I built my winter pond cover this morning...

[sissy]

Thing is that plastic sheeting can get brittle when cold and heat from the sun hits it .I use pvc for mine ,but we don't get much heavy wet snow that stays for a long time .Usually only a day r 2 and all melted .

 

[MoonShadows]

i would do something to cross support the plastic so it doesn't cave with snow. other then that good job.

Doesn't seem like that is needed. Even if it caves a bit, when it melts, it should run right off.

 

[MoonShadows]

Thing is that plastic sheeting can get brittle when cold and heat from the sun hits it .I use pvc for mine ,but we don't get much heavy wet snow that stays for a long time .Usually only a day r 2 and all melted .

Depends on the type of sheeting used whether it will get brittle or not.

Unless this is some cheap junk bought at Home Depot or Lowes, there is plastic film out there now that is cold and UV resistant.

 

[audioenvy]

It's a 16mil solar pool cover rather than just a random sheet of plastic. In other words, it's a sheet designed specifically for this purpose. I'm hoping this will prevent it from being damaged by heat or cold.

I'm also *hoping* that the combination of the slant and also the heated air under the cover will prevent excessive build up of snow. I'm going to find out for sure here in a couple of months!! hahaha

 

[sissy]

I looked them up and most of those covers come with a guarantee ,so guessing that it is more stable than just plastic sheeting .Says also hat will hold up better under snow load also .

 

[sissy]

Lots of different kinds also and thickness

 

[qclabrat]

going to steal some of your design/engineering elements. But we get enough snow that I will build a cross beam. But will likely notch it so that screws are not needed. If a need to pull out a tool to remove, it's a good chance that it stays there all year...

nice job again

 

[audioenvy]

going to steal some of your design/engineering elements. But we get enough snow that I will build a cross beam. But will likely notch it so that screws are not needed. If a need to pull out a tool to remove, it's a good chance that it stays there all year...

Please post up photos of the finished product!

 

[audioenvy]

Here's a graph from the last week showing the water temperature of the pond. The peaks represent the high temperature as the water warms up during the heat of the day and the valleys are the low temperature as the water cools during the night. You can see a marked difference in how much the temperature drops during the night with the cover on. I added the slope lines to accentuate the difference.

NOTE: Click on the image for a full size view

 

[sissy]

Only thing I would worry about is fish starting to breed and getting egg bound when temps drop .I know people that made you tube video's about it after the winters they had and were loosing fish because of it .I saw several videos on there

 

[audioenvy]

Only thing I would worry about is fish starting to breed and getting egg bound when temps drop .I know people that made you tube video's about it after the winters they had and were loosing fish because of it .I saw several videos on there

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying because the water stays warmer during the winter due to the cover that there would actually be *more* risk of getting egg bound?

 

[sissy]

Was a couple of youtube videos that talked about covers for the ponds and that they took them off come spring and it got hot out and fish started to breed and then they got a really bitter cold spell and they showed the fish dead .Maybe because the water was warmer it heated up even faster that they started to spawn and then they said the temps. after over 2 weeks of heat it turned cold with snow for a month .I guess it could happen not sure

 

[audioenvy]

Was a couple of youtube videos that talked about covers for the ponds and that they took them off come spring and it got hot out and fish started to breed and then they got a really bitter cold spell and they showed the fish dead .Maybe because the water was warmer it heated up even faster that they started to spawn and then they said the temps. after over 2 weeks of heat it turned cold with snow for a month .I guess it could happen not sure

Ahh, ok. Interesting.

While that seems like an outside possibility, to me the risk of fish having issues due to the exended torpor and no filtration/aeration/bio for several months seems like the much greater risk.

 

[sissy]

True reason I wondered is because there are several video's but none say where the live .I know here in VA i get some snow and some cold but only in Jan. and Feb. and maybe a little in March .So not a big deal to me but the farther north you go the colder it gets .I used to live in NJ so cold was cold ,but not as cold as some states are

 

[audioenvy]

We had 25 mph winds yesterday and the cover held up like a champ even without all the anchor blocks set out. Today the outside air temperature at 2:00pm was 50 degrees, the water was 60 degrees and I don't know what the air temperature under the cover was but I climbed under to feed/watch the fish for a while and after about 10 minutes my iPhone went into overheat mode!