Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Help.... How can i lower my water level?

I want to lower the pond for the rest of winter. Lower than the spillway. Is there an easy way to lower the water level without buying an expensive pump? Perhaps a siphon with PVC because PVC is inexpensive or any other cheap quick fixes, lol.
Thanks

A siphon will work very well. I've used 2-inch sump pump hose and 4-inch drain hose. Plug the low end, and start filling the hose with water from the pond until the hose is almost full. Throw the high end of the hose into the pond, and then unplug the lower end. It should start to pull water. Just make sure the low end is several feet lower than the pond level.

I use 2" PVC to siphon with all over the place. I Have a ball valve to open and close on the down hill side. I Put in a water faucet to connect a water hose to fill up. When it is full and I do not see any bubbles blowing out in the pond I cut the faucet off at the pipe and open the ball valve on the lower end to allow the water to flow. I have some of these inground for irrigation run to gardens that provide produce for my sisters produce business.

I used (3) 2" lines to lower my 3-1/2 acre lake. It worked like a charm. It is amazing how much water you can move if you have a substantial elevation drop!

How big is your pond? How much lower is your downstream than your pond?

I've used everything from 1/2" garden hose to 8" pvc as siphon. Heck, I've even used quarter inch rubber tubing to siphon / drain my baby's bath tub. If your pond isn't too big, 2" pvc is a good solution. Connect enough 20 foot sections so that the pond end sticks out into deeper water in the pond and the downstream end is as much lower as practical. I usually use a gasoline powered water pump connected to a water hose with a clog buster http://www.plumbingsupply.com/clogbusters.html which screws on the end of the hose and is inserted into the downstream end of the pipe. Then you start up the pump (or turn on the faucet). The rubber piece expands to seal the pipe and the running water fills the pipe from bottom up. It is actually fun to watch the water progress up the pipe (starts sagging), over the dam and into the pond. Doing so also helps you watch for leaks that could let air in and stop the siphon. Sometimes (virtually always) the pipe in the pond tries to float as the air from below is pushed through it. Sometimes I push it down a bit. Sometimes I don't and it eventually sinks. Ideally, it would all sink so that no air is left in the pipe (you should see lots of bubbles coming out). As long as you have enough pipe and enough drop, you can get by with some trapped air in it. When you're fairly confident the pipe is as full of water as you can get it, you just turn off the pump (or faucet). The rubber clog buster contracts, the weight of the water forces it out of the pipe, and your siphon is flowing.

All that said (and I'm a big fan of siphons), if there isn't much elevation difference between upstream and downstream, they can be really frustrating.

Another tip, it is probably a good idea to generally have some larger screen over the pond side entrance. I've done it both ways. Sucked some nice fish through an 8" siphon that didn't have a big (covers big area like a cage not just across end) screen around end. I've also sucked a turtle against a 4" siphon. It both killed the turtle and stopped the siphon somehow.