Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Confused About Aeration

My new pond is about 5' X 6' X about 2.5 ' deep. It has a Pennington Inpond 5-in-1 600 gallon pump system and a separate pond Boss waterfall pump 2000 gph. I love my pond, especially the waterfall, but am having to add a LOT of water to it every day along with the stuff to remove chlorine and chloramine.

I decided to unplug the waterfall last night to see if that's what was leaking & when I got up this morning at 6 or so, the water level hadn't gone down any which makes it definite the water loss is from the waterfall, and the fish were all at the surface with their mouths at the top. I'd have thought there would be enough oxygen from the Pennington pump alone but apparently not. I immediately turned the waterfall back on & all the fish were fine but of course didn't want to turn it off again. I've ordered an air pump kit from Amazon that says it's for ponds up to 5,000 gallons & has a 100 gph flow capacity. It will be here tomorrow.

My question is: Do you think I'll be able to unplug the waterfall pump at night once the air pump is on & working? It's in the high 90s here every day now & my pond is in the sun most of the day. The fish have plenty of shade from plants and the rocks that line the sides and bottom of the pond but I read that hot weather depletes oxygen in pond water. Hoping I can unplug the waterfall at night. All advice appreciated. TIA.

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It sounds like you are losing water because of a waterfall leak. I suspect that the water is somehow escaping the liner and flowing out of the pond. Look for wetness around the waterfall that would lead to it running or soaking into the surrounding landscaping. You may have to unstack the waterfall rocks and re-assemble them so that all the water runs into the pool rather than over the edge of the liner. That's the first place I would look. I doubt you are losing that much water to evaporation.

As far as proper oxygen levels at night...I would run a test during a day that you can check on it every hour or so. Run the water fall one night, then turn it off in the morning, and check the fish periodically. If they go 8 -10 hours without piping at the surface for air then you know it will go through the night...unless you sleep more than 10 hour, then adjust your test runtime accordingly. I have a strong feeling that the air pump system will do a good job, but I would still want to verify it with a daytime test.

Something else you can do to save on de-chlorinater while the waterfall leak is being inspected is to put tap water in a bunch of buckets and let it set for a day or two (without a lid). This allows the chlorine to gas-off and the water will be fine to add to the pond.

+1 to what Quarter Acre has written.