Help with a leak

faz201283 · 29-09-2011, 11:07 AM

hi, got up yesterday and noticed the pond water was down about a foot.

I have a pressurized filter which i have a small underground space were it lives (out of sight), it was full of water so i turned off the filter and gave it a good clean checked the O rings and put it back together, all seemed fine when i turned it back on so i left it running while i had the hose pipe on a very slow trickle to top the water back up.

while the water was down i got in the pond (on the shelf) and did a bit of maintenance on the pump and air discs, i left the hose running all night, got up this morning and the water is down another few inch, now id expect the water to be up a little , not much as its a very very slow trickle as i didn't want to shock the fish with tap water, i checked the filter again and the water was still at the same levle i left it last night, id have thought it would have all drained away by now.

ive turned off the pump again in case its the filter but in case its the liner HOW DO I CHECK FOR LEAKS ON A LINER, is there a special way of doing it????

any help would be great, cheers

pondy · 29-09-2011, 11:39 AM

i think the only real way to do it is to let it keep going till it stops. however keep an eye on it as if it goes to far down you'll have to remove all your koi and then find the leak on the base.

liner patch kits can be got from most koi dealers

Doghouse Riley · 29-09-2011, 01:07 PM

I'd agree with that, but it may be difficult to find if the leak is in the liner itself.
As has been suggested let it go down until it stops, make sure the water doesn't get below the submersible pump if you're using one.
Now here's the tricky bit. It may be the pressure of the water which is forcing its way out of the liner. There may come a point where it stops leaking, but that might not be at the point where there's a leak.
If you've a slope to the bottom drain, even though the leak is at the bottom, if you've a concrete base you'll still get a big pool of water despite a leak in the bottom..
The only sure way of finding it is to completely drain the pool then painstakingly examine every inch of the liner. But I'm afraid there's no guarantees if the leak point isn't obvious.

It could be around the the bottom drain. These trap the liner under a circular collar. Over time the bolts that secure it can corrode (especially if salt has been added to the water at some time). It isn't the end of the world as you can leave the stubs of the bolts in (or what's left of 'em) and drill the collar and use self tapping screws to re-secure it.

The other place could be between the bottom drain and the pump. Only a pressure test will be able to determine that.

Marlene&Boycie · 29-09-2011, 02:04 PM

Hi

There isn't much Boycie and I can give words of wisdom on but we feel a bit of a expert when it comes to leaks... Our pond was leaking when we took it over from the previous owners, we were losing 2000 litres a day and it took us 4 months to find the leak. We had a very wet patch of ground underneath the liner in the brook and we also had a leak in some pipework that was underneath concrete. Basically since May the only thing that is original in our pond is the fish! We replaced everything trying to find the leak. It will probably be easier for you as I guess you know your set-up and put it together yourself, we were working blind with 20 year old kit.

Beware if the leak is in or around your filter, we tried to let the pond level drop to below the leak to let it stablise but of course, leaking from the filter output and feeder brook it would of just kept dropping, as it did...

Good luck. Marlene & Boycie

Pinnacle · 29-09-2011, 02:49 PM

Is there any easy way to find a leak in a liner once you have got the water down to a level where it is no longer leaking?.

faz201283 · 29-09-2011, 03:05 PM

cheers, i think if its the liner then its gota be on the step that i was stood on yesterday, ive turned the pump off in case its that (i have the air blower going until i get the filter back on) ive just took a dip of the water and left it an hour and dipped again and it hadnt fell any, im gona leave it another few hours then check it again, if its not lost any water then ill start to fill it again and turn my thoughts to the filer, my new liner for my QT pond has just turned up so ill fill that and treat it and at least i have a place to put the babys if i have to

faz201283 · 29-09-2011, 06:10 PM

ok then ive left it for a few hours and it hasnt dropped any, left it for about 3 hrs.

ive just put some water back in so ill leave it again for an hr or so and dip the depth again, this is going to work out about 40% water change so ill take my time topping up with tap water

wish me luck, lets hope its not the liner thats leaking

Doghouse Riley · 29-09-2011, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinnacle

Is there any easy way to find a leak in a liner once you have got the water down to a level where it is no longer leaking?.

Hmm..

There's nothing "easy" with this hobby.

hebburnlad · 30-09-2011, 12:09 PM

the easiest way is to let it leak to its level; then pump some out ; the water will try to leak back in to the pond through the hole

faz201283 · 30-09-2011, 12:27 PM

well i didnt loose any during the night so ive filled it back upto level this morning, at least its not the liner, just about to start the pump and filter off again to see if its that