Spring/Summer Pond Water Loss

[ROW FISH]

Alrighty team I have an inquiry for yall.

I live in Houston Tx and have a reasonably large pond, 5 years old. It has a planted bog (5'x5') a split waterfall, pond is 15'x9' and 3' deep, and I also have a rock fountain for the birds. The pond is also heavily planted with various water loving plants. I have provided some images below for a visual.

The question... In yall's experience over the years what level of water drop should I expect to see on a daily basis. in 80F 80% humidity weather. This has been the average weather for the past month in Houston Texas. During the winter the pond looses maybe 1/2" a week and I can go months without having to top it off with the garden hose. Once we get too March however if we don't get any reasonable rain in a given week I am outside every 5-6 days giving a top off. I estimate that I loose approximately 1/4" of water daily.

I built the entire project myself and have had issues with the waterfall before. Simply due to some ammeter design errors. I have always assumed that this lead to part of the water loss, which I have been dealing with for the past 2-3 years. Well during my spare quarantine time I have disassembled the edges of the waterfall and rebuilt and sealed to provide conformation that there is now absolutely no leaking around the waterfall. The dry ground around these edges the past week has the proof of this.

This leads me to believe that it is in fact a combination of increased evaporation and plants drinking up the water for growth sustainability. So, could the plants really be causing such a large body of water to drop 1/4" per day in the warmer weather?

I have shut off the fountain to see if that helps, which its impact was negligible. I have inspected the entire parameter of the pond for wet areas at the liner and fixed some lower spots but have seen now issues. I have inspected the bog area with no visual leaks. The only remaining factor is the pluming which has 3 coupling connections outside of the pond burred in the ground that could be suspect to leaks. But again no overly wet areas of ground are observed here.

So that is my question. Those of you with strongly planted ponds, do you see this amount of water loss?

Thanks,

 

[mrsclem]

1/4" a day is nothing to worry about. 80° temps and that many plants can definitely drop the water. Also evaporation from your waterfall. I never worry unless I'm losing 1 1/2-2" a day.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I agree. My pond will easily lose 1/4" in a day during the warm weather (or if it's windy, or the humidity is low, or some combination of these factors) If I suspect that I might have some water escaping, I'll top it up completely late in the afternoon & check on it first thing in the morning, because overnight shouldn't lead to much evaporation or transpiration from the plants. If there's significant overnight loss, then I go hunting around for a possible leak.

 

[addy1]

Those of you with strongly planted ponds, do you see this amount of water loss?

I add water all summer every day. Between the moving water in the bog, the plants that use up that water, our heat, evaporation etc, if I don't the pond can drop dramatically. During winter, zero loss.

We had 3-4 days of horrendous cold winds, low humidity and my pond dropped by around 3-4 inches. Added back water and it has stayed stable.

 

[GBBUDD]

With all those plants in that small pond i am surprised thats all you go through. Its a jungle way cool but they do suck up nutrients from the pond and they also can whick water up over the liner when they are dead

 

[ROW FISH]

Thanks for the conformation. Yes it is quite a few plants and this is after being thinned out twice already this year. We virtually had no winter this year. several of my tropical lilies kept pads all winter. So the plant growth has been extreme. On the plus side I have had zero string algae and zero green water thus far this year.

Yes I do have the issue of plants wicking over the liner occasionally. I unusually do a perimeter inspection in late spring once the plants have fully bounced back from the winter.

Thanks again for the comments and I will keep yall posted if I notice any additional drastic changes in water level.

 

[sissy]

I can loose more than that because of wind .Not many plants in the pond yet but the winds can gust all the time here .Not sure what you get in winds .I had frogs undermine my pond and moles and mice chew my liner and dogs fall in my pond .I had a plant grow it's roots out of the waterfall pond and grow up and over the liner and wick water out .