Replacing Pond Liner

[migsly]

My pond liner has a hole in it somewhere and the water level is low. The fish don't mind it but I think the pond should be deeper. My question is do I replace the old liner with a new one or should I just put the new one over the old one? My pond is very small, like 3' around and less than 1' deep. I have 2 mollies in it.

[hopsingspond]

Since your pond is small, I would consider replacing the whole liner.  I never have much success with patching.  I end up usually replacing the liner in the long run.  Liner over liner could cause issues in the future, if you had another leak or tear.

[matherfish]

Do you have a waterfall or water feature that could be leaking? What kind of liner or pond do you have? Are you sure it is not evaporation? Unless your water feature is leaking, you should be able to find the leak at water level. With that size  of a pond you should be able to find it if it is in the liner. I would try to patch first, and then if it did not work, replace the liner. No use going to the expense of replacing if it can be repaired easily.

[migsly]

Thanks y'all. How do you patch it? I already have the pond liner so I can replace the whole thing if need be.

I don't have a water feature and I don't think the water evaporates that much. The humidity has been very high here of late.

[frogman3]

In Fla this time of the year you could lose close to a inch per day depending on wind, or any fountain you may have running. Humidity would not factor into water loss. I have myself been amazed at how much water can evaporate on a hot windy day. Take a bucket set it next to your pond, level it and fill to the brim somehow mark the current pond level. In a few days see how much the two dropped and compare difference. That will give you your answer as to if you have a leak. If it rains it may or may not tell you much if you have any water runoff into you pond.

[migsly]

I forgot to mention that we have our sprinklers on a timer on the well pump. When they come on in the middle of the night, the pond fills up and overflows. So it's hard to experiment to find the leak. I think I'll just replace the whole liner, as Hopesingspond mentioned. But thanks again, guys. You had some good ideas. I learned a lot from you. 

[hopsingspond]

Good Luck.   Hope it isn't too tough a job.

[migsly]

Thank you, Hopsingspond.