still losing water

[robv60]

Well, ok. I have had lots of trouble keeping water in the pond since my
wife and I cleand the pond. I ran some plumbing through the side of the
pond which involved us busting out and patching the concrete that forms
the pond. I have gone back and re-sealed the concrete where the pipes
were ran with hydraulic cement. This seems to have slowed the drainage
somewhat. Even still, I am still losing somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2
inch of water daily. God forbid if I turn on the waterfall for an hour
or two, Ill lose about an inch of water. So, cannot circulate the
water. Also have a nice algae bloom going on since adding the
potash-but that is an entirely different post al together. Should I
just line the sucker? If so, after spending the $300 Id probably need
to line the pond, how do I know that a liner would help? Maybe we didnt
notice before the cleaning, but I am damn certain the pond was not
losing water like this before. Im getting frustrated to the point of
giving up.

[George]

"robv60" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well, ok. I have had lots of trouble keeping water in the pond since my
> wife and I cleand the pond. I ran some plumbing through the side of the
> pond which involved us busting out and patching the concrete that forms
> the pond. I have gone back and re-sealed the concrete where the pipes
> were ran with hydraulic cement. This seems to have slowed the drainage
> somewhat. Even still, I am still losing somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2
> inch of water daily. God forbid if I turn on the waterfall for an hour
> or two, Ill lose about an inch of water. So, cannot circulate the
> water. Also have a nice algae bloom going on since adding the
> potash-but that is an entirely different post al together. Should I
> just line the sucker? If so, after spending the $300 Id probably need
> to line the pond, how do I know that a liner would help? Maybe we didnt
> notice before the cleaning, but I am damn certain the pond was not
> losing water like this before. Im getting frustrated to the point of
> giving up.
>

1/4 to 1/2 inch of water loss is not unusual, and likely is caused by
evaporation. Umless you start losing inches to feet per day, I wouldn't worry
too much about it. If it becomes a serious problem, then I would start worrying
again. It does sound like you may have an issue with your waterfall. Do you
have much splash with it? I would check it again for leaks.

[Reel McKoi]

"robv60" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well, ok. I have had lots of trouble keeping water in the pond since my
> wife and I cleand the pond. I ran some plumbing through the side of the
> pond which involved us busting out and patching the concrete that forms
> the pond. I have gone back and re-sealed the concrete where the pipes
> were ran with hydraulic cement. This seems to have slowed the drainage
> somewhat. Even still, I am still losing somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2
> inch of water daily. God forbid if I turn on the waterfall for an hour
> or two, Ill lose about an inch of water............
========================
My 2000 gallon pond can lose up to 2" a day to evaporation. I have to top
them all off constantly.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." :-)
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

>On 9 May 2005 21:14:49 -0700, "robv60" > wrote:

>Well, ok. I have had lots of trouble keeping water in the pond since my
>wife and I cleand the pond. I ran some plumbing through the side of the
>pond which involved us busting out and patching the concrete that forms
>the pond. I have gone back and re-sealed the concrete where the pipes
>were ran with hydraulic cement. This seems to have slowed the drainage
>somewhat. Even still, I am still losing somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2
>inch of water daily.

Depending on your location, this may not be unreasonable to evaporation.

If you lose more when the waterfall is on, I'd suspect something between
pond exit to waterfall to re-entry.

Or could it be splash? At the demo. pond we lose a lot to splash and even
more on windy days when it blows the waterfall to the side. But not in the
1-2 inches per hour you mention. I think you need to check the plumbing out
of the pond, not the pond itself. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

[robv60]

Well I was originally getting alot of splash. I ran 2 inch PVC to the
top of the falls, that at first, was simply spewing out into a 6-8"
deep holding pond. The first night we ran the falls we woke up the next
morning to a nearly empty pond. Were talking 1540 galloins of water
almost gone. I since have fixed the outflow pipe so that it fills the
holding pond from under the water surface. Rather than pouring out and
splashing/churning, The water now just rises around the pipe and spills
over the lip of the holding pond. No splashing. There is one spot where
the water tends to trickle out a little when it runs through the stream
connecting the holding pond to the "falls" . Its noticable, but not
enough to lose an inch of water an hour. Will remedy that soon. I do
have a couple semi-large rocks in the stream in order to direct the
water flow where I want it. It does splash against these 2 rocks but
not much and i have them positioned so no water splashes out over the
edge of the pond. Or at least not much. Also, the falls come down a
stream that is about a foot wide, and then the water spreads out over a
large area. More like water cascading/sheeting over the face of the
falls rather than simply dropping from a ledge into the pond. I have a
feeling this is causing alot of evaporation. Spreading all that water
out so thin over such a large area cant be good. I inherited this pond
and it just wasnt built to have a single "thick" water fall. Like I
said, its a very thin sheet of water sheeting over the face of the
falls. In the stream the water is pretty deep and flows like a river
more so than a stream.

[robv60]

Oh yeah, also, this may give you more experienced ponders an idea of
whats going on. All day long, all the way around the surface of the
water, the concrete walls stay wet about 2" above the water surface.
Almost looks as though the water dropped two inches really fast and the
concrete hasnt dried yet, make sense? Say for instance you dipped a
piece of cardboard into the water and the water "leeched" up into the
cardboard that was above the surface of the water. Im assuming this is
what the concrete is doing, sucking up water from the surface.

[George]

"robv60" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Oh yeah, also, this may give you more experienced ponders an idea of
> whats going on. All day long, all the way around the surface of the
> water, the concrete walls stay wet about 2" above the water surface.
> Almost looks as though the water dropped two inches really fast and the
> concrete hasnt dried yet, make sense? Say for instance you dipped a
> piece of cardboard into the water and the water "leeched" up into the
> cardboard that was above the surface of the water. Im assuming this is
> what the concrete is doing, sucking up water from the surface.

If your concrete hasn't been sealed that may be part of your problem. You need
to seal the concrete with an aquatic-safe sealant.

[robv60]

Would it be cheaper in the long run just to line the pond? What type of
sealer? UGL Drylok?

[George]

"robv60" wrote in message
oups.com...
> Would it be cheaper in the long run just to line the pond? What type of
> sealer? UGL Drylok?

Unless there are serious cracks, it should be cheaper to seal the concrete. Any
new concrete that is going to be submerged in the water should be sealed after
it is cured to prevent water absorption, and to prevent leaching of lime and
possibly metals into the pond water. There are several products on the market.
In the UK, they use Blagdon Pool Glaze. Note that this product is designed for
new ponds under construction. It will kill any existing wildlife during use so
do not use on stablished ponds without first removing all pondlife. I think
that you will find this to be the case with most sealants.

http://www.arghamvillage.co.uk/products/details/7.html

You can probably find a product that is safe to use at a paint dealer or home
supply.

On the other hand, if you already have plants and fish, and need to fix this
problem fast, a liner may be the way to go, but they can be expensive. My pond
is 12'x4'x45" and the liner cost about $300.

I hope this helps. Good luck.