Hello,
I'm new to ponding and I have a small 2 x 1 meter pond, it's about 60cm deep. There's a 3-in-1 filter, pump and fountain in it and 8 small goldfish. There is no external plumbing and it is made from a raised brick wall/bed and lined with pond liner - I didn't make it so I don't know if there is padding underneath.
About a month ago, the pond was full to the very top and almost overflowing, but it's now down to half that level and seemed to drop for no reason. It's never done this in previous years, although I have 2 small pots of pond plants in there now. It has settled at the halfway level, but does go down by about 1cm per day.
I can only assume that I have a leak, and the pond has always been covered I don't think it's been warm enough to loose much water through evaporation and not windy enough to blow the fountain water away.
Does this sound like a leak? Should I lose around 30cm of water in a cold month with little wind?
I'm going to top off the pond with treated tap water to see if it goes down as quickly again, then at least I can confirm the leak. Then, I'll leave it for as long as possible to see if the leak is somewhere on the side liner if the water level stays constant.
When should I worry about the fish if water levels keep dropping? There are 8 x 4-5 inch goldfish in there and they seem happy at the moment, but I wouldn't want the water to get much lower. I don't want to wait for the water to stop falling and for the fish to come to harm, although it drops quite slowly so I'm not in danger of missing anything.
If I can't find the leak, can I re-line the pond over the old liner? I have a lintel/sil around the top of the pond which sits on the liner and I can't easily remove this without causing lots of damage. Could I just re-line up to the top of the pond, but use adhesive to seal it around the top?
I'm new to ponding and I have a small 2 x 1 meter pond, it's about 60cm deep. There's a 3-in-1 filter, pump and fountain in it and 8 small goldfish. There is no external plumbing and it is made from a raised brick wall/bed and lined with pond liner - I didn't make it so I don't know if there is padding underneath.
About a month ago, the pond was full to the very top and almost overflowing, but it's now down to half that level and seemed to drop for no reason. It's never done this in previous years, although I have 2 small pots of pond plants in there now. It has settled at the halfway level, but does go down by about 1cm per day.
I can only assume that I have a leak, and the pond has always been covered I don't think it's been warm enough to loose much water through evaporation and not windy enough to blow the fountain water away.
Does this sound like a leak? Should I lose around 30cm of water in a cold month with little wind?
I'm going to top off the pond with treated tap water to see if it goes down as quickly again, then at least I can confirm the leak. Then, I'll leave it for as long as possible to see if the leak is somewhere on the side liner if the water level stays constant.
When should I worry about the fish if water levels keep dropping? There are 8 x 4-5 inch goldfish in there and they seem happy at the moment, but I wouldn't want the water to get much lower. I don't want to wait for the water to stop falling and for the fish to come to harm, although it drops quite slowly so I'm not in danger of missing anything.
If I can't find the leak, can I re-line the pond over the old liner? I have a lintel/sil around the top of the pond which sits on the liner and I can't easily remove this without causing lots of damage. Could I just re-line up to the top of the pond, but use adhesive to seal it around the top?
