This is the gallery part you might get more answers in the forum. You will have to empty the water out befor putting the liner in. A shop vac will work fine, then put the liner in and fill with water.

Transferred from. RE: got stock tank heater, help Posted by drh1 z4 VT (My Page) on Wed, Feb 21, 07 at 19:52 Air Exchange In Your Pond 101 Judging by several of the comments there is a bit of confusion on what is occurring with gas exchange into/out of your pond. I apologize for the length of this - feel free to not bother to read it (except for Rule #1). Rule # 1: If you have a pond and youve been doing something that works for you and youÂre happy with it....forget everything else and stick with it. Do not read any further. All other Rules: The following are "things" that influence the RATE at which a gas will go into or out of solution: a.) Water temperature - the colder the water the more of a gas can be held in solution... and therefore the higher the saturation concentration (commonly referred to as HenryÂs Law and is also dependent on the concentration of the gas in the atmosphere as well as the temperature); the colder temperatures will decrease .... somewhat.... the RATE at which a gas will diffuse through the water and into the air or from the air into the water. b.) Turbulence and mixing. The RATE at which a gas moves into or out of the water is controlled, in general, by a very thin film of water molecules right at the surface of the water (commonly referred to as FickÂs Single Film Model  as one example). The thicker this film the slower the RATE at which the gas can go into or out of solution. The more mixing or turbulence you provide the thinner the film. Therefore, if we arenÂt getting enough gas (oxygen, for example) into the pond we mix it, let it cascade down a waterfall, use a bubbler.. all of which cause the water to mix and "refresh" the surface and reducing that limiting liquid film thickness. The same applies to getting gases out of solution. c.) Surface area. Often people assume that this is the only variable or parameter that influences gas going into or coming out of solution. While it is a very significant factor it is not the only thing that is relevant. Obviously more surface area is better but there is a point of diminishing returns when there is so much surface area that there is little significant increase in the RATE of gas transport. When we use a stock tank heater or a pond heater the surface area is obviously the amount of clear water surface that we see. However, when using a bubbler the surface area is NOT the size of the hole from which the gas is exiting but rather the TOTAL surface area of each and every bubble that is produced under water. So if your bubbler is putting out 4 liters of air per minute, with an average bubble diameter of say an 1/8 inch you will be producing a little over 80 square feet of surface area each minute. The finer the bubble, the more the surface area. This is why bubblers are much more effective in promoting gas exchange than something that opens up a 2 foot or 3 foot hole in your ice (~9 - 27 square feet). So what size hole should one have? There is no specific answer for this nor can there really be one. It depends. If you have "a lot" of fish in your pond then youÂll need more surface area for gas exchange than if you have one comet in your 2000 gallon, lake. Secondly, water temperature also rears its ugly head again. As a general rule of thumb (which means itÂs not accurate at all!!) biological activity doubles for every 10 degree C change in water temperature. So if your pond is at 2 degrees C versus 12 degrees C then the amount of wastes produced and consumed will be significantly lower than for the higher temperature. This means that if you intend to keep your pond a nice, toasty 45F all winter with your pond heater, immersion heater, solar heater, backyard barbecue grill, etc. then youÂre going to need a significantly larger amount of surface area than the person that lets the pond sit close to freezing. The assumption that your fish huddle around your heater holding their fins out for the warmth is a bit too much anthropomorphizing! Being of New England stock and heritage means that my DNA is such that I donÂt like to part with my ÂLincolnsÂ... and I mean the one cent variety. ThatÂs why I use a bubbler here in zone 4. My pond is pretty close to 3000 gallons (as a guesstimate) with a depth of only 3 feet. IÂve had ice as thick as 18" on it (about 2 years ago if memory serves me correctly). Essentially all of my fish survive and appear to be well each spring. Sometimes there are a few less of the smaller comets but I happen to know for a fact that the Koi will munch on them over the winter. All of this with nothing more than a 4.5 watt aquarium air pump! My electric bill never sees the difference. The URL below should give you access to a pdf file that was mentioned by Horton...it describes what I use for a bubbler system. I would not recommend it for small ponds in zone 4. ThereÂs even more that we could discuss but IÂve obviously babbled on long enough. ÂDavid

