So looking for an opinion from those with SMALL ponds.

I have a 150gal pre-form pond from Menards. As it is lined with large rocks I’m guessing its capacity is no more than 125gal. I have a small waterfall, also a pre-made Menards unit. I run the falls with a 1,250 gph pump. The pump runs on a continual timer, 1 hour on, on hour off. I have arranged rocks so that the water “splashes” and makes a nice sound.

I left for 36 hours. Before I left I topped off the pond to the max. It was 100F or better both days. Very hot, dropping to 80+ at night. When I returned home well over HALF the water was gone.

Previous use of this pond without the waterfall resulted in the loss of 1/2" per day. A wheelbarrow had standing water in it and lost nearly nothing. Other than the loss of water there is no sign of a leak around the “falls”. I have never experienced losses like this. Anyone have similar experiences?

P.S. My old layout at the previous house had a similar pond, though even smaller. The noisy pump died quickly, and I only used it occasionally for a smallish fountain. Never experienced this type of loss with it.

Hmm, you may have a leak somewhere. I can tell you that a waterfall will cause more evaporation. Also if you have a small stream you will increase your evaporation. Think of it this way: The more surface area you have the higher the evaporation. Now my setup is a 225 gal preformed pond from Menards, I have 60’ of stream and a water fall at the top and another small fall at the bottom where the stream empties into the pond. I lost about 1/4 of the water in my pond in two days of 100+ degree temps. This would equate to about 50 gallons. But I also have a lot surface area with the stream and waterfalls.

(http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m489/jake3404/5-22-12106.jpg)

This gives you an idea of my setup.

Thanks for the response, I too wondered about a leak but this morning it showed maybe a 1/2 inch loss after 12 hours.

Your loss is definitely on the order of mine but you have a lot more surface area too.

Temps were in the upper 70’s last night with the pump running every other hour. I’m guessing no sun and low temps are ok, but full sun and high temps are going to have a nasty impact. I’d test the theory further but I have a few fish left and again temps are going to climb with a heat index of 112 this afternoon. Danged hot and uncomfortable!

Love the trestle by the way…I’ll be working on that next.

It could be a leak, but I think the molt likely culprit is the falls coupled with the heat. The falls produces small droplets of water that evaporate very easily.

An easy test would be to stop the large pump, cover the pond wit plywood of such. If you have fish, put a small bubbler pump to keep the water oxygenated in the water.

After the same 36 hours, see what you have.

Unless some critter put a hole in your pond or stream, the most likely culprit is evaporation.

When I had a pond, I was filling the dang thing all the time. I finally gave up when the birds got the last fish and gave the whole thing to a friend. At least, I think he is still my friend…

Mark - You have that frog fountain too, right? That could be part of it.

Thats why I got rid of my small water feature. Always loosing water from evaperation. Plants that hang into the water also add to the water loss.

Awww, you all are bunch of spoil sports…

Dont you like the relaxing sound of babbling creek and the sound of the waterfall. It is very soothing.

Jake:

We have two ponds - a small one (about 90 gals) and the bigger one - about 2,000 gallons. Both have waterfalls (proportional to size). You have several things that affect water evaporation - heat, the relative humidity and surface area. In the small pond we turn off the water fall in the hot part of the year to keep from losing up to 1/4 of the water each day. The large pond is more shaded, but with the 100 heat lately we are putting up to 40 gallons a day into it. When you look at surface are, you have to look at the “splash” and “Droplet” surfaces also. the more splash and drops in the air, the more evaporation. When we turn the water fall off (which we don’t because the helps aerate the pond for the Koi) the water loss drops to about 5 to 10 gallons. the water fall does a lot of “splashing”.

Note - in the spring and fall we only lose a gallon or so a day in the big pond with the waterfall and spitters (4 of them) running.

Jake Smith said:
Awww, you all are bunch of spoil sports... :P

Dont you like the relaxing sound of babbling creek and the sound of the waterfall. It is very soothing.

Jake, I love the sound of a babbling brook and a waterfall. It is very soothing, as long as it is in someone else’s pond. :lol:

I’ve often wondered about hooking up a toilet bowl fill valve to a water inlet hoo-yah. When the water level falls below a certain level, the valve would trigger the water to come on.

But, there was always something else that demanded my attention.

Yep, I agree with the evaporation conclusion. A 1,250 gph pump on a 150 gallon pond is a lot turnover.

Cooler temps…Little to no loss.

Enjoying the morning, drinking coffee on the deck to the tranquil sounds of a babbling brook…Great, gotta go to the bathroom.

Lol.

The toilet idea has merit Steve. However a simpler solution is to use a cow waterer float. Dont know if that is the technical term but all it is, is a attachment that screws onto the end of the water faucet and has a flaot on it that turns the water on and off. It is a little more heavy duty than a toilet float to withstand the outdoor environment.

We have just gone through 10 days of triple digit temps and the evaporation rate in the pond and stream has been pretty amazing. Needing to add a couple of inches of water every other day. For us this not the normal and we can usually go a week without adding water and if not in drought conditions, we usually keep it up to an acceptable level just by rainfall.

I had the same problem. I cut back a bunch of plants that were growing into my pond, and the “evaporation” stopped. It was amazing how much water was sucked up by the plants. The water level dropped about four inches in two days.

Now I’ve got a horse trough filler attached to a hose. When it gets cooler, I’ll install in into a drip line!

I had a small garden pond years ago. My solution for dealing with the extended 100F days common during our central Oklahoma summers was to run a 1/4" plastic line burried a few inches in the ground to the rigid liner pond. Using an icemaker tap attached to the pipe that extended to an outside hose faucet. My local garden pond dealer provided a small squeeze clamp for the line. I drilled a small hole about 1/2" from the top edge of the pond and set the flow of water to a slow stream. The clamp allowed me to adjust the flow to meet temperature variances. A Bradford tree beside the pond absorbed any small amount of overflow through the hole drilled in the liner. The pond was home to a half dozen pet store goldfish which kept the pond free of mosquitos. The constant supply of water kept the water clear (shade from the tree helped prevent algae growth too). Other than feed the fish upkeep only involved skimming leaves that fell into the pond. A screen cover in fall reduced this task until all leaves had fallen at which time I stored the screen. The pond functioned this way for a decade before a divorce prompted me to sell the house and adopt out the goldfish, the largest being nearly eight inches long.

I have thought about putting a small drip line attached to my drip system to add water every morning when my system turns on to water my plants. I am at filling my pond with about 50 gal every 3-4 days. The temps around here have been in the 80s and 90s. Refilling the pond is just part of the maintenance of having one.