Pond dropped 8 inches in one day!

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Hi, My 2 year old pond is confusing me, some days it drops 4-8 inches then I refil it and it doesn't go down at all for days or even weeks - any ideas??
 

addy1

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Sounds like an intermittent leak, is a hose connection loose? does your filter over flow off and on?
Need more info on your setup ie size, filter, fittings.

and

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fishin4cars

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small pond, thirsty dog? water seaping through a liner fold? how big is it? If it's a large pond and your losing that much water you should be able to find where it's going pretty easily, that would be a LOT of water! Details would help.
 
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Hi it is a Bermuda Bay pre-formed liner with a lifetime guarantee, 473 litres, approx 6' x 4', we have a waterfall aswell, we have turned off the pump for 24hrs but pond still goes down, the water level hasn't moved since Tuesday night but then we haven't had any sun since then, could it be evaporation??
 
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Evaporation???
:razz:

But Seriously, I would guess you could probably assume about 1/4 to 1/2 inch for most climates (as a guess). if you were on venus probably 8 to 12 inches per day :surprised: .

If you are saying it dropped 8 inches and you have not re-filled it and it has stopped going down then your leak is somewhere around where the current waterline is.
 
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Thats what I thought when someone suggested it to me, I did refil the pond to the top and it hasn't moved at all since Tuesday evening. Weird!!
Tuesday at 4.30pm when I got home from work it had gone down about 8 inches, i filled it right up and 2 hours later it had gone down 4 inches! refilled it again and it hasn't moved.
 
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is your wife messing with you? :surprised:

When it goes down 8 inches does it continue past that point. Be a little daring and let it drain out some more. If it stops then your leak has to be at the final water line. hopefully that is not on the bottom.

I have had this problem as well. personally I never really solved it. I have a sand bottom and I suspect one of the holes I found this year may have been the culprit.

Theory for me with sand bottom when I distrubed the pond or perhaps even when the fish did the hole was exposed. the sand again backfilled it and then acted like a filter clogging with gook.

but I remember going through the fill and turn pump on cycle many times and never had that joy joy feeling of ahaaaaa I found the problem.
 
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You need a camera on your pond when you refill it. LOL You say it is preformed, so I assume rigid, or is it soft enough on the edge that a dog or something could be laying over the edge and draining it over the edge? This is very strange indeed! I'll be watching this thread to see what ends up being your problem. I'm sure you will figure it out. Losing 4-8" in that size of a pond could go pretty fast, but something is for sure siphoning it out. If you leave your hose in the pond, is it possibly siphoning it back into a well? Just a thought, as I know some faucets can siphon backwards if the hose is left in the water. Wells do that, not city water. If you turned off any moving water, then it's not pumping it out, so you have that possibility taken care of. Keep searching, you'll figure it out!
And, WELCOME!!!
 
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To epidemnic - I am female so no wife!!

I am going to leave the pond now and just see what happens and let the water go down, the most I have ever let it go down is until there is only 6-8" left in the bottom, my neighbour has a pond so i can always put my fish in their for safe keeping, i only have 12 goldfish, will keep you posted on what is happening!! thanks for all your help!!
 
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Spoke that one up it has gone down about 8 or 9 inches, have marked it and will check in an hour or so to see if it has gone down any further, fish are ok they have about 6 inches of water.
 
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With only 6 inches left you should have reasonable visibility I would suggest that you feel all the surfaces by hand looking for any imperfections.

how low did the water get this winter perhaps somewhere around where you remember the ice line might be a good place to check .

Then of course the bottom of the pond pressing on every square inch and feeling for deflection.
 
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I'm curious, have you left your waterfall turned off during the last day or so, while you are watching the water level? If not, shut it off and wait and watch. I assume you have nothing running and pumping so that isn't possibly the problem. I agree with Epidemic, run your hand over every square inch of that liner to feel for indentations, and push on it so that if there is a crack that is sometimes sealing back up, then getting pushed from the outside dirt or sand and opening up and leaking, you will have to push to make it open up to feel it. I think if you have some type of large tank, put your fish in that and pull that pond out and check it over well. Also, if you could pull it out, you will see where it is leaking. That's how I found my leak, where it was wet on the side of the the pond. In your case, it may be leaking straight down and now coming to the surface on the sides, though. But, if you pull the pond out of the ground, you will see exactly where it is leaking, or at least the general area, and have a better idea of where to look. Of course, if the whole area under the pond is wet, then it's a major search!
I think it's funny you have a lifetime guarantee! Bet there will be stipulations, although I hope not. I tend to think that anything with a lifetime guarantee has so many stipulations that the guarantee is worthless! For instance, they will replace it, but you have to pay the shipping ... which will cost as much as a new pond. :) Good luck, though!
 

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