Hi from Montana!

[MitchM]

 

[callingcolleen1]

The cold temperture at the bottom of the pond will not hurt your fish, but ammonia and other deadly gases can, plus a lack of oxygen can kill the fish too. I never have problem with ice cold water and my pond does get very cold close to bottom, but they all survive well as do the wild fish found in our shallow creeks and streams. My oldest koi is about 21 years old now, and she does just fine. I do keep a heater in the pond when colder than 10 degrees F, but the temperure still can be quite cold. I do slow the flow down a bit, but I have not yet, soon I will switch a pump around and slow the flow to the bottom pond this weekend. When I do get the big freeze and ice develops, then the snow falls on top of the ice, but the three ponds continue to have little breather holes where the water flows. The ice and snow help insulate the pond too, and I myself feel keeping the connecting ponds flowing all winter is one of the main reasons my fish do so well over the winter. Plus too the extra water filtration all winter good too for the overall water quality. But it can be difficult for some people to run there pumps if connected to Skimmers and outside filter boxes as those could freeze up. My filters are all large underwater filters and they can run all winter without plugging up.

Not any ice yet on my three large ponds dispite the ice cold tempetures last night of only 10 f.

 

[mtpond]

This is the 3rd winter with my pond. I have a skimmer and then the waterfall which is filteration also. I shut them off during the winter and just use a big air pump and about a 7 inch air stone. My pond almost never freezes over and if it does it's a bonus cause it keeps the bottom of the pond warmer. When it does freeze over it still has about a 3 ft area that is still open.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm going to try to keep all pumps running this year again. Last year, Skippy filter/waterfall kept freezing and shutting down. Pump is 4200 gph on a milk crate about 14" from bottom of the pond, but water line ran about 15' outside the water on top of the ground. This year, I moved that waterline so only 8' of it is buried about 8" below the dirt, and has insulation sleeve over it, rest is in the water. Hoping that will help. Skimmer line runs in the water to the bog, that never stopped last year. In the goldfish pond, skimmer feeds the stream, which ran all winter, and the big 4200 gph pump on milk crate there fed the large bog, which also ran all year. So, we shall see how the waterfall Skippy does this year. I also have a water bubbler in the goldfish pond to keep ice open in front of the skimmer, and an air bubbler in the koi pond in front of that skimmer. Those are on milk crates as well, so not circulating water from the bottom of the ponds. Only turn them on when ice threatens. Have heater to open holes when/if necessary. Good luck this winter, everyone! I expect a much harsher winter than the last 2 VERY mild ones.

 

[j.w]

I think I am going to leave the falls running and the small line of bubbles coming from the aquarium pump on the covered porch on but will turn off the massive air bubbles I have going from my big pump. Then like you said CE I may turn it on if we get any ice formation of any extent. No need for heaters here I have discovered and our winters are never really considered harsh to anyone else in any of those really cold states but we consider it really cold if it gets below 32F. Guess we are wimps :biggrin:

 

[callingcolleen1]

Well you guys are lucky to have milder winters, I am wishing for a mild winter for Christmas!

It can get quite cold here, I have seen many years where the heater had to be plugged in from October to March, and weeks of minus 40 below in the past. Last couple years were nice, and last year was the warmest winter that I can recall since I have had ponds.

Today the weather is nice, going to double the plastic in the green house and swtich the pump in the bottom pond (that pumps water to middle pond) to a smaller flowing pump, from about 4500 GPH to about 2000 GPH. The big pump is too much water flow for that pond during winter, and I want to simulate a natural reduced flow of water like in the creeks. Come spring I will hook the big pumps back up to simulate a natural increased "spring runoff" flow to clean and freshen the pond then.

 

[sissy]

I think it helps to keep the heater right over the pump so it pumps warmer water Into the filter ,

 

[CountryEscape]

I put the heater right above the bubblers, for the same reason, Sissy. I figure it circulates the warmer water around that way. I only have the heater on when needed, to keep an opening, though. Turns out my electric I had put in is not enough to run two heaters, so I have to swap it back and forth, if it gets really cold. Hoping not to have to do that but we shall see. Usually the bubblers keep the water open just fine.

