Oh God not again......!!!!

[Shell Dweller]

Well I came home last night after work and went to let the dogs in and glanced at the pond. It was empty again. My poor goldfish and koi were laying there in about 1/2 inch of water. Lucky I have left the hose hanging over the edge and all I had to do was turn on the tap. Once again the liner from the waterfall folded over and let the water run out of the pond. This time it was with a little help from a critter or critters which must have been in or around that area. I suspect my 2 dogs had a hand in this as paw prints were also found in the now wet and muddy soil in that area. The 2 suspects claimed they were innocent and were watching the Dog Whisperer at the time of the incident. They also asked for a lawyer before answering any questions. Like I say their suspect but I wont know for sure until I get the lab results back from CSI. They must have been chasing something in that area, racoon or similar varmit.

The fish have all survived and once again are swimming around as if nothing ever happened. These fish I swear all have 9 lives. This is the third time this has happened and twice since September. I am going to tear the waterfall apart in the spring and start over. This time I am going to completely cover the liner so this doesnt happen again EVER!!!!

[mikebike]

you may want to get some 2" X 8" X 12" cement slabs from Home Depot or other landscape supply.

or Large rock to keep the liner in place for now till you can fix it permanently.

[plantedinvertz]

Ahah your fish seem to be indestructible

[taureandragon76]

My buddy used slate around his to hold down the liner

[malibu aka justinking]

My buddy used slate around his to hold down the liner

i did the same thing post pic of ur pond ive helped alot of people with this prob i built a few in my nabourhood

[Shell Dweller]

The problem is the waterfall liner itself. I have slate around the perimeter of the pool and that is no problem. I am going to have to get a new piece of liner and make it wider than the piece that I have now so I can secure more of the edge of the liner under slate or granite. I am also going to have to fence off part of the exterior surrounding area to keep my dogs out, as they must be chasing something in the area of the waterfall. I came home today and once again the pond was empty. The waterfall had been disturbed once again and this time I mean really disturbed. Rocks and slate had been moved quite a bit and the liner itself was folded in everywhere. The only explanation is the dogs are chasing some kind of small animal which can hide between the rocks and in their endevour to route out the creature they are moving and digging around the waterfall causing havoc. I went somewhere and picked up some granite and put more rock over the liner which I hope will help until the weather clears up and I can re-do the waterfall. I also barricaded the access to the waterfall to keep the dogs out, hopefully. I am also turning of the main pump to the waterfall and just running the small one for now. Fish are still alive and swimming once again.

[The Underwater Collection]

I would definitely replace your waterfall liner to secure it from folding in. Bigger and heavy rocks to weigh down your liner will prevent your dogs from moving them if they are chasing some animals in that area and causing havoc. I've seen people do this and never had to barricade a certain area where its most vulnerable to being disturbed. Hope this will work for you. Keep us updated when you have a chance to replace your pond liner. Good luck!

ps. What breed of dogs do you have, depending on their size you may need to locate heavy enough rocks that can not be moved by them.

The Koi Collection

[Shell Dweller]

I have 2, 120lb Shep/Rottis. I decided to run just the small pump and came home to a half empty pond. So I shut the waterfall down completely, refilled the pond and the next day checked again. The pond was still full so the waterfall liner is the problem, at least part of the problem. The pond liner itself must be fine as I didnt loose any water. The dogs must be chasing something as I came home today and the liner has been pulled away from the waterfall almost completely.
So next step is to wait until better weather comes around in a month or so and start from scratch. I will have to get a new piece of liner for the waterfall and this time use much larger rocks and re-design the waterfall to prevent this from happening again. I will be successfull in this endevour come hell or high water.

[mikebike]

When I made my old pond out of a hot tub shell.
7' X 7' X3' I used old carpet to ease the corners before putting the pond liner in it.

I had an old pickup truck and would bring home the biggest rocks I could find for free (construction sites often uncover them) and chunks of broken concrete.

I used old green indoor outdoor carpet, the stuff that looks like short plastic grass.
I placed 6ft wide strips face down over top of the pond liner by about 2 feet then piled the concrete chunks on top of the carpet and fliped the 4 foot end over the concrete into the pond.
The gave the turtles something to grip on while climbing out.

As I acquired more rock I piled it around the pond on top of the indoor outdoor carpet and away from the pond edge to form a berm and cover the concrete chunks.

Nothing like a few 100lb chunks of concrete to discourage diggers/critters<G>