Water level down each day unless I run the fountain and other newbie ??

[Joe]

I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
morning, now two mornings in a row.
OK, I don't know much about ponds, but I'm willing to learn. What
could take so much water from my pond at night? If something is
drinking it, they have one huge bladder. So what is happening to it?

One other thing is that I am using well water for my pond, free of
sulfur and rust. I have not tested it yet, but the fish have been in
it a week and most have survived. The few that did not showed signes
of being gutted like someone would do to clean a fish, cut from one
end to the other on the underside. No other damage to the corpse.
Thanks for any help.. We love the pond and want to learn enough to
feel good about putting a much larger pond in the back yard. I live in
South Florida, east coast, Jensen Beach. Joe

[Mickey]

When you turn everything off is the pond overflowing into a drain or over
the side.

"Joe" > wrote in message
om...
>I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
> that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
> case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
> fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
> So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
> went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
> it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
> turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
> morning, now two mornings in a row.
> OK, I don't know much about ponds, but I'm willing to learn. What
> could take so much water from my pond at night? If something is
> drinking it, they have one huge bladder. So what is happening to it?
>
> One other thing is that I am using well water for my pond, free of
> sulfur and rust. I have not tested it yet, but the fish have been in
> it a week and most have survived. The few that did not showed signes
> of being gutted like someone would do to clean a fish, cut from one
> end to the other on the underside. No other damage to the corpse.
> Thanks for any help.. We love the pond and want to learn enough to
> feel good about putting a much larger pond in the back yard. I live in
> South Florida, east coast, Jensen Beach. Joe

[Michael Shaffer]

I have the opposite problem.. I fill mine every day with well water and
the fish seem fine and the water is very very clear.

Joe wrote:

> I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
> that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
> case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
> fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
> So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
> went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
> it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
> turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
> morning, now two mornings in a row.
> OK, I don't know much about ponds, but I'm willing to learn. What
> could take so much water from my pond at night? If something is
> drinking it, they have one huge bladder. So what is happening to it?
>
> One other thing is that I am using well water for my pond, free of
> sulfur and rust. I have not tested it yet, but the fish have been in
> it a week and most have survived. The few that did not showed signes
> of being gutted like someone would do to clean a fish, cut from one
> end to the other on the underside. No other damage to the corpse.
> Thanks for any help.. We love the pond and want to learn enough to
> feel good about putting a much larger pond in the back yard. I live in
> South Florida, east coast, Jensen Beach. Joe

[Andrew Burgess]

>> I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
>> that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
>> case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
>> fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
>> So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
>> went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
>> it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
>> turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
>> morning, now two mornings in a row.

Is there a leak in the suction line of the pump? It would pull in air
when the pump ran but leak water when the pump was off.

[John Bachman]

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 14:37:07 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Burgess
> wrote:

>>> I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
>>> that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
>>> case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
>>> fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
>>> So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
>>> went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
>>> it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
>>> turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
>>> morning, now two mornings in a row.
>
>Is there a leak in the suction line of the pump? It would pull in air
>when the pump ran but leak water when the pump was off.

Another possibility is a critter climbing to catch fish. You said
that you had some fish chewed up - was that after a night of no
fountain running?

If so, then the fountain may be warding off the critter. When the
fountain is off the critter climbs in and the displaced water spills
out. Then the critter climbs out carrying water in its fur or on its
skin.

A possibility.

[Michael Shaffer]

Andrew Burgess wrote:

>>>I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
>>>that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
>>>case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
>>>fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
>>>So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still
>>>went down over each night, it was becoming a problem to put water in
>>>it each morning. Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
>>>turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level is fine in the
>>>morning, now two mornings in a row.
>
>
> Is there a leak in the suction line of the pump? It would pull in air
> when the pump ran but leak water when the pump was off.
>

Nope, it's a submersible. Maybe there's a leak in the pipe..

[Ron, KC4YOY]

>Then I left the filter/fountain on at night, I was
> turning it off. With the fountain on, the water level >is fine in the
morning,Beach.

Then I would leave the fountain on.
My pumps and fountains run 24/7.

Ron

[Ka30P]

From the condition of the fish reported
and the water level going down I wonder if
a raccoon has been making the pond a nightly stop?
If so you can try these deterrents:

~ An electric fido shock fence, found in most large
pet stores, can be put on a time to avoid shocking ponder
and pets.
~ A motion activated sprinkler
~ Call animal control and ask if they have a Hav-a-Hart
humane animal trap to borrow or rent


kathy :-)
<A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[Joe]

It has now been almost a week since I started running the pump all the
time and the water level has not gone down since that time.

As for animals, we have some wild animals, but not any that could
drink or otherwise take 5 gallons of water from the pond in one night.

So, this may stay a mistery for me. The pump will stay running all
the time. The next biggest problem is that my honey was coming home
the other night and saw a pond in front of another house on my block
that was bigger and better than ours. I told her that the best I could
do is kick some of their rocks and put a hole in their pond. I wasn't
going to tear mine up and make it bigger, or better. She loves our
pond in any case. the tiny fish that the pet store called goldfish,
but were not gold, have now turned gold.

Joe



"Mickey" > wrote in message >...
> When you turn everything off is the pond overflowing into a drain or over
> the side.
>
> "Joe" > wrote in message
> om...
> >I put a small pond in my front yard. It has some very small gold fish
> > that were not gold when I bought them, but are now turing gold. In any
> > case, the pond is a 60 gallon pond and each day that I turn the
> > fountain off, I wake up to find the water down by four to five inches.
> > So I drained the pond and checked for cracks and found none. It still

[Benign Vanilla]

"Joe" > wrote in message
om...
> It has now been almost a week since I started running the pump all the
> time and the water level has not gone down since that time.
<snip>

I am baffled by this. You have a 60 gallon pond with a submersible pump that
squirts water in the air. If you leave it running, the pond is fine. If you
shut it off the pond loses 5+ gallons a night.

If you leave it off, does the water continually drain or does it always stop
at 5 or so gallons? In other words, will the pond drain completely with the
pump off or just to a certain level?

With the pump off does the water level rise at all, immediately? IE, is some
of the pond volume always within the plumbing?

Do you have terrestrial plants wicking water from the pond? I had turf grass
growing into my pond, it was removing A LOT of water.

BV.

[Ka30P]

Joe wrote >>I wasn't
going to tear mine up and make it bigger, or better. <<

You're not thinking in the right direction...
think second pond, third pond, think no more grass to mow...!


kathy :-)
<A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[Gail Futoran]

"Joe" > wrote in message
om...

[snip]
> It has now been almost a week since I started running the
pump all the
> time and the water level has not gone down since that
time.

What's the weather been like? Not a trivial
question. When it's windy around here, and
the wind's from the right direction, my
above-ground pond with the fountain loses more
water than the above-ground pond right next to it
with no fountain (or any filtration). Then there's
evaporation from heat (partially affected by
plant cover in your pond), low humidity, etc.

That doesn't explain why running the fountain
24/7 *appears* to make a difference. Maybe
it doesn't. :) I'd keep an eye on the weather
for awhile as another possible cause of your
water loss.

> pond in any case. the tiny fish that the pet store called
goldfish,
> but were not gold, have now turned gold.

I once mistook two goldfish fry for minnows. At
that time, the two species were in the same tank.
When the "minnows" got a bit larger and started
developing color (one's gold, the other's a
calico) I realized I had two baby goldfish on
my hands! :) They do start out brown.

Gail

[Joe]

I guess it was some sort of animal. It has been a few weeks and the
water is still good, nothing added, nothing lost. We put the pump on
24/7 and that was the only change.