Help! My pond is losing water!

Help! My pond is losing water!

The normal pond evaporation is 1-2 inches of water per week. If your pond is shallow or has a very long stream it may lose closer to 3-4 inches of water per week. Losing more water means that your water feature most likely has a leak.

If you find any of the bellow too difficult to accomplish, we will always be willing to help you. However, please try these out on your own first to keep the cost of the repair down.

 

To find the leak:

First check for visible areas of leak:

Do a visual test first by working around your water feature (including waterfalls and streams) and look for visible wet/moist ground. If you see one, check for:

• Short or settled liner - raise the liner, push the dirt or gravel outside to keep liner propped up and higher to contain water.
• Liner pushed down by settled boulder or gravel – remove the boulder or gravel, raise the liner higher, and support from outside by dirt, boulders or gravel from settling down.
• Excessive vegetation. When plants grow big, they may block the water flow diverting water to the side and out of water feature. Often this happens in the streams and waterfalls, including the bio filter box - remove extra vegetation.
• Check for liner folds. Sideway folds in the liner may divert water to the side - pull out liner and refold.
• Check for boulder/gravel/driftwood or debris obstruction that pushes water to the side - remove the obstruction.

If nothing is found by the visual test, look for a leak in the pond. You will need a camera, aerator for fish, and a sharp:

• Stop the pump. Let all the water drain from the streams.
• Mark the water level with a sharpy line on the rock.
• Take a picture of the markings.
• If you have a fish or other aquatic life – make sure your aerator is on. The oxygen levels drop significantly and fast in the hot weather. It’s Important to have an adequate aerator when outside temperature is high.
• Leave the pond for 24 hours.
• Take a note of the water level after 24 hours.
• Take a picture.
• If you water level drop more than 0.5 inch – the leak is in your pond area.
  • Let the water level continue to fall until it stops. You may need to move fish to a temporary hotel tank
  • Remove boulders around the pond above the line where water stopped and look for hole in the liner.
  • If the hole is less than 2 inches, repair it with a patch. Otherwise, replace the liner.

 

Waterfall/Stream leak. You will need a camera, sharpy, and an extra pump with a 2 inch hose. The purpose of test to find the area where the leak exists by dividing parts of the system in the test:

• Test skimmer area connection:
  • Turn off all pumps
  • Mark the water level in the pond with sharpie and take a picture.
  • Position extra pump inside the pond and hose in the waterfall (bio fall) box.
  • Turn on the pump
  • Measure the water level in 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours to make sure that not all the water is diverted from the pond
  • If the water dropped less than half an inch in 24 hours, the water loss is most likely in the skimmer connection. The skimmer silicon and screws may need to be repaired.

 

• Test the pipes :
  • Refill the pond with water to your water mark level.
  • Move the pipe to the waterfall opening.
  • Secure with a rock on top, so the water comes directly to the start of water fall and not inside waterfall box.
  • Measure the water level in 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours to make sure not all water is diverted from the pond.
  • If there is no water loss, the leak is in the pipes. Pipes will need to be replaced/repaired.

 

• Test waterfall (biofalls) area connection:
  • Refill the pond with water to your water mark level.
  • Move the pipe down to the next level.
  • Secure with a rock.
  • Measure the water level in 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours to make sure not all water is diverted from the pond.
  • If there is no water loss – the waterfall connection needs to be repaired.

 

• Stream leak:
  • Refill the pond with water to your water mark level.
  • Move the pipe down to the next level.
  • Secure with a rock
  • Measure the water level in 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours to make sure not all water is diverted from the pond.
  • If there is water loss, move the pipe lower and repat the process of measuring until no more water loss is detected.
  • If there is no water loss, the leak is between previous test and this one. Remove rocks, find the hole, and patch or replace the liner.