Pond drained! ACK!

[JoaniePA]

Last year I shut the pond down on Thanksgiving day. This year I decided to leave it on through the holiday. I awakened this morning to a pond with about one foot of water in it. It had drained out in the night! I don't have any of the stuff I need to dechlorinate, so haven't refilled it, but I did disconnect the pump which was still kicking on and off. It is completely wet all around the pond, so it's hard to see where it drained.

The water level seems to be staying right at the level of the pump -- the only clue I have that it's not a liner leak but rather something having to do with the pump. There is no ice or anything around the falls. Should I run out and get some dechlorinator and fill all the way up again? Any ideas about how to approach this would be appreciated. The fish seem as confused as I do.

Joanie

 

[stroppy]

if it were me i would fill it again but slowly and yes you will need to put decholer inm but i would fill it over a couple of days so it doesnt shock the fish ...sorry i cant really think of what might have caused your loss of water, but as you were going to stop the pump i would leave it off ... sorry not too much help but im sure others can help you more

 

[JoaniePA]

Thanks, Stroppy. I did locate the problem. My pond has a tiny pump on one edge with a rubber hose that winds through the rocks and pushes small drips over the edge to look like a small spring. That pump was unplugged about a month ago and I pulled out part of the tube and left the end of it in the garden. But I did not pull the pump as the rest of the tube and pump was under the rocks on the plant ledge. Yesterday afternoon I installed a deicer and we tripped the gfi. We pulled all the plugs on the electric box, and plugged them in one by one to see if it would trip again. Unfortunately, my husband plugged in all the plugs and alas, he plugged in the one for that little pump. It pumped water down the small, 1/4" hose and into the garden all night.

The advice of a little water at a time is a good one and I will do that. I'm waiting for the local pet store to open so I can go buy some dechlorinator as I used up what I had when I did a water change last time. It will go on my mail order list of supplies from now on! Boy.. do I like to learn the hard way.

Joanie

 

[stroppy]

glad you found out your problem :0)

 

[j.w]

What a relief that it wasn't something really hard to fix

 

[DrCase]

Glad it was a simple fix ..it could happen to anyone

 

[addy1]

Poor hubby, I am sure he felt bad. Put labels on the cord right next to the plugs for what each one is for. I do that (even with tv and computer stuff) to help with knowing what you are plugging in.

 

[DrDave]

Labeling your plugs and knowing which breaker that circuit is on are both handy to have and know.

 

[JoaniePA]

thanks.. excellent idea! We do it for the sound system.. should begin labeling pond stuff too.

Joanie

 

[addy1]

Like I said above, I label everything, esp when you have a lot of plugs going to one area.

It really helps to keep a mistake like this from happening.

 

[JoaniePA]

Done! Also refilled pond over four days, and then it rained. No fish floating yet.

 

[angelmandi]

Not sure what kind of set up you have, but if you have a hose going outside of the pond from your pump to the falls, don't forget to also rule out a possible leak in the hose. We have a pin-hole leak that we accidentally put in our hose from a netting pin before we left on summer vacation, and ended up with a panicked neighbor calling us-- our pond had lost 1/3 of it's water overnight! We turned off the pump for a day, and when the level didn't go down, we took the hose out and ran water through it-- sure enough-- there was a tiny pinprick hole where we were losing all of our water!

 

[addy1]

Done! Also refilled pond over four days, and then it rained. No fish floating yet.

fantastic! good for you and your fish