Mini-Pond Minutiae

februarysgirl

So, I bought this water feature reservoir as a raised mini wildlife pond and am intending to gussy it up to fit in with the vintage theme of my garden. I'm going to give it a distressed look using Rust oleum Universal brush paint. I'm not going to paint the inside for obvious reasons but would like to paint the lip. For my own peace of mind, I'd be happier if there was a barrier between the painted bit and the inside. Could anyone recommend a waterproof tape I could use for that purpose?

Also, does anyone here with a raised mini pond have any precautions in place for overflowing in heavy rain or do you just leave it to its own devices?

garyd52

There are no tapes that are waterproof in the long term , if water can get to the edge of the tape it will in time creep beneath it , you don't say what the feature/container is made of and that would help in giving you a clearer answer , as for overflowing do not worry about it unless it's of Monsoon proportions and duration , here in dry Essex my pond has never once overflowed even this Winter now just past and I would actually welcome it as then what is supposed to be a bog garden edge to the pond might actually be a bog garden and not something more suited to growing Cacti in .

februarysgirl

@garyd52 It's PE plastic, the link's in the post ☝ I was fairly certain nothing would be long term waterproof, I did consider Gorilla tape but someone in the reviews said it wasn't safe for aquatic life.

Essex is a tad on the dry side. When I moved to Leicester, my water bill was half of what I was paying in Colchester! The rain has its moments here but I'm probably overthinking it 😄

Loxley

I would hide the edge with bricks or coping stones etc. The pond isn't designed to be seen, it's a sump for a bubble fountain.

garyd52

Sorry I missed the link but can see what you have now , you have a number of options as to disguising the edge and all involve the use of an Aquatically safe Silicon sealer/adhesive applied to the edge and covered with a material of your choice , it could be wood either machined or natural or fine chippings or sand in fact anything that takes your fancy as long as it's safe for Aquatic life , i'd use some coarse sandpaper to roughen the edge a little so the silicon has something to grip to .

februarysgirl

Loxley said:

I would hide the edge with bricks or coping stones etc. The pond isn't designed to be seen, it's a sump for a bubble fountain.

That's assuming I had any bricks or coping stones! To go with the vintage and aged look I'm after I'd have to find some old bricks somewhere, plus, at the moment I'm "trying" to avoid buying anything else 😂 Gonna have to make do with the resources I already have.