My pond runs all winter, zone 2/3

[MitchM]

2 words for you, Colleen....pond breather.
Come over to the dark side.

Pond breathers only use 40 watts.

.

 

[callingcolleen1]

your funny Mitch! ha ha ha. I got my front pond running with no heater and it's still running but the ice is really really thick. The ice on my main ponds is really not that thick on the two upper ponds and there is still holes and breathing room cause ice is only barely 1/2 inch deep at deepest on the two upper ponds and in the second pond from the bottom the is no ice under the tent! ha ha ha

 

[rebelangel_3733]

Well I'm guessing my fish kids are gonna head on north (to the bottom) tonight and tmrw as were in for a snow storm here!
Here was a couple days ago. Have shut down the waterfall/bog and inserted the deicer and as of this afternoon half of the pond had a thin layer of ice over it (of course the side farthest from the bubbler). Im sure tmrw it'll all be ice...darnit I knew winter would find us!

 

[j.w]

Good to see your ponds and fish again Colleen. Looks like all is working fine as usual.

 

[Dave 54]

Winter is here and the temporary cold frame I set up on lower ponds a complete flop. Snow weighted it down and now partly stuck in ice. Should have used better stronger stuff. Taking it down cause I much perfer the natural ice cover. View attachment 87936 View attachment 87937 View attachment 87938
Finally just got floating heater in too.

Instead of a coldframe colleen why not use Policarbonate roofing sheets instead they are strong can take the weight of snow and are easy to clean off mind youd have to trim back your plants first

Dave

 

[callingcolleen1]

Instead of a coldframe colleen why not use Policarbonate roofing sheets instead they are strong can take the weight of snow and are easy to clean off mind youd have to trim back your plants first

Dave

not going to have a covering except a small one just below, down stream of the heater. anything larger would be of no use. It is very important to have the sun shining on the pond up north here as the suns angle is very low on the sky and without enough sun mold spores could grow as that happened one year. I think a thin cover of plastic is only good for areas of county that do not have extreme winter cause then you could have a few plants that are more tropical. It is best up north to just have the ice cover the pond with breather holes created by the water flowing as in nature I have found. If the plastic structure any larger then it would freeze but with just what remains of the plastic structure seems to work good right down stream of the heater. When the plastic structure was larger it still froze under the plastic but now that it is smaller it works better.

 

[callingcolleen1]

The pond is flowing well and with the extra ice cover, it acts like a blanket especially with snow covering. It was cold again last night and there appears to be more ice than yesterday. It did melt quite a bit on Sunday but now we seem to have the cold weather back again. But with the water flowing from pond to pond, as soon as another nice day comes the pond breathing holes get larger. Right now it is minus 12 Celsius (10 F) and all appears well. With the snow falling over the ice, this will act like a blanket and the water under the ice and snow will warm up and the breathing holes get larger with the addition of snow covering the ice.
Have to go outside and check things out and will get some pictures and post later.

 

[pecan]

I'm back and actually got this dumb computer sorted out since I upgraded to windows ten. What a nightmare it was and still not sure exactly how I did it, ha ha ha

Great video and very interesting! I can't beleive with just a thin layer of plastic it keeps the sheltered area thawed with -20 temps! Bravo!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Tonight by the Ponds. The heater is on and breather holes are larger tonight cause light snowfall covered ice and warmed water below.

Silent cold night by my ponds. Time to reflect on the season... Need to escape from the madness of the world and rebuilt my outside garden empire so I can escape come spring....

 

[callingcolleen1]

LOOK and See the fish in the two upper ponds from under the water! Just a peek at what fish look like under the ice cold flowing water... don't mind the thick lush greenery. I have strong underwater lights that shine half the night and a soft lush bed of algae always grows well during the winter months.

 

[cas]

That jar works real good for an underwater camera!

 

[j.w]

Very nice photography there Colleen. Looks real cool under the water in your octopus's garden.............er I mean fishy friends
[URL=http://s667.photobucket.com/user/jrbyrdie/media/Animal%20Icons/Fish%20Icons/grfish6.gif.html] [/URL]

 

[Tula]

Clever to use the jar for underwater pictures !! Always enjoy seeing your pond

 

[callingcolleen1]

Thanks for the lovely comments. Last night was extra cold at minus 25 Celsius. Pond breather holes now half as big. Everything still flowing well with just one red 1509 watt heater. I was worried that I might have to use second pond heater but now that bottom two levels have iced over, it helps to hold the heat in under the ice while flowing water continues to expell gases and ensures oxygen is plentiful.

 

[callingcolleen1]

in this video you can see the double attached filters that I am using to keep the pump going all winter long....