Shock horror of empty pond

[Gazzas pool]

The one night I arrive home in a taxi, too intoxicated to check on my pond, then to my horror the next morning I find my fish struggling in the shallows of what's left over from my almost emptied out pond, waterfall still running, caught it by the skin of my teeth,But instead of a thorough inspection, I had to switch off the pump immediately or it may have burnt out.
As we've had a lot of overnight rain no obvious signs of seepage were evident around the waterfall box but I'm hoping back spill over was the culprit, or I could have on going issues that can't be pinpointed straight away

 

[Lisak1]

Maybe stop drinking so much? Haha! At least you had the foresight to take a cab!

Hope you get it sorted out!

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi gazza, sorry about your problem, if you look on the 2nd picture the gravel looks wet on the left hand side of your waterfall , could be a starting point for investigation if that much water has come out it will be wetter than elsewhere even after rain, hope this helps cheers mark

 

[Gazzas pool]

Maybe stop drinking so much? Haha! At least you had the foresight to take a cab!

Hope you get it sorted out!

Ha ha, those days are behind me now, especially after a Dembry bar evening, with all kinds of shots in full flow and fee sangria of quality to help the beers go down ;-}
I purchased some tetra aquasafe to allow a tapwater refill hopefully the orandas will cope with it. I spotted a waterboatman before n 1 of the orandas not at the surface though.

 

[Gazzas pool]

hi gazza, sorry about your problem, if you look on the 2nd picture the gravel looks wet on the left hand side of your waterfall , could be a starting point for investigation if that much water has come out it will be wetter than elsewhere even after rain, hope this helps cheers mark

Hi Mark, I'm thinking my original thoughts might be right, hope so because I'm away on vaccination at the end of the week, so I'll be keeping a close eye on it, nothing has changed in the set up apart from continuous flow of the waterfall with an increase in the flow rate also. I haven't had to top up much due to partial shade and we've had rain lately, but incase of a possible breach where you mentioned, I'll be watching, there is an underlay that goes beyond the fall and carrys down to edge but possibly beneath the liner ;-)

 

[brokensword]

get thee hither to a hard goods shoppe; purchase thee a sump pump float switch; install. Voila! no more pumping water out until thy pond runneth dry!

 

[Gazzas pool]

hi gazza, sorry about your problem, if you look on the 2nd picture the gravel looks wet on the left hand side of your waterfall , could be a starting point for investigation if that much water has come out it will be wetter than elsewhere even after rain, hope this helps cheers mark

Found the problem Mark! I need a pump sump switch lol, Nar but might look into a failsafe measure incase I hit this issue I've unearthed. B4 dark I had another check on the waterfall box and to my ashtonisment and semi relief I witnessed the waterline at a critical height at the rear of the box!
Already on a tilt forwards, the obvious question hit me, was this box too small to facilitate the increase in water flow? But then I told myself it seemed ok for a decent period when I first tried it so obviously the problem must arise over a increased time, so what makes the waterlevel rise whilst the flow off must be decreasing? Well, its the build up of gunk in the matting fabric between the meshes, pushing the meshes upwards and letting water out of the box. Am gunna have to keep changing the matting I think and maybe reduce the mesh to 1 instead of the 2, I'll see how it goes

 

[addy1]

Yeah happy you found it!

 

[Lisak1]

I'm away on vaccination

I do hope you mean "vacation"!

 

[mrsclem]

I do hope you mean "vacation"!

Latest spell Check correction!

 

[CometKeith]

Hey glad you found the problem but you can also consider the idea of raising your pump so in case it keeps running it will stop pumping the water that is below the pump so this will save your pump from running until the pond is dry and you don’t have to worry how many shots or beers or sangrias you drink because the pond will not run totally dry and your fish will be saved from lack of water because there still will be water in your pond whether you check on it or not no matter how late you come home and you won’t have to worry about your fish because they will be safe from being in a pond that doesn’t have water because the fish need water just like we need commas and periods and sentences that are not run-on and easy to read. Good luck!

 

[Gazzas pool]

Hey glad you found the problem but you can also consider the idea of raising your pump so in case it keeps running it will stop pumping the water that is below the pump so this will save your pump from running until the pond is dry and you don’t have to worry how many shots or beers or sangrias you drink because the pond will not run totally dry and your fish will be saved from lack of water because there still will be water in your pond whether you check on it or not no matter how late you come home and you won’t have to worry about your fish because they will be safe from being in a pond that doesn’t have water because the fish need water just like we need commas and periods and sentences that are not run-on and easy to read. Good luck!

Har Har, you know you're right kieth, but to prevent having to replace this new pump I'll keep checking for now, whilst taking the raising advice up.
I compromised on price so can't afford to let this eco pump run dry or it will burn out instead of shutting down.
I won't compromise on the lives of my fish so I'll look out for a suitable plastic mesh basket.

 

[Gazzas pool]

I do hope you mean "vacation"!

5 days ;-}

 

[poconojoe]

As suggested, raise your pump off the bottom. If it ever happens again, at least there will be enough water left below the pump to support the fish.

Tie a good string or small rope to the pump.
Raise the pump off the bottom. Keep it at that height by tying the rope to something on shore.