Aerator and bottom heater?

[MitchM]

Can always find something wrong. ...

I try, I really do..

Warm air by it's nature carries more moisture. That's why you get moisture inside on your windows in the winter or your cold beer gets condensation on it in the summer.
Insulation would help, no doubt.

 

[Craig58]

My concern with pumping warm, more humid air through lines that pass through a cold zone would be that there is a chance that the moisture in the warmer air could condense and freeze within the airline where it passes through really cold air.

While the garage is heated, it's the last part of the house on the air ducts. So it's rarely al that warm. Depends on how cold outside but it has gotten cold enough inside once or twice over the years to freeze some water pipes out there. But that's rare. Usually about 20-25 degrees above whatever it is outside. Plus, winter heat, especially a forced hot air system, is very dry air, very little humidity.

Craig

 

[brandonsdad02]

I have a humidifier on my furnace. I helped my dad install it last winter. It has a humidistat that monitors that moisture and when it calls for more humidity it kicks on. It was easy to install, just needs a water line ran to it and it drains into the line for the AC coils. It's a new 95% efficient furnace and AC unit. My dad just picked it up from work and paid next to nothing for it. He works for heating and cooling company.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hello Wayne! How's it going?? Long time no hear from you Dear!

 

[waynefrcan]

You could try that, don't see why it would not work.... you could also put your 1500 watt heater on ice and it should burn the ice by morning? You get lots of ice there Wayne, I think you must be zone 1 or 2? At least here we get frequent Chinooks!

Colleen you have beat out this forum experts again!!!

I just took apart the 1500watt K&H heater, so the element contacts the ice. It is designed to come apart for cleaning etc. In 20 minutes it melted through 2 inches to the water. Nice little hole now.

What is that now, like 6 and 0 against Charles? lol

 

[crsublette]

Hey brother, however ya want to read it to tickle your fancies is fine by me. I don't need to keep score and know when to tap out Just happy that you could be helped and hope ya learned something so it doesn't happen again, which is suppose to be the point here.

 

[crsublette]

Exposing the element on the heater is a smooth move. Glad it worked. I'll even make the advice my own and recommend it if it properly fancies you Wayne.

 

[waynefrcan]

Ya, the K & H is a beauty design. Nowhere in instructions or the box does it say will burn out if not placed in water, so it was a good risk.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Good job Wayne! Nice to have open hole. My cattle heater has the element exposed, and I keep it where the water moves fast, that way the fish don't "hang out" at the heater. Watch to make sure fish are not "hanging out" around heater as the "hot and cold" temperatures can make fish sick. If you see fish around the heater, move the heater close to the bubbler, where it should be.

Mitch, about that foam insulation, I would not recommend covering pond at all, not natural and can cause mold and fungus to grow in the pond in the dark. Many years ago I did cover my pond with a home made "green house". The problem with the plastic, was that it filters out the sun's strongest spectrum of light, and mold can grow, as that happened to me, and this is a common problem with plastic greenhouses. Come spring, the mold was everywhere, on the liner, on the fish, and I was horrified. I took the greenhouse cover off and the mold eventually went away naturally as the sun burnt it out. I did also use liquid pond peat, as that is a natural funguicide. I love pond peat, but product was expensive and find that leaves do the same thing, as they decay, and that is why I leave some leaves in the pond over the winter. I think some leaves are actually very good for pond life, and it is natural for ponds and lakes to have leaves, as there is no natural lake or pond without trees, and they have adapted together over millions of years, with all the pond life.

If you cover your pond with foam, there will be no light shining into pond, and after six months in the dark, that can make fish weak, and if you add mold and fungus on top of that, fish can start dying off. If you have ice, the light can reflect through the ice and will keep the mold and fungus at bay. I think that ice ice and snow can also help keep the pond warmer as well. As long as you have open water holes and water moving you should make out fine. I use my heater only as needed, and the bottom pond is mostly covered in ice now with a hole open where the water flows. The top ponds do not ice over as much as the water moves faster there. My goal is to have the ponds 75 or 80 percent covered with ice before I use the heater.

 

[waynefrcan]

Listen to the lady Mitch, she has 20 years hands on experience. And puppy chow has tons of vitimins for Koi , it grows real good fish muscles.

 

[MitchM]

Who you talking about, Wayne, Colleen or Mother Nature?
I learned long ago not to argue with Mother Nature
Colleen has a great system philosophy, it would also make sense for me to follow her advice!

There was never a chance of my using some rigid foam, it's just what I heard from a grumpy husband on one of the Hort Society tours.

I think I'm going to ditch the airstone method and get a heater going. I don't like the idea of cold air being pumped into the pond for 6 months - plus I have no way of measuring pond temps or O2 levels.

 

[waynefrcan]

What??? After 225 posts in this thread, the best minds in Can, US, UK have come up with this method for very cold winter climates.

Go with airstones at 1 ft level and a heater to keep small hole open. I have a bottom heater as well to keep the bottom temp above 35F. It's probably not needed but I'm doing it.

So what if cold air is pumped in. Here in Canada the pond temp top and bottom stays 32.5F anyway. There is no pond stratification as in the warmer climates.

If you go surface heater you will need a surface pump for aeration.

 

[MitchM]

What is the point of the airstones, other than to provide a source of fresh air to the pond water?
I have a very low fish load plus very little organic matter on the bottom.

 

[waynefrcan]

YEs nice yummy O2 to the water, and helps keep a hole open over winter. But we also need a heater here. Now Many in cold climates say you don't need a hole open, just aeration as gas exchange still occurs.

 

[MitchM]

I have 4 airstones going full blast and the pond's been completely frozen over for a couple weeks now. We haven't even got to the cold part of winter yet.
I'm going to get one of those dissolved O2 probes that I mentioned somewhere so I know what I'm dealing with. I won't shut off the airstones until I have a hole in the ice with a heater because once I do, those airlines are going to fill with water and freeze near the surface.