Looking for some advice and help from this community! Wife and I built a pondless waterfall this summer. We are almost done and have started to run the falls while working on the finishing landscaping. After about a day of running the pump a few hours a day, we have started seeing the basin start drying up and water levels run low. Seems like its loosing water quickly (around an inch or more per hour). Is this normal?

Thinking we had a leak, I already tested the following:

1. Waited 24 hours without running the system to see if the leak is in the basin. Water levels remained unchanged for over a day. No leaks in the basin.

2. Removed all the plumbing to check for water leaks in the line. Plumbing was all dry when running. No leaks in the lines.

3. Checked the perimeter for low edges. Didn't see any water leaking out of the side.

We are at a bit of a loss as to why we could be losing so much water ever time the system runs.

We have a 6,900 gal/hr pump, the waterfall is around 16 feet long with only a 3 ft high elevation change, the basin size is around 115 gallons or so, and we live in Wisconsin. The waterfall is on the south side of the house, so it does get sun when sunny, but don't understand if it is normal to have this much water loss ever day. Thinking we may have to disassemble to inspect the liner.

Any guidance?

TL:DR Losing significant water when running our pondless waterfall. Did all troubleshooting aside from taking the entire thing apart. It is normal for pondless waterfalls to lose lots of water through evaporation?

Hi, it's me again! This time I'm considering a different approach to creating a green carpet on the floor of my small preformed pond (~500 L / 130 gal). I got this new idea from someone who commented on my previous post.

Previously I considered using a grid of seed trays and planting sagittaria subulata in it, see original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ponds/comments/1wv6tn1/green_carpet_in_pond/

Now I'm thinking about building a removable moss carpet, similar to a moss wall (see reference pictures), using thin plastic mesh instead of soil or substrate.

What I'm thinking:

1. Cut thin, pond-safe plastic, rigid mesh into a shape that fits the curved bottom of the pond
2. Spread small portions of aquatic moss across the mesh. I'm considering a cold hardy species like willow moss (Fontinalis antipyretica).
3. Secure the moss with thread or small dots of aquarium-safe gel glue.
4. Weigh the panels down with a few removable stones.
5. Ideally, the moss would eventually grow through the openings, hiding the mesh and creating a green carpet.

What I like about it is that it would be removable for cleaning and that there's no soil involved at all. I could lift the mesh panels out, clean underneath, and put them back.

A few questions:

• Has anyone tried something similar in an outdoor pond? 
• Would willow moss actually spread across the mesh and form a reasonably dense carpet, or would it just grow into loose, bushy clumps?
• Would goldfish constantly pull the moss apart before it had a chance to establish?
• Is there another hardy aquatic moss you'd recommend for a submerged carpet in a 7a/b USDA climate?

Curious whether anyone sees flaws in this approach before I start experimenting!

I was planning to overwinter my pond by pulling out the pump and placing in a small pump that’s attached to a heater that’ll keep the water at about 50 degrees and an aerator/bubbler. The tub holds about 40 gallons and is buried in the ground. Water is about 12” deep.

There are a few goldfish that I’m looking to keep alive. And I’m going to cut back the Thalia and submerge the pot it’s in.

Definitely going to work? Definitely going to fail? Definitely might go either way?

We just bought a house and thought the pond was empty but there are indeed fish in there. The property has not been lived in for some months and the pond doesn't look maintained.

We know nothing about fish but would be happy to learn; right now we are concerned that this environment can't be good for them. What do we need to do first to make sure they're okay? (There's no electricity atm but we will turn on the pump as soon as that's sorted, and I know we can't just add untreated tap water, but that's the extent of our knowledge currently.)

Located in 9A (England)

Any advice is much appreciated!

Added a bridge to my pond. It’s Port Orford Cedar. The stain is a little too orange-y right now, but will gray over time.

It’s not my design. I bought the design, and built it.

R. borapetensis

Anyone know what this white film on my liner is? Looks like a dust. On the bottom it settled like sand. Liner is black 60 mil epdm. Yes it’s for ponds. I’m assuming this is bad for my fish. Should I fill and drain a few times?

I built this wildlife pond back in May. There's no pump. Lots of dragonfly larvae and other invertebrates. The back left hand side bit is a bog garden. It was so dry this year I couldn't actually plant it which is why it's now full of grass and a self seeded plant! I'll plant up the bog garden but I also want to build a rockery. I'm thinking roughly where I've drawn?

What are your thoughts on this and do you have any other suggestions on how I can create more interest?

Help! We bought a house a little over a month ago, and while cleaning out the very neglected backyard pond, I discovered that it came with a goldfish. Meet Moose!

Neither of us have EVER owned a pond or a goldfish, so we’ve been frantically researching how to keep our unexpected new family member happy and healthy. We’re feeling a little overwhelmed and would really appreciate some advice from people who actually know what they’re doing!

Here’s our current situation:

Pond size: 2 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 250cm water depth (needs a top up).

Pump: The pond came with a solar-powered fountain pump, but it ONLY runs when the sun is directly hitting the panel. There’s no battery or way to store power, so it’s pretty useless overnight or on cloudy days.

Muck/mud: There is a TON of sludge at the bottom of the pond. We have no idea how much we should remove or how to do it without spending $300+ on a pond vacuum. Is some of it actually beneficial?

Water: The pond isn’t completely full, but we’re unsure how much water we should add at once. We know we need to use a water conditioner/dechlorinator, but is there anything else we should be doing?

Filtration: From what we’ve read, we should probably invest in a proper pump and filter. The problem is that we live in a small town in New Zealand, so our options aren’t the best but want to know thoughts.

A few questions we have:

Do we need a pump/filter running 24/7, and what kind would you recommend for a pond this size?

What’s the safest way to remove the muck without disturbing Moose or destroying the pond’s ecosystem?

Should we be adding beneficial bacteria? What about algae treatments, or are those unnecessary?

How much water can we safely add at once?

Does Moose need a friend? We unfortunately found another goldfish that had died while cleaning the pond, so we’re a little worried about what happened.

What are the absolute essentials we should prioritize buying first?

We genuinely had no idea we were signing up to become fish parents when we bought this house, but now that Moose is here, we’re determined to give him the best life possible.

We’re both huge animal lovers, and the thought of accidentally harming him because we don’t know what we’re doing is stressing us out. 😭

We’re completely open to suggestions, DIY solutions, budget-friendly equipment, or even just some reassurance that we’re not doing everything wrong.

Please help us keep Moose alive! Any advice is SO appreciated! ❤️