I've owned my place for a few years and have a 1 acre pond that leaks about .5 inch per day at full pool. I have bentonite that I'll be working into the dam in a few spots along with a full pallet of soilfloc to slow down my leak. If I fail, I want to use my creek to fill my pond.

Has anybody done this?

My thinking is to use a solar power pump to carry the water but how far can the pump push it? My creek is about 400 ft off the back side of my dam. So have to push that distance plus up hill on my dam. Sound possible? How much water would I need to pump to keep it full? This creek is spring fed and never goes dry btw.

Archer - I have a 240V 1.5 hp pump bringing about 80 gpm to my pond on demand. It brings the water vertically about 25 feet and runs another 100 feet to the pond. Don't know what you can get out of a solar pump. One caution is to be sure of what is in the creek. You don't want to introduce any undesirable species from your creek to the pond.

The only species I'd be worried about are bullhead catfish and that is a concern of mine but will live fish survive going thru the pump? Eggs might be a different story.

I use a brushless pump to fill out pond with a float switch. The float on the pump in the creek is just a sump pump float. The float in the pond is a reverce switch. The pond one turns on when water level drops if there is water in the creek then the pump will turn on and fill the pond. 3200 gallons per hour is tones of water for our pond. It is very efficient on power and with no brushes has run flawless for five years. I run a two in pipe 200 feet with at least 20 feet of lift.

Cheers Don.

Half an inch a day in a one acre pond is a big leak. It will take about 500 GPH to keep up with it. I have tried and failed to keep my leaking pond full the past two years. It's only 1/4 acre and the leak averages about 5/8 inch a day when near full pool. I have used a HF two inch gasoline pump for a year and a half, now a Honda two inch gasoline pump. I get about 3,800 GPH over a 480 foot run of two inch poly pipe with a lift of about 17 feet. I have filled the pond to within a few inches of full several times over the past two years, but then the creek goes dry and it leaks down, and looks bad because a lot of the fish habitat structure shows. I am either going to fix it, or move the structure toward the middle and treat it as a 0.15 acre pond.

Does your pond stop leaking at some point? Mine does when it goes into the "bowl" below the foot of the dam, about 32 inches below full pool.

I have researched using solar to power a pump, but it's not cost effective and would not keep up with the leak over time. I also researched running underground power cable with an electric pump. Again, not cost effective. The gasoline pump was my best and most useful option. It can be moved around as needed, and can even aerate the pond in an emergency. It saved my fish earlier this year during a low oxygen event. I made a large window screen strainer that goes over the regular strainer, so the mesh is fine enough to stop any unwanted fish or debris.

I think most people would be shocked at how much water evaporates from a pond. We get heavy wave action all day every day.

If you put a bucket with water in it then have another bucket with water in it and aerate one and not the other you will loose easy a half inch a day.

I lose that on cool spring or fall days. I have no idea what it loses in the summer. All this summer I wrestled with siphoning it out. Now I just need to tackle at the foot of my dam with a trash pump. I want to inspect the entire basin for any areas of concern while it's low and no stocked fish.

Yes, some fish can make it through the pump. I'd look into a fine meshed screen to catch unwanted junk either before or after the pump. Not only fish, but unwanted vegetation too. Some plants will grow from pieces, so fragments can bring unwanted species of plants to your pond too.