tmeyers

My son has made 12-15 ponds for the landscape company that he works for. In my pond he cut the liner back 1-2 feet from the edge, ringed the pond with rocks and then bark out 1-3 foot. The liner must be shielded from sunlight to prevent it from degrading even in the bottom of the pond. This was done with a layer of 1/4 - 3/4 inch gravel along with random larger rocks.

George

I think I am going to make the edges more gradual like a natural pond. I am going to use rocks in various sizes around the edge....I am going for a small bog area at one end. I will put some soil in this area and rocks just inside the edge to keep it from all just sliding into the pond. But far enough down so the water can still circulate.
I will partially bury my planned skippy filter for a small waterfall type effect.
I have changed my mind soooooo may times on this plan. I am on this site daily trying to get as many ideas as possible BEFORE I start digging. I am getting anxious though!!!LOL All of the great people here have been very helpful and full of great info. Thanks

IF ANYONE HAS ANY PICS OF A MORE NATURAL EDGE USING A LINER I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE YOU POSTING THEM FOR ME. I DO BETTER WITH PICS THAN WORDS! LOL! THANKS.

I did what tranquility did. I have a shallow ledge dug around the pond and used rock to hide the liner. This is the only area I used rocks in the water. The bottom is bare liner.

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Beautiful pond!
-and the best liner hiding idea i have heard so far.
Thanks! Min

I agree with Min. I think this will be a better alternative for me. Then there is no need to worry about the dirt going down into the pond. Which I think will make for easier maintenance.
thanks lsst!

You are welcome!
My ledge is about 1 foot deep by 1 foot wide. This allows enough space for the larger rocks. One thing I did do is I made the outer edge a concrete collar about 6 inches tall by around 1 foot wide. If you look at my pic you will see the slope I had to deal with and I needed to avoid rain run-off from entering the pond. It also gave me a level edge around the pond.

Before I placed the liner I covered the concrete with old carpet as an underlayment.

Okay first off lets dismiss this myth of the liner not holding up to the sun light. Yes it is true that sun light will degrade liner. It does it at the rate of 2% per year in the Florida sun. At that rate it will take it about fifty years for the sun to destroy it. But the liner will fail on it's own in that period of time. This is one of the myths that ADI has been trying to put out there to justify covering the pond with rock but just isn't true. The source for the UV degrading rate came from Firestone's testing with there roofing membrane the same formula as pond liner.
But I should talk about how to make a natural edge around or in a section of the pond. First slope the dirt up to the edge of the pond gently so the dirt doesn't wash away. Bring the pond liner up about one inch higher than the water level in the pond. Dig a trench at about a 45 degree angle from the edge of the pond. Run the liner down into this trench so that at least 6 inches of liner is in the trench. Cover the liner with dirt right up to the highest point of liner on the edge of the pond. If you want to cover the liner in the pond than build the shelf like what was talked about above but only bring the rock up to the top of the liner. The plantings in the dirt should grow to cover the 1/2" of liner showing at the top.
Mike

Well I emptied the old pond and have dug the hole for the new one. I will be putting in the liner and filling it hopefully tomorrow. I will finish my skippy filter as it fills. I will post some pics soon.
Thanks for all of your help!

I did the same thing with the ledge for rocks and used 16ft landscape edge bender board to create and solidify the egdes. It also made leveling edges easier.

http://home.comcast.net/~b.ketel/bender.jpg

Below the top two pictures are of my old pond. The last three are pictures of my current pond and new skippy filter. The new pond still has some finishing to do but...I did it! Thanks for all of your input.

old pond
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old pond
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new pond
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new skippy
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new pond
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Great Job!

Looks really great! Good job!

Theresa

I can't tell for sure, but in the first picture of the new pond (3rd pic) it looks like you have a shallow area. That is the perfect set up for Heron to walk around and snag your fish. Looks like my first pond and I was mis-led to think the Heron would fly into the yard and just walk up to the pond and stand on the edge. Until I found foot prints in the algae growing on the liner all inside my pond. And I had a fake alligator, a motion sensor water canon and fishline strung around the perimeter of the pond. An electric fence around the yard and a German Shepherd. That is why my pond is 5 ft. deep with straight sides and I still have fish line around it and a net over it. Your set-up looks good, you did a great job. Cant' wait to see it when it's finished. LOL Glenda

It's lovely! I also love your skippy pot. Much nicer than my blue utility tub. You don't have to hide it. Vanessa

There is in fact a shallow area through the middle! About 12" deep. I was so disgusted when I(we..DH)was digging and found the phone lines going into the house!!!!!! We did not damage them but had to leave the soil under them for support of course!!! There really is no other location that will work in my yard. Really ticked me off...lol. Hopefully it will work well for the plants I intend to get this next week. I will set them on bricks to bring them to the surface if needed. I put the pump in the far end to make sure the circulation kept going throughout the pond. No dead water areas.
As far as heron go I am hoping that my dogs and cats will keep them away. I have not had a problem with the cat fishing as of yet. They have so far(crossing my fingers).I do occasionally see them(Herons)flying over my house. I am kind of surrounded by swampy areas and lakes so they have plenty of other resources.
I must say I am darn proud of my skippy filter. I love the pot. I found it at Menards. I still need to finish the edging and will do this with smaller river rocks held in place by landscape edging. It will make it easier to mow around then the rough edge of the bigger rocks.
Thanks so much again for all of your help and input.

I have been struggling with this very thing. I have tried different ways of hiding the liner at the edge of the pond. A slightly slopping edge makes holding rocks in place difficult as they want to slide down the slope. Vertical walls make hiding the liner a must. I just put in a new pond for my mother for mothers day.
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and tried something a little different. The last, upper most, "ledge" of the pond is slightly less then thickness of the rocks around the ledge.
First I placed the pond's overflow so the max water level is known, and then adjusted the outer ledge so the rocks sit in the water. No liner shows out of the water. I also created some bog areas where the liner extends well behind the rocks( you can see the wet dirt) the water depth behind the round rock was about 2" deep. I then simply shoveled the dirt back into the water using the rocks to hold it in place, and turned the edge of the up to hold the water in.

I like the low bank profile,
{{gwi:189421}} the water can be seen from any where in the yard, no liner can be seen out of the water.

Specifications:
Determine the level edge (+-1/2") of your desired max water elevation using tubing level or laser. Construct a ledge below the water level which serves as the foundation/support for the submerged edging material hiding the liner. Install and fix the liner at least two inches above the max elevation - called "free board". A spillway or pipe outlet can be consturcted, to evacuate inflow/precip above the max water elevation, at desired location. The submerged edging covers the liner top and transitions into the landscape.