u/Nobo_house

We finished our wildlife (and enjoyment) pond a few weeks ago but I noticed we've been having to top it up about 10-12 gallons every three or so days. It got me worried that maybe we have a leak but I thought I'd ask to see if this is normal for the amount of surface area and Florida sun/evaporation. We tried to build it in a shady spot to lessen the amount of evaporation.

We used underlayment fabric before and after the EDPM 45mil liner. Aquascape biofalls for filtration and a reservoir with two bioblocks with a filter pad on top for the pump to sit in and to catch the leaves. The red line on the second picture shows the pipe that moves the water into the biofalls. There's a little pad in the middle that I wanted to plant low rooting pollinator flowers and sedums in a fabric planter pot but there's just exposed underlayment there right now.

Thank you for any tips or feedback!

We just installed a small wildlife pond that holds about 100-120 gallons (I think) with the reservoir. During the last few weeks we’ve been having to refill it to keep the biofalls/waterfall part of it going strong enough to filter and add oxygen to the water for all the tadpoles we’ve seen. We’ve been having to add about 10 gallons every 2-3 days. Is this normal for how hot we’ve been and the drought going on? We’ve been using an old well that’s on our property and not the city water for the refills.

I’m just not sure if this loss is normal for evaporation and typical loss we might get from birds and other animals or if this is an early sign of a leak that we need to look for.

I’ll attach a photo as well. Thank you for any advice or input!