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  • Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸chris
    Aug 5, 2026, 4:39 PM

    i think the reason I have enjoyed building and maintaining the ponds so much is because they are kind of like a computer system.

    Most of the time they work fine, and when they have issues, which generally manifests as "I'm losing water", it is for a clear reason.

    But like computers, getting to and identifying that reason, and fixing it, is the challenge.

    Over the past few days, the has been losing water at an accelerated rate. In the summer, it should be able to go at least 2 or 3 days before needing a top up due to evaporation.

    But these past few days it has been very low after just a day.

    There has to be a leak/escape of water somewhere.

    I also recently (about 2 weeks ago) changed the inlet at the top of the bog barrel to shorten the pipe and make it not stick up as tall and ugly.

    Like computers... "have you changed anything recently" is a top contender for the root of the issue.

    Shortening and dropping the height of the pipe increased the flow without having to increase the pump power. But that could have also caused a minor overflow on the waterfall, or raised the level of the top pond to where it might be overtopping somewhere non-obvious.

    I suspect this increased flow is the main issue.

    However, like all IT issues, you should cover the easy stuff first. I checked all the piping from the barrels to the waterfall to make sure there were no joints leaking or drips down the pipes.

    All seems fine there. I also did a check around the perimeter of the pond to look for overtopping. Nothing there at low levels, but I have to check again when the system is full.

    I wanted to cut the hose down further anyway, so I have done that. Was able to remove over 4 feet of pipe. The height hasn't changed though so the impact on flow should not be large.

    Then I checked the pump itself, cleaned out its filter bag, strained the skimmer box and put it all back. Nothing untoward there either. Basically just regular maintenance.

    A thought occured to me though, the main overflow for the pond is behind the skimmer. If it rains a lot or I overfill the system, it overflows there into some rocks and drains out under the garden to the sidewalk.

    I wonder if when the new posts and gate were installed, the level of the overflow dropped slightly. This would give less leeway (freeboard) for the pond before it gets too low. 🤔

    Re-raising the overflow would be tricky. And best done after the rains return in fall. But it is something Ill have to consider if today's investigations don't fix the issue.

    I just finished refilling the pond (overfull oops... typing too much)

    Time to check for overflows and seeps around the edges.

    looking down at the skimmer box at the bottom of the bottom pond. The pump is out of the water with the big black hose coming out the top of it. It's filter bag is sitting beside it. It was not very dirty so that's good.
    using a kitchen strainer to strain out some of the debris trapped in the skimmer box
    The bog barrel after shortening and readjusting the black hose from the pump. Before it was coming into the barrel vertically. Now it is coming in with a 90° horizontally. I made sure all of the connections were tight and there were no leaks.
    The bottom pond after turning the pump back on and allowing it to fill from the hose sprinklers and rain barrel. It is slightly over full.
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  • Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸chris
    Aug 5, 2026, 5:41 PM

    ooo. I have a new top candidate for cause of accelerated water loss. Cedar chips.

    I checked the whole perimeter of the top pond after the system filled and all was good there. But then I did a check of the bottom pond, which is steeper on the edges and harder to do, so I do it less lol.

    Right away I found a problem. The flat stones had slipped slightly into the water (likely due to animal visitors over the winter). Edit: just saw a black (invasive) squirrel on the sidewalk near our house! First time. I wonder if he is the messer of flat stones and stealer of fish from the bottom pond!!

    Once I reposistioned them, I realized there were a lot of cedar wood chips that had also slipped down, particularly near the skimmer box and were --- HALF IN AND HALF OUT --- of the water.

    They were waterlogged.

    This is bad.

    Dry wood chips outside the water is obviously fine.

    Wood chips floating on or sunk under the water is fine.

    Any mass of woody material chips, sticks, logs, or even small gravel on the edge of the water, will act as a siphon. They suck up the water and then give lots of surface area for it to quickly evaporate. It has been a rainy July so the woody debris may have already been wet and not evaporating much, but it has been dry for a few days now, and hot the past two. Any siphoning/evaporatoon action would be supercharged.

    In the case of gravel, the surface tension between the rocks can cause the edge of the water to creep uphill and also reach the top of the gravel, enhancing evaporation.

    Today I found a whole mass of cedar and dirt along the edge of the pond under the flat stones on top of the liner. It was near the skimmer, likely from the gate work.

    Bad news.

    So I scooped it all out and up onto dry land, and to make sure woody debris can't get to the waters edge under the flat stones, I added some drainage rock along the edge. This should keep the dry and wet zones better separated!

    That was just the near side edge of the bottom pond. I haven't checked the far side by the fence.

    I might do that tomorrow, but there has been a lot less disturbance there over the past year, so I doubt it will need much help.

    I am pretty confident I found the biggest culprit. If my hunch is right, Ill know later today and tomorrow if the water remains relatively stable. It will be hot today so there will be evaporation, but it should not need an emergency fill tomorrow.

    Fingers crossed!

    Bonus content lol. The milfoil is looking very hapoy. It has settled in and the leafy fingers are vertical poking out of the water which is a good sign that they are continuing on happily in their new location. yay!

    A picture looking to the skimmer box and bottom edge of the bottom pond. The black tube is seen coming out from under a flat rock over some new drainage rock. This was previously woody chips that were trapped in the corner under the flat rocks. There are leafy bushes beside. And a black garden pot
    A slightly wider shot shows the lump of wood and dirt I removed from near the skimmer. It is now up on dry land beside the gate.
    Looking at the long edge of the pandemic pond. The water is clear and green. The milfoil plants are arranged along the edge and have their leaves poking up out of the water
    Closeup of the milfoil planted between some rocks on the top edge of the pond. The blue and white unicorn thermometer is floating beside it
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