 

[mtpond]

Today in our daily newspaper was a picture of a man holding a gun and kneeling next to a dead mountain lion. The guy lives up here, not sure where since we have had quit a few new people move up here the last couple of years. The lion had killed one of his goats so he called officials at the Montana fish, wildlife and parks. They brought up some traps and put them around the carcass of the goat hoping it would come back and feed on the carcass and get trapped. After 3 days of no luck catching the lion they took the traps away and told the guy if the lion returned he was authorized to shoot it. On the night of the 29th of Oct. the lion returned and killed a goose which they found the next morning. It came back that night and was about 30 ft from their deck and the guy shot it. Mmmmmm I wonder if that was the lion that my hubby saw that night when he was outside with the dogs?

 

[CountryEscape]

Holy cow, that's pretty scary! You could not let a large dog outside if they are that close to neighborhoods. That big boy needed to be shot, sounds like. Once they find easy pickings in the neighborhoods, they have no reason to leave and search for harder prey. I'm sad for the lion, but happy for the neighbors!

 

[rebelangel_3733]

We have mt lions here too mtpond and I've seen one myself while out bridge fishing...not 20 yards from me one walked up the ditch from the stream and walked up the road going the opposite way...wish I had my camera but it was in the truck right where the darn thing came out at from the ditch! My daughter has also seen two in different locations also different from this one. Gorgeous thing to see but was ready to jump over the bridge rail if it would have came my way as I figured my fishing pole wouldn't be of much help! After we were done fishing we stopped at the farm house that was an 1/8th of a mile away from the bridge to tell the farmers wife about it...she said they had lost a calf and couldn't find him...um well they then figured what happened to it and she thanked us for letting her know what we encountered.and said she would tell her son since her husband had just had a heart attack. We camp alot and after that we always bring something for protection just in case now. No one believed that they were here even after it was announced they were brought here to help control the deer population...um they are here alright. This was about 10 years ago, my daughter's encounters were during the past 5 yrs.

 

[j.w]

Never seen one here but have heard they are around. Would be quite scary to have one coming around too close to your property. Too bad they are running out of wild space to hunt and are getting pushed closer to human civilization. They are a beautiful animal.

 

[CountryEscape]

I know bobcats are in our area. I saw a pair of half grown "kittens" in NW Illinois last summer. Sure wish I had reached back and grabbed my good camera which was behind the car seat I was in. But, instead I slowly picked up my phone (not a very good camera) and took a few photos. I did not want to take my eyes off of them, once I realized they were bobcats, didn't want to lose even a second of the experience. They played on the road for about 30 seconds before one decided I did not look friendly in my red car, and it took off up a hill, the other one following shortly thereafter. I told my friend, whose house I was visiting and was only 1 mile away. Her response, "Well, we figured our cats were getting eaten by the coyotes. Now I have another predator to watch out for!" My daughter saw one stalking a deer in Shawnee National Forest 3 years ago while we were riding. I didn't see it, but had heard the deer make that bleating sound right before she spotted the bobcat. We figured there was a fawn nearby that the bobcat was really stalking. The cat ran when it spotted us, and so did the deer. We never did see the fawn, so it was holding tight to it's hiding spot.

 

[j.w]

At least one bobcat was in our area a few yrs ago. Saw him face to face when walking thru the tree farm down the road. He must have heard me coming and when I got close he bolted right past me. He was scared of me. Heard later he was jumping over a 6 ft chicken wire fence grabbing chickens and jumping out w/them in his mouth. They fixed their pen w/ a net and he couldn't get in again. Never seen him/her since then.

 

[Big Lou]

Bobcats shy away from people. Chicken coups are like a trip to KFC for those beautiful creatures.