond larger and deeper.

Max.

[coasty]

When i have cleaned my pond,,, I scrounged a couple of old baths from the council recycle centre.. Put the fish and pond water in one with an airater,, and put the plants in another.

I dont think there is ever a good time to do it but when I have cleaned it out I waited till frogs have spawned and then done it as quickly as possible,,,Before the fish spawn,,,

I think early in year is best as it gives everything a chance to settle before the winter,,,

Andy

[smartie]

I'd have said, a Max did, that the best time to do it is early autumn, retaining a large chunk of the original sludge and weed and putting it back in to start the regeneration. But if you can't bear another year of a leaky pond then you could just about do it now - in the next week or so - before the new spawning cycle gets going.

[naturelover]

yes i agree with smartie,you want to get going as soon as possable really befor mating starts,i must say i have never been faced with this problem,i dont quite know where i would begin,lets hope it never happens,touch wood.

[tezzor]

Thanks for all the replies. I'd forgotten about the dragon flies, get a lot of them. So, will wait till Autumn to do the job - with a guilt free conscience! And good idea about using water butts, I've got two, so they can be utilised for this. This is a great site, so much to learn about, so many opinions on so many different subjects, so much concern about nature, I'm very happy that I found it. Thanks again,
Best regards,
Tezzor

[witham]

Do you have access to an old bath, it will have a good depth for the fish, we have one that we use as a water trough for our flockette of 'pet' sheep and our pony, but it has been used as an emergency fish pond on occasion always cleaned out well first of course. Perhaps if someone is renewing their bathroom suite, you could beg the old one, a local builder brought ours free of charge as it was scrap from a job they had been doing in the area, or as has been said before the local tip is a good place to start