Xref: kermit rec.ponds:135950

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 19:51:54 GMT, "tim chandler"
puked

Why, that's not so bad! It looks like you'd need less than ONE bag to fix
it. For my concrete pond I use Quikrete Vinyl Concrete Patcher, available
at Home Depot and probably many others. It's a fiber-reinforced cement that
can be mixed to go on like spreading butter, all you need is a bag of that
and a small trowel, just add water!

I'll check that out. I went to HD yesterday, and they plopped no
fewer than three products in my cart, all that stated that they
weren't to be used under water. Quikrete wasn't one of them. One
product was a rubber 'swimming pool paint' that seemed a little
caustic.

For the organic growth: I'd buy some Roundup or other hebicide and spray on
it. Let it work until the growth dies and turns brown, then pull it out
after a few days,wash it down to get rid of the chemical residue, let it
mostly dry and start with the concrete.

The roots are all dry and crusty. Problem is that there are a lot of
them. The one pic may be misleading, but a lot of those whiskers are
really small. I sliced out most that I could find, but the harder you
look the more you see.

It's easy to do, don't be overwhelmed. I used it as the final layer to seal
up my concrete pond, 3+ years ago - no leaks, no lost fish. I recommend
after it's dried and mostly cured, you just fill it with water, let it stand
for several days, empty, refill, add plants and fish. No toxic chemicals
will be left in any significant amounts to leach into the water. I've got
one koi (a Tancho, sold to me as a feeder!) and way too many goldfish,
they've all been fine and reproducing like crazy.

The Quikrete? Is it plastic enough to bridge the smaller cracks?

You can also then paint over it with a concrete sealant, Home Depot and
others have that also in both water-based and oil-based, in different
colors. I've used both, and again, after drying and filling with water then
emptying and re-filling, with absolutely no harm to fish or plants.

I'd guess you've got less than a day's work, it'll just have to be spread
out some to let the concrete cure a bit and the sealant dry. And silicone
as Rich suggested is also good for cracks where you don't want to put
cement, or can't reach easily. But the cement is a permanent repair and if
done properly won't have to be done again - the fiber reinforced patching
cement holds up really well to freeze-thaw cycles (naturally you want to
make sure you don't leave puddles and crevices where water can get in and
expand when it freezes). For any really big holes, I'd also put in a piece
of hardware cloth (really a large-grid metal screen, you can get it in
various grid sizes) which further helps to reinforce and stabilize the
cement.

Thanks for your input. I'm going to check out your suggestions and
hopefully have my pond back together for the holidays. I live in S.
Florida, so I don't have all those 'northerner problems'...
--
lab~rat :-)
Do you want polite or do you want sincere?