House came with a koi pond

[Jonas]

Bought a house with a koi pond a few years back. So far we've loved it however the past month we seem to have a leak, I'm having to top off every other day...

Two part question...

I had it professionally cleaned once and there was a black dome at the bottom of the pond. The cleaners said there is probably a valve somewhere. After moving a bunch of rocks around I found a valve. I guess my questions would be how does this valve work and is it possible the black dome is leaking?

 

[j.w]

@Jonas
Sorry I don't know about that equipment. Could be a bottom drain and I assume yes it could be leaking but if so you will have to take out all those fish and redo something to stop it from leaking. Does the pond continue to leak or does it stop at a certain level? If it stops before it gets too low it might not be the drain or you could have more than one leak.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

A black dome on the bottom of the pond — could that be a bottom drain, or an aeration system? How are your pump and filter connected?

 

[Jonas]

View attachment 151023@Jonas
Sorry I don't know about that equipment. Could be a bottom drain and I assume yes it could be leaking but if so you will have to take out all those fish and redo something to stop it from leaking. Does the pond continue to leak or does it stop at a certain level? If it stops before it gets too low it might not be the drain or you could have more than one leak.

Good question! I haven't let the water get lower than where my filter intake is, maybe I can turn the pump off for a day or two and see if it still leaks...

 

[Jonas]

Hello and welcome!

A black dome on the bottom of the pond — could that be a bottom drain, or an aeration system? How are your pump and filter connected?

Hi and thanks for the welcome! From what I have noticed it's a very simple system, I have a simple pump that feeds to a small waterfall, that leads to another small water feature into to main pond. The main pump just has one of those cheap filters I wash off a couple times a week. I assume it's a bottom drain as the only equipment I have is the pump. Just don't know what that valve is or how the bottom drain works...

 

[SarahT]

Bought a house with a koi pond a few years back. So far we've loved it however the past month we seem to have a leak, I'm having to top off every other day...

Two part question...

I had it professionally cleaned once and there was a black dome at the bottom of the pond. The cleaners said there is probably a valve somewhere. After moving a bunch of rocks around I found a valve. I guess my questions would be how does this valve work and is it possible the black dome is leaking?

Hello and welcome.
When I look at your valve picture, I see the valve handle is slightly broken. Is the piping / hose connected to that valve in seemingly good shape? what is it connected to? (Hose, PVC? metal pipe?) I'd caution against trying to close that valve, out of concern that its connections to the pipe/hose could be weak and fail ( => leak).
And yes, turn off the system for a bit and see where the water ends up. How much water are you adding and what has your weather been? Hot? dry?

 

[Jonas]

Hello and welcome.
When I look at your valve picture, I see the valve handle is slightly broken. Is the piping / hose connected to that valve in seemingly good shape? what is it connected to? (Hose, PVC? metal pipe?) I'd caution against trying to close that valve, out of concern that its connections to the pipe/hose could be weak and fail ( => leak).
And yes, turn off the system for a bit and see where the water ends up. How much water are you adding and what has your weather been? Hot? dry?

It's connected to a pvc pipe, seems like it's in good shape minus that valve handle. Adding about 10-15 minutes of hose water every two days. Live in Texas, so hot, but it's been losing water since before it was crazy hot. I'll turn off the pump and see what happens...

 

[GBBUDD]

the black dome at the bottom could it be a hard plastic or is it the liner and a hippo showing " hippo is when the liner gets a water build up under the pond and starts to lift the liner.
but more than likely the leak is not there but the end result is it runs to that spot