My aerator (bubbler) froze over!

[dieselplower]

I am located in NW IN and I am using 2 1500 watt heaters and 3 waterfalls and 1 stream to keep my pond open. But whatever works for you is great.

wow are you trying to keep the whole thing open or why are you doing that?

 

[sissy]

I built mine not to far from my septic tank and that helps warm the ground around my pond and warm my pond .So really there are lots of things that factor into the water temps of ponds and if or how much they will freeze up .Last year I only used my pond heater 2 times just to make sure my filters did not freeze up at night .The pond heater is tied right over top of my pump .Not sure it really helps but figure it can't hurt .I know colleen has to use big heaters but she is in Canada .Most pond heaters have an automatic thermostat in them and they will only come on when the water gets to a certain temp. .I am not sure they all have that .Wonder how that works with 2 of them .Would they both go off or both come on and guessing they must be on each end of the pond :question: My temps never get that cold so not sure how they work in colder temps .

 

[addy1]

One of my stream ponds is right next to the septic tank, the plants in it grow all winter, hardly ever freezes over. The other ponds do freeze over (fishless ones)

 

[Lisak1]

We ran a pump last year, pumping water straight up (the pump itself was about 8-10 inches under the water. It got so cold it formed a dome of ice. Very cool to see, but not the opening we hoped for. It also seemed a bit tumultuous to me. Although the fish all survived, which was the goal I guess!

This year we have an aerator just under the surface with a de-icer directly over it. The de-icer has a thermostat so it only runs when necessary. So far, even with the below zero temps our hole has remained open. Whatever works, right?

 

[sissy]

2010 winter I had ice form by my pond pump and guessing 1 of the fish knocked the pump sideway and water was pumping out and over dome of ice and it almost drained my pond .It had been warm out and it turned cold and in the middle of the night the pump went out when it got below it and alarm went off and here I was out there in my jammies in the cold and snowing out and trying to run hoses to refill the pond .Never ever do I want to go through that again .I learned my lesson .I was lucky and did not loose a fish .But I could not get warm for hours after .That is the year I bought the pond heater and had to ask jw and addy how it worked because it did not come on when I put it in water and they told me to put it in ice water .and it worked .

 

[haver79]

Geez Sissy, having your pond just about empty would be bad enough let alone in the middle of the night when its freezing and snowing!!

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

I have always kept my pond running all year.

 

[sissy]

yep and hope that lesson learned .Never want that to happen again and took all the precautions since .My pond is on switched outlets and I added a satellite switch up stairs for the pump and the pond heater .My son was the one that suggested switched outlets when he put them in .He is licensed and had seen it done for swimming pools and garbage disposals said it would be a good idea for my pond .I had never heard of doing it before .He told me it was like my garbage disposal switch when you switch it on the outlet is powered for your garbage disposal and it works .So he put switches on all my outlets for my pond .Guilt is a great thing for a mom to use .

 

[HARO]

Some of the people basing their winterizing on the past two years will be unpleasantly surprised if this winter turns out to be more typical. Last winter I only used my de-icer two or three times; in a typical winter I use it twice a week from the beginning of December to the middle of March! Will anyone admit to losing a pump to freezing, or just pretend it never happened?
John

 

[sissy]

yep you never know what to expect like haro says .I actually lost my pump the 2010 winter but it was still under warranty through harbor freight and they replaced it no questions asked .Surprised me .

 

[dieselplower]

Some of the people basing their winterizing on the past two years will be unpleasantly surprised if this winter turns out to be more typical. Last winter I only used my de-icer two or three times; in a typical winter I use it twice a week from the beginning of December to the middle of March! Will anyone admit to losing a pump to freezing, or just pretend it never happened?
John

Ive only had my pond for 1 Winter but we had plenty of days in a row where it was below zero. With all the global warming going on it should just get easier and easier. I am confident my pond will stay open all Winter but Ill be happy to report if I am wrong.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Well I finally got time to read this whole thread! I know a bubbler, or as most call it, aerator, is just not good at keeping a hole open when the weather is minus 35 to -40 degree weather, I just could not get away with that! Even temperatures of minus 10 Fahrenheit for an extended period of time, can cause the ice to get extremely thick on many ponds.

Up here in the "True North Strong and Free" (Canada) I have seen ice that was over two feet thick!! Over the years I think I have saw everything!!

One time while shopping at a local greenhouse here in town, I saw that they had a pond that was totally frozen to the ground, fish were dead in blocks of ice!! The owner said to me they just used an aerator and that is what happened!! DUH!! It gets too cold here for that!! Like Minus 40 degree cold!! Like virtually the same in Fahrenheit as it is in Celsius hahahahaha As the ice thickens the water below gets shallow, VERY shallow and cramped down there for the poor fishes, in the stinkin dark dungeon below the mountain of ice, till suddenly the poor fish really did die of the of "sleeping sickness"!!

Other people thought they could just use a heater alone, no flowing water or aerator, the water gets too warm in just one spot and then the fish all hang out at the heater looking sickly with very clamped fins. Lots of these people using that method lost lots of fish here in town that I know of....

Then there was this big beautiful natural pond, way down in the Cooley, at a fancy golf course here in town. They had big koi in there for years, they would just use a big fountain in the middle of the pond during the summer only, in the winter they let it be natural. It was fine for years, then all of a sudden the fish were all dead after one long hard winter. I think that over the years the fish out grew the pond and one hard winter they all just died out because gases built up under the thick ice, and then they suffocated to death when they ran out of oxygen.

take it from me, use a heater with some kind of flowing water for sure, if you can get away with just a aeretor that's really GREAT! But if it is really cold for long periods then use both aeretor and heater. Better yet keep a winter pump and big underwater pre pump filter that can run for half a year and not get plugged up!! TRUST Me, it makes spring cleaning a whole lot easier!! I run all my big summer filters all the time!! They are all underwater pre pump types that don't freeze down there near the bottom of my ponds...

 

[sissy]

I think aerators are just for climates like mine and down farther south .Very seldom do I get much more than a coating of snow over the nets on top of the pond except 2010 and that's why I bought one ,why be sorry .They are not that expensive and as long as you get one with a built in thermostat you won't be wasting money on electric .Yeh I have a small pump in my pond in a crate covered over with lava rock, 250 gph .But so far I still have me filters going .Tomorrow supposed to be 61 and then in the 70's for the weekend .Filters are still going strong

 

[sissy]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:36688]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:36688]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:36675]250 gph one is for this
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:36676]

 

[Tula]

Sissy, I like your pvc bubbler We're getting cold weather after the week end, so adding my de iced to my aerator. Kim