Water loss
Fish pond water loss can be caused by all different factors below we will go through the different causes of water loss and what we can do to make your garden pool water tight again, when we do a full service some of these listed below are done automatically within your service. You can try to find out where you water loss is coming from if you follow these simple steps to eliminate different elements. The first thing to do is to mark the level of the water in your pond, this can be done in several ways either put rocks or marks around the pool, or the best thing to do is make a level guide. The easiest way is to use a pipe or broom handle that would be higher than your water level, secure this to a rock or brick using string or wire and on the pipe use different coloured tape ie insulation tape and make marks at different levels that would be approximately equal distance apart. put this in your pool and remember the mark that your water level is at. From this if the water level drops you will have a visual guide of how far the water has dropped and how quick.
If you have a pump that pumps water to a waterfall, then turn off the pump. turn this off and see if the water level drops. If the water doesn’t drop this can be either from the waterfall (see below) or can be from the pipe going to the waterfall or pipe fitting going to external filter box or uv unit (see below). if you just have a pump that produces a fountain out of the water either turn the flow down or turn off completely, as if you have a high fountain water can easily splash outside of the pool. If after doing these tips you still have water loss from your pond see below for further details.
loss of water in liner
Loss of water due to puncture marks within a liner can be one of the main causes of water loss. The holes / puncture marks can be caused by all different reasons, one of the main causes is from external intervention by a heron, as a heron does like to get its feet wet, it will go in shallow water ie if you have a shelf within your pond or have a pool that is shallow, because the heron does have slight claws on its feet this can make small holes within the liner, also when it dips its beak into the water to get is pray (that’s your valuable fish including koi, goldfish, shubunkins, tench etc) this also can puncher your liner.
These holes can be small from a mm in size to a cm or so, with these kinds of problems this can easily be solved by using special patches these can be of different types. Even though these are small holes / tears they can make water loss dramatic, this is because of the water pressure / weight of the water pushes against these holes the water will automatically go to the lowest point and the will be below your liner. So it is essential these holes and repaired.
Loss of water within a waterfall
If you have a water fall even a small one this can be a cause of water loss as most waters falls have rocks around them and under the rocks either have a liner underneath or are just concrete built, if they have concrete or are full concrete cracks over time can appear within the render and as the water flows over these cracks or gaps water will seep out. If the water fall just have rocks around it and the liner that is underneath has either holes in it or the liner has stretched and come way under the rocks again the water will just flow away. Most people have a lot of plants going around and maybe within the waterfall, if the roots or part of the plants are growing at water level or below the water level the plants will suck up the water to grow, aswell if you have a lot of moss build up within the water fall they can do the same or even dam the water so the water level is higher than the normal water level. Again when we do a full service of your pool we make sure that plants arnt growing on the water level if they are we cut them back and if any holes within an exposed liner these will be patched as described above if concrete rendered see below.
Pipe or pipe fittings
If you have pipes going external to your pond, this can be a cause of water loss. You should check all pipe fittings into filter boxes or UV units, make sure they are all tight, wipe the fitting dry with a towel or similar and with water flowing through the pipe work keep checking the fitting to make sure they are dry, if still wet check again fitting and replace if necessary. If you are sure all fittings and your waterfall is water tight it could be a leak in the pipe leading upto the waterfall, if the pipe is above ground check the pipe for any leaks, if the pipe is underground this isn’t possible without digging up the pipe. The best way then is to put a temporary pipe from pump to waterfall and see if this solves the problem, if it does then the pipe is at fault so replace if needed.
Loss of water on concrete pool
With a concrete pool, this is either a full concrete rendered pool or render over a liner water loss is caused by cracks within the concrete render. Unfortunately this is a harder problem to solve. If the cracks are small these can be re-render with a special mix of concrete this can include your normal sand and cement with a special water proofer solution, In most cases this will suffice, but if the cracks are too large the whole pool may need re-rendering, this is normally a inch “3cm” render skim over the existing concrete pond. Some cases if the render is just not water proof any more a special paint or sealant can be applied, there are all different types with different colours or can be transparent, though these types of paints can be expensive. All of this depends on the type of crack you have.
If you have problems in water loss from your pond that you can not solve yourself then get in touch, as wee can help to keep your pool water tight, as if you don’t sort out problems with leaks in your pool this could mean you koi, goldfish or other fish could die and also affect your aquatic plants in your garden pond, so is always best to get it sorted as soon as you notice any water loss.
To see more tip and articles from KS Pond Services see below or for what services KS Pond Services can supply see our section on this site HERE
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