Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? New Pond to fix old pond leak?

Ok...I have what I feel is a question that I probably already know the answer to. I have a two acre 50 year old pond that I rennovated two years ago... the pond has several leaks and drops (in this current weather pattern) 3 - 6 vertical inches per week when we have no rain. It will eventually stop leaking and I still have about 8 feet of water in the deepest part.. and the pond is reduced to about 1.25 surface acres. Pond is stocked with CNBG, RESF, F1 Tiger Bass, Golden Shiners, Crawfish, Fathead minnows, Threadfin Shad and Tilapia.. (which will die out this fall).

Ok sorry for the long introduction...

I absolutely love the way the pond looks on my property when full... So my question is this... all of my leaks are showing evidence from below the backside of the damn... for considerable expense I can essentially build an additional pond below my existing pond... making the current damn a divider between the two ponds... my thinking is that the water pressure from the new pond... would equal out and keep the water in the original pond...


Any ideas??

Pinetar, I believe you are correct. Providing the water level of the 2nd pond will be as high as you want the water level to be in the first pond.

Also, lets hope that the water in the first pond is ONLY leaking thru the dam. If it's leaking thru the dam and other areas around the pond perimiter, then all bets are off. The 2nd pond might leak into the first pond and both might have low water levels if the leak isn't limited to the dam area.

Do you know why it's leaking, so the mistake isn't repeated in the 2nd pond?

ok... let me ask you this... the water level of the second pond will be lower than the water level of the first pond... but will be higher than where the water is coming out of the first pond...

I really dont know why the pond is leaking... the previous owners have said (about 20 years back) that it has leaked since as along as they remember..

ive just had a another thought... what if where these streams are coming out I join them together and let them drain all into one collection pond and then have a pump to put the water back into the original pond.... dumb idea????

this would be much cheaper than building a large pond below the original one... estimates for this have been 25k plus... I bet I could get this small pond done for 3 - 4 k and then maybe another 1k for pump and pipes etc.

Pinetar, are these streams only coming from the pond, or are they feeding the pond? If coming from the pond, my concern is that you might not have enough water available to you to accomplish what you want.

The pump would have to be good sized. 3"-6" of water loss per week in a 2 ac pond = roughly 326,000 gallons of water. You'd have to pump a minimum of 30 to 35 gallons per minute 24/7 to equal that loss.

They are coming from the pond... I believe a good portion of my water loss if from evaporation... we are over 95 to 100 degrees almost every day for the last month... I have a couple of wet weather springs that feed the pond during decent rainfall months but otherwise the pond is fed by runoff... I just went and took a bunch of pics..... I am about to upload them.


Debris piles are from Tornado that came right thru our property of April 27th

Wide shot of pond

Site for future second pond?




Areas of seepage and streams leaking from pond

As long as the water level of your second pond is below that of your first, the first (main) pond will continue to leak. The leaks that are submerged by the second pond should slow as the head (water level) of the second pond increases but it won't stop completely until the levels are equal.

The pumping idea seems like it would increase the average level of your main pond but in addition to the initial cost, you'll have operating expenses from that pump. Very rough estimation... $550 - $600 a year just for the juice to run it 24/7.

I have essentially zero practical experience but if it were me, I'd look more closely at those "streams" and see if I could figure out what's going on. Every gallon of water that flows through there will take a tiny piece of your dam with it. A second pond will be wasted money if your dam falls apart in ten years.

Manris... took your advice and started some research on the "streams"..

Sunday 2 pm- I put two gallons of pond dye into my pond for the purpose of trying to track the water below the dam.

Sunday 6 pm - Pond is totally blue (looks pretty cool) water coming out below dam is clear and noticeably cooler then water in pond

Monday 6 am - Pond is really really blue... water coming out below dam is still clear and again much cooler then water in pond.

(took samples from pond and from below dam and brought them into the house so I could really get a good comparison) The pond water has a blue tinge to it and you can see sediment and other stuff in the water... the water below dam is crystal clear... looks like you could drink it

Monday 6 pm - same story

Tuesday 6 am - same story

Tuesday 6 pm - same story

Was I mistaken in thinking that if this water was coming from the pond that it would be the same or similar color as the pond? Could the process of it flowing thru the dam filter it back clear??

I wouldn't think that it would do a 100% filtering job on a dye. But...

Could you maybe test the PH or something to see if they have the same make up? Just a thought.

Jason, thats a good idea.. I will try that...

I'm thinking about adding two more gallons of dye to the pond (painful, stuff is $50 per gallon). But this is really going to turn my pond a deep deep blue... is there any potential danger in doing this? Harmful to fish... killing plants... algea, etc?

Pinetar, the purpose of the dye is not only to make the water look purty, but it reduced the amount of sunlight that penetrates the water, and that (depending on your previous water clarity) reduces the amount of plants and photoplankton that can grow in the pond. Photoplankton are the building blocks of the food chain, the foundation so to speak.

Do you have a secchi disc? If so, what's the reading now? If not, I'd get or build one and take a reading before adding a lot more dye.