Saying hello before reading up on "inherited ponds"

[Threeseed]

Hi. We've finally decided to take a stab at rehabbing a little pond that came with the house. I don't know exactly how old the pond is, but if I had to guess, I'd say at least 15 years, but it's probably much older than that. It has a liner (though it was hard to find). It also has a leak. Now the fun begins.

I'm looking forward to reading the various "inherited ponds" threads and crossing my fingers that the collective wisdom will be enough to help us find and plug the leak. I'm going to begin the process filled with optimism as there's plenty of time to get despondent later. The pond is very shallow (max depth 18") and about 5'x7' oval, but there are lots of big rocks in the pond, so I'm estimating the pond probably only holds about 350gallons. Here's what it looks like currently.

 

[j.w]

@Threeseed

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! Maybe you should start a thread (or search older threads) about how to find a leak.

 

[brokensword]

if it were mine and I was going to rehab from the get go, I'd just put a new liner in at the same time. Means more work as you have to move some rocks (and maybe that back wall looks prohibitive). Just because if the pond's been in 15+ years, you're coming to the useful end of life for that liner. And maybe that's why it's leaking, so...

 

[addy1]

Very nice looking pond. Welcome to our forum.

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[GBBUDD]

No waterfall so it's just the pond. Or just a pond and a pump?

Let the water drain untill it stops at the level or within a inch or two above will be your leak somewhere around the pond.

 

[Threeseed]

@GBBUDD, that's the plan. We have an idea of what level the leak is, but it's not really possible to get at the liner without dismantling the rock work and that's just not something we can do right now. I'm going to get creative with bentonite and see just how much of the stuff I can blow into every nook and cranny of the old girl and cross my fingers and hope that'll do it. If not, well, I'm not sure what we'll try. I'll worry about it then, I guess. Right now I'd rather hope for a miracle and think about what to plant.

@brokensword, that's it exactly. I found a corner of the liner at the very top of the wall. Until then I didn't know the pond even had a liner! It was a mystery how it held any water at all. Some of the stones around the edge are loose, but the ones that aren't, well, they aren't going anywhere and masonry is one of the skills we don't have around here, which brings me right back to hoping that clay will do the trick. I'll be back if it doesn't. And also if it does ;-)

 

[Threeseed]

To update the leaky pond story, a couple of pictures after we drained it yesterday. It's hard to gauge the depth of this little pond from a picture, but maybe the bit with the husband's leg will help. It's shallow. And those rocks are set in concrete. I'll either find and fix the leak or we'll have to look into trying to keep it going as a frog pond. That might be what it was built for originally anyway as it's much smaller than our initial estimate. It's only 4'x6' at its longest dimensions and we measured the water volume when we refilled. It holds a bit more than 180 gallons.

If I can stop the leak, I'll put in some plants and a handful of minnows because I'd like something in there to eat the mosquito larvae if possible.

Even if we stop the leak, I expect we'll have to add water often as the local deer empty my small fountain in a regular basis. I think I'll often have rainwater available for that purpose. I haven't looked into it yet, but that seems like it would be better than adding city water all the time.

I'll update again later on how things are going.

 

[brokensword]

that IS shallow/small! I can see why you wouldn't want to put too much effort into finding a leak. You might try some sort of hydraulic cement, if you can pinpoint where the water might be going. A test would be to fill it up and put some drops of dye/milk near the suspected area. Watch the drops as if water is being sucked/wicked away, they'll go in that direction. If the leak is one that empties the pond, it's in the bottom. If on the sides, the water will stop leaking at that level. Either way, once you know, you can maybe trowel on some hydraulic cement (after cleaning the area thoroughly with muriatic acid--wear gloves!). It might be worth a try. Or the bentonite trick should do similar.

 

[GBBUDD]

Like @brokensword suggested fill the pond up and watch the water drop. But add a little science to it put a 3 foot ruler into the water. And at the same time everyday record how much the water drops. You might have multiple leaks just some worse then others. When the water stops dropping your leak will be above the water line.

 

[brokensword]

Like @brokensword suggested fill the pond up and watch the water drop. But add a little science to it put a 3 foot roller into the water. And at the same time everyday record how much the water drops. You might have multiple leaks just some worse then others. When the water stops dropping your leak will be above the water line.

ruler, right? I was about to do a search for roller...

 

[GBBUDD]

Dang spell check yes , ruler.

 

[Threeseed]

Somehow or another and with the help of very fine ground clay and an insect powder duster, I was able to seal the leaks well enough that the water level seems to be holding. It still loses water, but so little that I think it's likely a combination of splash water and evaporation and maybe a really slow leak. (Or maybe the visiting raccoons are thirsty.)

Luckily we were able to snake a bigger hose and the cord from the new pump through an existing conduit, meaning we didn't have to get too creative with disguising cords and hoses.

Were pumping water through a small aquascape "filter" urn that has a somewhat coarse pad and ceramic beads and to which I added a bag of aquarium carbon pellets. That cleared up the water and removed the brown tint. This pond is in the woods and it's not possible to keep leaves, blossoms, pollen, etc. from falling in and sinking. No room for a skimmer here. We'll see how things go when it warms up, but at the moment, the filter setup and a little "pond zyme" have done the trick.

 

[Threeseed]

We've added a DIY autofill solution which seems to be doing the trick.

The pond holds less than 180 gallons (according to the water meter attached to my spigot) and it's quite shallow. Letting the pond level fluctuate naturally wouldn't make for very happy fish, so I wanted to find a way to maintain a constant level despite our very slow leak.

We tried to fit a skimmer into the pond, but it's just too small, so none of the ugly plastic autofill devices were an option for me. This thing was going to be visible, front and center. It had to look like I meant it to be there. Enter one Amazon used "Acceptable" brass ballcock and valve assembly, a clear plastic warehouse store chocolate almond container filled with river rocks and some tubing we ran up to the rain barrel. The previous owner of the house was an artist welder, so we've got many funky metal sculptures on the property. This thing fits right in, and it works! It took a couple of tries to find the right height adjustment, but it was easy enough to do. It sits on the bottom of the pond on one layer of leftover mosaic tile from a bathroom remodel and I happened to stumble across a hollowed out rock that fit perfectly over the plastic container's lid (though the black lid was hardly visible).

The pond level remains constant. We can see the level of the rain barrel going down, but not enough to empty it before the next rain. I haven't measured, but I think we lose about 1/4" in the rain barrel each day. All the creatures seem very happy. Our water test results are all within norms. I'm watching the copper levels now, but so far no change from our tap water. We have somewhat alkaline water which makes it less likely that copper will leach from the brass float. If it becomes a problem, I'll coat the float with a pond safe resin to encapsulate it.

I wasn't sure we'd be able to get the pond going without a big investment in time and money, but we managed and I couldn't be happier.

We don't seem to have had a problem with new pond syndrome because this pond had been filled with rainwater and muck for years and had achieved some kind of natural equilibrium. Despite having repeatedly emptied and refilled the pond I think some of the good bacteria survived. We also have a barley straw ball tucked in the waterfall (to inhibit algae growth) and when we noticed some bubbles starting to down below the waterfall we added a couple of Pond-zyme treatments according to the directions.

I hope this will encourage people who end up with a "bonus pond" to give the rehab process a try and not to get discouraged right away if there's a problem. Get creative and you might find a solution you love!