How much is too much?

As we enter the hottest part of the summer, you may notice that you are filling your pond more than normal. That's okay and to be expected as the heat of summer causes increased evaporation. But many water feature owners fear that they are filling way too much for it to possibly be evaporation. It must be a leak, right?

How do you know if it is evaporation and not a leak?
Quite honestly, sometimes it is difficult to tell. If you have a long stream, a tall waterfall, or a lot of splash in your waterfall your water feature will show more water loss than others. Evaporation is not usually consistent. You may lose several inches over a few days and then not much for a while. A leak generally is consistent over time.

We've heard many times that a water feature will lose several inches overnight or while you're away at work. You may go to bed with the pond full only to find the skimmer running dry when you get up. Most of the time, this water loss is due to aquatic plants. Either the plants dam up the waterfall and cause the water to overflow the sides or back of the waterfall, or a root of a floating plant is hanging outside the pond causing the water to "wick" outside the pond. Actually, the more plants you have the more water loss there will be. Plants (yes, even aquatic plants) use water! We have several pots filled with aquatic plants. The pots don't leak but yet they need to be filled with water, sometimes daily.

Other times sudden losses in water can be due to settling. This happens mostly when we have a large amount of rainfall at once. The water can pool in one area outside the pond and cause the edges to settle and leaks to occur.

Rest assured that in our experience, if you use a quality, 45mil EPDM liner punctures or tears are rarely the cause of water loss. Although using an inferior pond liner -- vinyl, pvc, or pre-formed are prone to cracking and tearing. Avoid using these liners if at all possible.

What about automatic fill valves?
An automatic fill valve can be installed on a water feature from an exterior water line. When the water level falls below a safe level, the fill valve opens up and the feature is filled to the appropriate level.

Cool Ponds has never installed an automatic fill valve on any of the features we have installed, nor will we ever...period. Why? First of all, depending on the fill valve, they have a tendancy to stick open. This is a real problem for pond with fish. Chlorinated water flowing freely into a pond can kill the entire fish population of a pond in a matter of hours. Second, if there ever is a leak in the water feature, with a fill valve you wouldn't know it. That would be a waste of water and the leaking water could possibly cause some damage to the feature, your home, etc.

What about filling with chlorinated water?
Is using a product to de-chlorinate the water always necessary when topping off a pond? If you have fish, using a dechlorinator is always a good idea; if you are adding more than 10% of the water volume, it's a must! It's also smart to have some dechlorinator on hand in case of emergencies. It's very common to start filling the pond and forget about it. Set a kitchen timer to help you remember that you're filling!

317-786-3670
901 E Hanna Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46227
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