Possible leak?

[reefsr]

Hi guys. Just the other day I noticed my pond was quite low in water, around 2 inches below what it usually is. We've had some really hot, humid days this past week here in Southern Michigan. Overnight I lost around 2cm (0.78 inches) of water. I'm guessing that's not normal, as I looked up online and it said 2 inches of evaporation per week is what you'll see during hot days. As for testing whether or not it's a leak, I'll keep an eye on it and see how low it goes and how fast it's lowering. Really going to be difficult to deal with this as the entire top of the pond (and more) is covered in water hyacinth.

Anyone have any thoughts or input? Possibly anyone else in Southern Michigan that lost a lot of water? There was a tornado around 2 miles away from me, but I don't think the water level rose from that too much.

 

[brokensword]

Hey there, fellow Michigander! Depending on how much surface area you have, that does not seem overly concerning. I too have been losing water and I've been filling about an inch a day when it gets this hot. You have to remember all the plants, rocks, waterfalls, and open area that will contribute to this problem.

You know how I know it's evap? The other week when the temps got back to mid/low 70s, I didn't lose anywhere near that much and was filling only once during that time. Yesterday, the day before, today (and probably tomorrow) I'll be losing a lot more, that's for sure. The only thing helping me (we lost power yesterday, don't have much hope of any savior DTE crew miraculously showing up anytime soon) is it poured like crazy during the storm; I think I'm up 3 inches, so it'll be a few days until I notice I need to top up again and hopefully (crossing fingers AND toes) they'll get the f*%$*#g system back up! The last TWO years, they've been HEAVILY (I say this with sarcasm and would use a sarcastic smilie but as per DTE, that option too is down!) trimming trees in my area. Yeah, right.


Wait a bit and see if cooler weather doesn't stop your evap problem. As long as you're monitoring and filling, any leak like that can be handled until you're sure you actually have to start searching for it. If it was more, then maybe some alarm signals would go off.

All that said, nothing stops your from turning your waterfall off and seeing if you STILL lose that amount during the heat spell. You can also check along your shoreline for low/rock settling spots, for unusual wetness of the soil surrounding your pond in strategic places (though, with all the rain, how you'd deduce that is beyond me!).

 

[reefsr]

Hey there, fellow Michigander! Depending on how much surface area you have, that does not seem overly concerning. I too have been losing water and I've been filling about an inch a day when it gets this hot. You have to remember all the plants, rocks, waterfalls, and open area that will contribute to this problem.

You know how I know it's evap? The other week when the temps got back to mid/low 70s, I didn't lose anywhere near that much and was filling only once during that time. Yesterday, the day before, today (and probably tomorrow) I'll be losing a lot more, that's for sure. The only thing helping me (we lost power yesterday, don't have much hope of any savior DTE crew miraculously showing up anytime soon) is it poured like crazy during the storm; I think I'm up 3 inches, so it'll be a few days until I notice I need to top up again and hopefully (crossing fingers AND toes) they'll get the f*%$*#g system back up! The last TWO years, they've been HEAVILY (I say this with sarcasm and would use a sarcastic smilie but as per DTE, that option too is down!) trimming trees in my area. Yeah, right.


Wait a bit and see if cooler weather doesn't stop your evap problem. As long as you're monitoring and filling, any leak like that can be handled until you're sure you actually have to start searching for it. If it was more, then maybe some alarm signals would go off.

All that said, nothing stops your from turning your waterfall off and seeing if you STILL lose that amount during the heat spell. You can also check along your shoreline for low/rock settling spots, for unusual wetness of the soil surrounding your pond in strategic places (though, with all the rain, how you'd deduce that is beyond me!).

Thanks so much! That's a bit reassuring. The pond isn't very large, only about 500 gallons. I do have a bog, and a ton of birds come by and splash around. I don't really see much wetness around it though, as there's gravel surrounding the entire pond and I'd know if the gravel was wet because it looks very different when dry.

It's supposed to cool off this Thursday for around 3 days so I'll check then. Again, thanks.

 

[brokensword]

Thanks so much! That's a bit reassuring. The pond isn't very large, only about 500 gallons. I do have a bog, and a ton of birds come by and splash around. I don't really see much wetness around it though, as there's gravel surrounding the entire pond and I'd know if the gravel was wet because it looks very different when dry.

It's supposed to cool off this Thursday for around 3 days so I'll check then. Again, thanks.

if you have a lot of gravel AND a leak (not the bird splashing), it could be hiding the leak as it'll be under the stone. IF you go looking, you might pull aside some of the gravel until you hit soil, just to see if it is wetter than you'd expect. But with all the rain, like I said, it's going to be harder than when it finally (hopefully; I mean, it's the END OF JULY, fer Chrissakes!) dries up. 2" with only 500 gallons (I'm estimating the surface area here; the more, the more evap) does sound like you MAY have a leak. Keep an eye on it but you could try the couple of tests (turn the wf off, look for low edges, etc) just in case. Won't hurt if you probe a bit. You might find something obvious (leaking plumbing connection, water escaping waterfall, the wet soil clue, etc).

Good luck!

 

[reefsr]

if you have a lot of gravel AND a leak (not the bird splashing), it could be hiding the leak as it'll be under the stone. IF you go looking, you might pull aside some of the gravel until you hit soil, just to see if it is wetter than you'd expect. But with all the rain, like I said, it's going to be harder than when it finally (hopefully; I mean, it's the END OF JULY, fer Chrissakes!) dries up. 2" with only 500 gallons (I'm estimating the surface area here; the more, the more evap) does sound like you MAY have a leak. Keep an eye on it but you could try the couple of tests (turn the wf off, look for low edges, etc) just in case. Won't hurt if you probe a bit. You might find something obvious (leaking plumbing connection, water escaping waterfall, the wet soil clue, etc).

Good luck!

Sorry, it's 2cm not 2 inches. That was in 24hr.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Just over 3/4 inch is a negligible loss given your weather conditions. You might top off the pond and continue to take daily readings at the same time of day and compare.