Fall / Winter Pond Cover

[barryian]

Have you thought about attempting to stop the water freezing @barryian we use policarobonate sheeting over our pond keeps the water ice free all winter and keeps a temperature of around 7c
If your pond has flat edges is the only requirement to fit them. either as just sheets or you can make a framewirk to stand it around and over the pond like some people do .

Dave

What I've been doing which keeps my pond literally ice free is keeping my savio skimmer running directly through the waterfall. I have a 1000 watt deicer directly in front of the skimmer, temperature controlled and with a 2nd temp control at the outlet incase the floating deicer fails to shut down. Unfortunately, unlike your's which is not mechanical, I have no failsafe so if away for a week, I throw a 2nd deicer in for the week or so. My 2000 gallons have never frozen yet, especially last winter, a nightmare of constant of cold. I used to use a 1000 watt and 1500 watt and temps stayed at 50 degrees but the electric bill was insane. Now with the 1000 watt switching on and off, the electric is acceptable and the water temp is 40 - 45 degrees. I pay a bit but it's saves me work. The polycarbonate sounds like a great idea. My pvc and netting takes a couple hours to setup and is a life saver. I shut down my AlphaBead Filter along with everything else, naturally. I also change the Savio filter to a blue matala which won't clog but still filters. No super cold temp exchange as everything is running along the surface since the main drain is shut down.
Is there a pic of the sheeting you use already setup? Any thoughts ... Appreciate the suggestion ...

 

[barryian]

Do they make one that will cover a 15' by 22' pond ?

Sorry - I never saw this section, being new. I was looking at alerts.
They don't make this as a kit. I actually made it myself out of pvc piping and bought the netting online. Each year, I put up the same thing reusing everything. The netting can go a few years. I used a 3/4 inch pvc for the frame and cross bar. One screw in each end of the cross bar. In the ground are 18" pieces of the next size pvc and the 3/4 slips right in. I use tons of tie wraps around the perimeter. When the snow hits, it's quite resilient as it might at times look partially collapsed but bouncing back into shape when it melts a bit from the 45 degree water temps ....

 

[barryian]

Have you thought about attempting to stop the water freezing @barryian we use policarobonate sheeting over our pond keeps the water ice free all winter and keeps a temperature of around 7c
If your pond has flat edges is the only requirement to fit them. either as just sheets or you can make a framewirk to stand it around and over the pond like some people do .

Dave

Dave - I'm not finding my way around too well yet. I responded to this but in alerts. Does that work too as I just saw this. Yikes !!!

 

[Dave 54]

Dave - I'm not finding my way around too well yet. I responded to this but in alerts. Does that work too as I just saw this. Yikes !!!

My pond is situated above ground and is insulated against the cold the policarbonate roofing sheets that cover my pond do indeed keep it ice free but may not work in one dug into the ground but you can but try

Dave

 

[pecan]

I did not really mean rust as I meant degrade plus it will not be as flexable .I used fishing line to sew mine to make a pocket for the pipe

This is what I plan on doing before next fall. I found a role of window screen on amazon that is 8' x 100'. I figure If I cut it into three strips 33' long and sew them together, I will have a 24' x 33' screen to cover the 17' x 21' pond. Should give me enough slack to sew pockets for the pipe. But it will be a lot of hand sewing with fishing line!!! If anyone needs me from August - October, Ill be busy sewing LOL