Our pond is dirt based - no liner. It was a former cellar under a small building but kept filling with water. The previous owner filled it up with rocks. We tore down the building, rearranged the rocks and let Mother nature take over. The pond filled with water. Our gutter water runs into the pond to help keep it full. We have an overflow running under our driveway and down a hill to keep the pond from overflowing. Fish and one now large water lily are doing well. A filtration system was added 5 years after the original set up. Muck is a problem so a few years ago we removed the fish and sucked out all that we could. Instead of using small rocks again, we replaced them with various sizes of field stone. We have 30+ fish and they seem to thrive. We never feed them. Our situation is unique. This pond somehow links underneath our patio as the fish winter under our patio. They swim through the rocks and re-emerge in the Spring. We have no idea what is under our patio. . how much water is held. . how deep. .but we know when the pond gets low the fish disappear. I do add tap water during the summer months as the pond does evaporate rather quickly. It's not likely the chlorine will hurt the fish as I add it in gradually over a few days. Sometimes I put dechlor in but usually I am careful not to add too much. Our tap water has never hurt the fish that are in there. In fact, as the water is added, the fish swim underneath - possibly enjoying the cooling hose water. This pond is approximately 10' x 10' and 2' deep.

This was the only area that had any packed dirt because of the rock I had to remove. The rest of the pond sides were dug into undisturbed clay. Maybe I'll try to add a slight incline/slope along that side and not worry about installing reinforcement. By sloping the wall I should gain a little extra liner at the top to work with. Thanks for the tip. john

I think you will find it hard to find anything to stick to the material used for those preforms, so fixing the leak may be a challenge. I would not cut a hole in the side if it for the same reason. Skimmers are meant to be installed with flexible EPDM liners. I do like skimmers for larger ponds because they do allot of cleaning for you by removing much of the floating and suspended debris that would otherwise sink to the bottom of your pond. If you intend to keep fish I would reline the pond with EPDM and maybe make it larger at the same time. If not you can try to seal the leak with silicone and a EPDM patch. Clean the surface very well. Mike

Oh my! All such wonderful ideas! Didn't even think about growing up. I may have to do that through pots since I don't have any spaces big enough to hold enough dirt. Wonder if they make small rock containers?? or I might have to lurk on the 'garden junk' forum? Jeff..matter of fact I do have a hellebore at the top of the pond! Nan...I have moss growing on an old brick pathway in full sun...how can it be transplanted? Slice & stick? That would probably look good along the bordering rock. A little sedum stuck here and there between the rock...mmmmmmmm....sounds like a plan! Thanks guys! You're all great!! I'll try to post pics when I get it together. Evelyn