1st Freeze

[shanezam203]

Anyone else in colder climates? Temp in Chicago suburbs dropped in the 20's for the 1st time, there was a thin layer of Ice on most of the Pond today.

I installed my air pump & 4 air stones today, I tucked it behind and under my waterfall in the back corner, is that a good place for it?
I have 25 more feet of hose I can stretch to each Leg of the Pond, is it best in 1 area or should I separate it to 2 or 3 spots?

My Pond is 6 feet deep & I have a around 20 Koi & Goldfish.

 

[Craig58]

You might want to read though this post:

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/top...heater/page__pid__148745__st__210#entry148745

Craig

 

[shanezam203]

I don't see a pond freezing over to be a bad thing, other than it prevents gas exchange at the surface.
In a deep enough pond, the pond will benefit from the heat in ground below. The ground temperature is usually around 45f below the frost line.
With a solid cover of ice the pond won't be subject to water loss from evaporation or heat loss from evaporative cooling.
One bad thing about air bubblers under the ice is that you are introducing cold surface air into the pond water.

My Pond is 6 feet dep, around 7,500 gallons.
Regarding the last statement, with my air stone setup is it accurate saying in that area I will not have any Ice? My goal is to prevent the Pond from freezing over completely, I'd like to ensure there is always a hole in the Ice. Do you suggest a floating Pond Heater in addition to the air stones if the weather drops below 10 degree's fahrenheit?

 

[mtpond]

I have my pump in a plastic tote container by my pond which did a good job protecting my pump from the outdoor elements.




The airline that I use with my pump was 3/8" weighted air tubing. I never had any problem with it freezing.

 

[mtpond]

I also had a de-icer that I sank to the bottom of my pond hoping it would help warm the bottom up some. Not sure if it really helped but I would see fish laying around it thru out the winter. I never had to use it on the top of the pond because my pump kept a good area open even when it got real cold.

 

[crsublette]

Wow. Just now getting your first freeze? That's crazy. Heh, first freeze here was 7th of October reaching the teens, my particular area at 4,000ft altitude, and we're just classifed as a semi-air plains region. Pretty interesting how weather works.

 

[crsublette]

My Pond is 6 feet dep, around 7,500 gallons.
Regarding the last statement, with my air stone setup is it accurate saying in that area I will not have any Ice? My goal is to prevent the Pond from freezing over completely, I'd like to ensure there is always a hole in the Ice. Do you suggest a floating Pond Heater in addition to the air stones if the weather drops below 10 degree's fahrenheit?

Heh, yeah, as Wayne's thread has shown, air stones moving water and submersible heater isn't enough. It really all depends on how long it stays cold and if you get any relief from winds or sudden warm fronts. I prefer taking the moving water approach using a simple fountain pump pushing water around a 1500watt floating pond heater. To achieve this, I put the floating heater under my really small waterfall where my stream enters the pond and my stream is constructed so it is safe to run 24/7 all year; this way it spreads the warm water around and the internal thermostat of the pond heater does not turn off so much. A 1000watt heater might be good enough for your area, but I like overkill so I do the 1500watt. Most pond heaters are regulated by a thermostat where it turns off when water temps reach 39*F and turns on when reaches 35*F; I think this is the problem with submersible pond heaters since the water at the surface gets cold much sooner than deeper in the water.

You can probably go a while, 3 weeks or so or maybe longer, of a completely iced over pond until oxygen depletion will start affecting the fish, all this depending on your ponds BOD (biological oxygen demand).

 

[dieselplower]

How much of that pond is actually under ground? I understand it is 6' deep but i dont see the above ground portion of the pond doing much to help keep the top couple feet or more from freezing. How deep did you put the air stones?

 

[dieselplower]

Oops double post

 

[shanezam203]

How much of that pond is actually under ground? I understand it is 6' deep but i dont see the above ground portion of the pond doing much to help keep the top couple feet or more from freezing. How deep did you put the air stones?

The Pond is 6 feet deep, 4 feet is underground, 2 feet above ground.
4 Air Stones are 6 feet down, is that OK?

 

[shanezam203]

Should air stones be closer to Top? 12-24 inches from Top vs. on the Ground like they are?

 

[dieselplower]

Everything i have read says they should be within about 2' of the surface.

 

[shanezam203]

Everything i have read says they should be within about 2' of the surface.

I can shorten the lines, thank you. Are all 4 OK in the back corner under the waterfall or would you space them out in an L shaped Pond?

 

[fishin4cars]

The more air you have in one spot the less likely the area will freeze. also keeping the stones closer to the surface will help keep the water deep less disturbed so it will hold it's heat better, also the closer to the surface the air stones are the less the diaphragms have to work to get air through the stones. This is called hydrostatic pressure. In a 6 foot deep pond and the zone your in I wouldn't place the stones any deeper than three feet and two would probably be better, one area, close together, Also I noted in one of the pics the ice is all broken, If the Ice freezes solid the best way to open the hole back up is by placing a pan of hotwater on the ice so it slowly melts the hole back open, breaking the ice is extremely load under water and can cause the fish to dart in the pond possibly causing serious injury, not being able to see the injury due to ice could result in a death that later might be hard to figure out why it died. Just saying.

 

[shanezam203]

Great info, I appreciate the Feedback.
I am eager to get this 1st winter under my belt.

Thank you again.