Here are my knee jerk thoughts: Cutting the hole for the pipe will be a little troublesome but I believe you can make it water tight with persistence. I wanted to do this but was talked out of it. Now, having worked with the plastic liner a bit and sealing techniques, I think I could have gotten it to work. The key is it does not have to be 100% water tight because you are going to loose moisture because of evaporation and from the plants sucking it up. So, it just has to be 1/10th or 1/100th of that to be negligible and I think that is not impossible. I've discovered a water proof clay that hardens. And big blobs of silicon adhesive make things virtually water tight. The other big fear I have is the quality of the water coming in. New York rain water (being from Texas -- please forgive me) I imagine to be really bad -- acid from the smog and other impurities that collect on the roof and in the gutters between rains. But, plants tend to like acid environments. You may have trouble with delicate fish, but things like gold fish seem to be fine anywhere. I would also worry about freezing. Hope this helps. If it was me, I'd go for it.

Thank you for your comments suggestions and encouragement. I am posting a few photos this time and it will show what I have used and how I made certain things. Firstly, perhaps I should mention that what happened as I searched deeper into planting in a steep-walled pond (with no sloping, shallow end) was that I found myself reading more about hydroponics and aquaponics. Because of the methods used in these fields, I have been using the sheet polystyrene (rigid sheet foam, or what have you) as you will have noticed in my video. My latest island (oh my, doesn't that sound grand!) is a 4 ft x 8 ft x 2" thick sheet with a 3/4" PVC (schedule 40) frame. For transport reasons I had to by 4 sheets at 2' x 4' and join them to make an 4x8. Having done this I decided that a PVC frame would help keep it together and assist with anchoring/mooring it. Here are a couple of photos: I joined the sheets with Gorilla glue which works very well. I jointed all the PVC with the appropriate glue to keep it airtight because open PVC tubing will sink. I then added some 'lumps' of polystyrene glued together and hacked them about to look like rocks: I angled the edges of the island and painted the sides and top with some exterior household paint I had lying around. Then I painted the rocks with acrylic paint of various reds, blues and browns until they looked natural (!?) Here is a photo or two, what do you think? (The wire is a set of solar night lights) Given that the ground cover in the foreground should later cover the nasty brown of the surface, I think (hope) it should turn out alright. Oh; one other thing I did was to add a sheet of filter material to the underneath to encourage bacteria (I used swamp cooler pads, but in a roll). That is the reason I placed it next to the air stone column, as can be seen in the photo. I originally placed it directly over the air but found that it smothered the air column so effectively that it made the whole of the pond appear to be still, like a mill pond. Clearly I did not want this so I moored it to the side of the column. The air bubbles assist the bacteria and will therefore help clear the water. Most of what you see there, plantwise, is a ground cover but there is also mexican feather grasses and some herbs (sage, parsley, etc). BTW. The photos are in high-def so you should be able to zoom in if you wish. Other updates: The lobelia is getting towards its end but still looks OK. The goldfish continue to grow, and goodness knows how many mosquito fish are in there now. I might have to consider another fish to keep them under control as there is no sign of the goldfish doing this and I am told that they should eat the eggs or small fry. Any suggestions welcome. Overall, the water is starting to clear, possibly thanks to the addition of barley straw and pellets. Pontyrogof; Interesting idea of wattles made with stuffed stockings Victorian_bellefonte; Cork, eh? Never thought of that. It should look very natural but does it not become too waterlogged over time. How about a photo of some you are using. Nice-looking pond, too! Mary; Thanks for the nice comments. I'm hoping to put an update video soon. Donna; I have had no success with water hyacinth or water lettuce, never have; I think it might be the full sun the pond gets. Thanks for the interest and keep those ideas coming, please. Steve