Well, my rink has finally froze solid, but I have a 5 x10 area where the ground is high, so I only have a half and inch of ice over my liner there, so I've been trying to build up the thickness an eight to a quarter inch at a time. My problem is EVERY time I fill the rink I get what seems to be more and more cracking. What am I or have I done wrong? There is some spots where it instantly spider cracked. Anyone else have an issue like this? Will it be alright to skate on?

Alright guys, time to get off the rinks for awhile and answer some questions! I wanna skate too!! ;)

is it cracking where you're standing ?? the weight of the water could be cracking it too. or just that its water. fill a glass with ice cubes and fill it with warm or even cold tap water. what does it do?? the ice cubes pop and crack. i'd say if you're not standing on it thats what it is. i would think it would be fine to skate on once it gets thick enough (3-4 inches). as long as its not heaving where its cracking you should be golden.

if its pretty cold where you're at maybe fill more than an 1/8 to a 1/4 at a time try dumping an inch or two on it as long as its not floating up where its cracking at.

Thanks Matt, I have noticed the colder it is when I fill, the more it cracks, but the next day most of the cracks seem to have fused back together. I would actually love to just let the hose go and fill it another two inches, but if I do that won't I get that shell ice?

So to agree with everyone else, it is completely normal for the ice to crack when you resurface for the exact reason Matt said. However, the issue here is not warm water vs cold ice, it's the fact that you only have a half inch of ice in that area. It's difficult to add "height" to solid ice, as the water will likely get under your slab and not sit nicely on top where you want it to be. But you can add it in thin layers so that it's at least skateable. Just know that I typically recommend at least 3" of ice to support an adult.

Our "measure your slope" article talks about starting at your highest corner. However, if you know the highest point within your rink boundaries are in the middle somewhere, next year you'll want to fill until that section has 4" of water. It may meant extra board height (measure your slope from that bump, not from a corner), but if you can get 4" on top of that bump then you know you'll have plenty everywhere else and you shouldn't run into this issue. Consider this the learning experience for this year. Each year we learn something new, even after several years...so next year you'll know to keep filling!

i've added an inch or so of water before and not had any problems with shell ice. if its not windy and not snowing and youll have pleanty of super cold temps you should be alright. that or wait till it warms up a bit like it has here and melts and add the water you need.

Thanks guys, and Joe, I had the rink all set at one point with the correct water depth, but with the weather we've had every single day before a cold snap we had a lot of snow dumped on us and it turned to slushy weak ice, so twice I had to hand break it and throw it out to get some good strong ice to build up, which lowered my water level more than I had hoped. Since then I've been steadily trying to build it back up to the level I need one 1/4 inch at a time. Tomorrow is suppose to be around 50 degrees here and we're suppose to get 1/2 of rain also so I think I'll just flood the rink until I get my desired thickness again and hope for the best!