what is the length of the stream??? (surface area)

is the water pretty warm?

is there dirt on the sides of the stream? if there was a leak the ground where it is leaking should be damp.

The length of the stream is roughly 12 feet long and 20 inches wide. The water temp is average, depending on the time of day. It gets morning and early afternoon sun and shade the rest of the day. I wouldnt consider the temperature hot. The water temperature is comperable to running water from a faucet outside. There is dirt on the sides of the stream and from all investigation along the sides there is no evidence of a leak along the stream. My main concern is that it may be under the waterfall connecting to the pipe. The installer did end up coming back out yesterday evening and tightened up the pipe so we will be able to tell by this evening if it is still losing water. It looked somewhat lower this morning but it may be splash off. I am really curious to know how much water could be lost through the splashing. Anyone think it is possible to lose 10 gallons due to splash off? Thanks for your help!

you wouldn't lose that much from evaporation. The water is either splashing out or running out somewhere.

Leaks are hard to find sometimes though.

Thanks so much for your tips. After the installers latest pipe fix it looks like the water loss is down to 7 from 10 gallons. So I think I am getting there slowly but surely. With waterbug_guy's comments, I think I am going to start over at the edges of the stream and look there. I will pull back the gravel and see if I can see any damp patches and then look at the waterfall level. I appreciate all of the time you took to offer your suggestions. Wish me luck! :) I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Personally, if he had that many problems fixing the problem he created I would contact the Better Business Bureau. Especially if he is in a larger city like Springfield or Joplin. That will get his attention much faster than just calling. AND he might even be more inclined to fix it. If nothing else, you can figure you have cut into his business a time or two because there are rather alot of us that check references with the BBB before we go spending that many $$$. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: B-Cubed's Blog and Pictures...

I'm not real sure this guy can fix the problem. I mean if you don't know how to do it right to begin with... I think it takes alot of construction experience to fix a leak if that makes sense.

I am having a similar problem to Zafo. Did Zafo get his problem fixed and how? I have eliminated the pond as the source of the leak. This week I elevated the sides of the fall to reduce or eliminate splash out or leaks from the side of the waterfall. I don't believe that there are leaks in the plumbing. Any other suggestions? Too cold for much evaporation as I'm getting water loss.

Trigger, waterfalls are usually the main culprit for causing water loss. Due to the water escaping behind the liner or being drawn into a fold/tuck in the liner that acts like a syphon tube and draws the water away.

The same thing happens around the edge of the pond especially after a heavy rain. The liner folds fill with water and keep on syphoning water out, even when the rain stops. This can be fixed by pumping silicone seal into the fold, with a caulking gun, where the liner comes over the edge of the pond. That will plug the syphoning fold off.
I hope yu can find it, as there is nothing more annoying than an elusive water loss problem in the pond system.
"Horton"

Okay, I have a similar question. Here's the setup. I have 2 preformed ponds with a waterfall connecting them and they get full sun all day. The top pond is around 50 gallons, the bottom is around 160 gallons. The waterfall is about 4 ft long and 1 1/2 ft wide. The waterfall is a separate piece of liner attached to the inside of the top pond. I have used everything imaginable to seal that liner to the pond so that SHOULDN'T be the problem. The water level in the bottom pond has dropped about 3 inches over the last few days but it's been around 90 every day and I seem to have a whole flock of birds that love to stand in the waterfall and splash around. I can't use the dirt around ANYTHING to find out if or where it's leaking since we've had about 6 inches of rain in the last few weeks and everything is still soaked. So I'm wondering if it's possible to lose around an inch of water a day from evaporation and birds? Or do I have ANOTHER leak (in which case I GIVE UP!!!!)?

I too am wondering about the 2inches of evaporation that I seem to have each week in my pond, but the water wicking from the folds is making sense to me, just don't know what I'm doing so will live and learn I guess!ha! I still am amazed that it took me this long to have such a wonderful addition to my serenity!!!heh heh! Ponds RULE!!!!

Hi we had 2 small pondds in hour garden 'made by last tenent' So we decided to take that out and make a big one 2meters by 1meter, depth half a meter, we have a small water fall and fountain with plants, we put fish in was looking good, Then disaster the wather started to go down so we 'topped it up'' the fish started to die 1 sometimes 2 at a time, water still leaking, By this time most of the fish had gone, so we drained the water 'put remaining fish in a tank' we got another pond liner ;deciding to put the old one on the bottem for extra layer, got new liner in situ, filled with water put in plants left it for a week got the water checked to make sure we could get more fish, so far so good, we were really pleased to beable to then add fish we got 2 to start off see how they went on, Yes they are doing really well so hoped to ge some more in this weekend, BUT alas where is the water going !!!!! you guessed it went out monday morning about 1 inch of water gone, topped it up with rain water out of the Butt fine come Teusday water still gone down *fish still looking ok* Surely we said not another leak... if so this pond could end up becoming a rose garden, MY question is why would i be loosing water yet again other than another leak, Please answer this for me . Gerry (felale)

My pond is about 3mts. x 2 mts, and about 2 mtr deep. yesterday the pond was full and I had added a little water, i have had the pond for 7 years, but have not had to look after it now the job is mine. this morning it was nearly empty and my fish were flapping about I quickly filled it with water and have been checking it does not seem to be leaking anywhere, what do you think happened

Back to the second sentence in the first post. I read your post but, thank you, no, I would rather not bare with you.

Back to the second sentence in the first post. I read your post but, thank you, no, I would rather not bare with you.

Hi Caterina; I gather that you just googled in here. This post is essentially eight years old. How about creating a NEW post about finding a big leak. Some folks may not even look and others will be annoyed at reading thru unrelated info. That may be why the previous poster didn't get any answer. That post was two years old!! Tell us if you have a water fall and where the pump is etc. and if you have a liner. Sounds like a disconnected pipe to me.

I live in LAS VEGAS, NV average temp 100-108 degrees lately and have about a 1400 gal pond with koi and goldfish. In the summer I fly shade over the pond. I notice a big WATER LOSS the other day and was worried because I just bought a 20x 20 42mil liner. I did a TEST. I filled it back up to a marked line. Shut the PUMP OFF for 24HRS . Adjusted the laguna water filter so the water runs directly into the pond (not touching the sides). Raised it of the rocks it was sitting on (air circulates under now). Only 20" water fall. Added another shade cover-now a mostly covered pond. After 24hrs the pond stop 3 1/2 " of water from evaporating. I only loss water through HEAT, WIND, SUN EXPOSURE and possible filter placement. NO leaks. Following days I turn the pump back on and only about a 1/8 " loss. Hope this helps!!!!

Personally I love threads that span years. Like looking through a scrapbook.