I decided to do a little investigative work to determine why I lose so much water. I pulled back the stone work on one side and found a wet spot near the base of the falls. After chiseling out a couple of rocks I found the problem. The liner from the veggie filter was cut a little short when joining to the lower pond. so water was flowing back under the liner and out to the sides where the main pond liner caught most of the water.
Note to pond builders: use continuous liner from top to bottom to avoid this problem.
Some water was making it all the way to the right side behind the rocks and was eventually leaching out into the raised bed. So I tore apart the right side of the falls and reset the liner layers such that most of the water coming from the bog filter would be forced to the middle, and any residual water would encounter a barrier on the right from the main pond liner. I built up the area behind the liner.
This seems to have slowed my leaks since I only lost about 1/4 inch overnight, compared to 1 inch loss per night in recent days. I need to finish cementing in the blocks and hopefully can get back to landscaping around the pond and finish burying the plumbing work. Perhaps this fall it will finally be done.
In other pond news:
Water is reaching 80 degrees and I am having difficulty reducing algae once again. Koi Clay does not seem to be doing anything to help, despite all the testimonials that say it does. I guess I still need that 80 watt UV Sterilizer.
I purchased a new dechlorinator this week (PondCare 141G Chlorine and Heavy Metal Neutralizer 32-Ounce
I also tried a couple of discount water clarifiers to settle some of the debris from the new construction. Neither seemed to work very well.
