Newbie's First Winter

[MitchM]

I think the breather will be enough for your pond.
If something goes wrong with the breather, you could always use one of the 1200w heaters to open up a hole in the ice and drop an airstone down.

 

[lynntran]

I think the breather will be enough for your pond.
If something goes wrong with the breather, you could always use one of the 1200w heaters to open up a hole in the ice and drop an airstone down.

Right, I have the beast deicer in case something goes out or clogs up. I just wasn't sure if it would give enough oxygen if I take the aerator away.

 

[addy1]

I used just the breather last year in my 1000 gallon pond and my big pond all was fine.

We got down to -15 a few nights.

 

[Tula]

I fret with large koi, and from previous pictures , it appears you have some big koi. It couldn't hurt to run an aerator, in addition to the pond breather. Last year, I had the de-icer, aerator and pond breather ALL going.....and it was fortunate, as it was super cold when the pond breather broke. JMHO.

 

[peter hillman]

I used just the breather last year in my 1000 gallon pond and my big pond all was fine.

We got down to -15 a few nights.

Is it really 102* there right now?

 

[addy1]

Yep, not Maryland, my house in arizona, it has been sitting around 106. We will be there today. Yuck to the heat

 

[mgmine]

What I have found is that the closer to the surface that you put the air stone the better it is at keeping the ice open. Too far down and the bubbles loose their strength. the fewer the fish and the bigger the pond makes it easier for the fish to survive if things freeze over. Last year I had about two feet of snow covering the pond so obviously there wasn't an air hole on the surface. Come spring everything was fine. A 1200 watt heater would cost a fortune to operate 24/7. Most room heaters are 1500 watt and they are only used as needed.

 

[lynntran]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to order the pond breather and look into possibly a smaller aerator/air stone as well for the koi pond.

As for the small goldfish/comet pond, we are going to either get rid of it or m rebuild it elsewhere in the yard in the spring. We love the fish but don't like the current condition of their pond and it's getting too cold to start any projects.

I have found some people to adopt a few of my fish and I will be keeping a handful as well over the winter. Question is, what's the best way to bring these little guys indoors? My father is handing me a 55 gallon tank and stand for the house. I'm thinking of keeping maybe 3 or so of them. I've read between just dropping them in new water and I've heard some say I should add 20% pond water to the tank. Advice?

 

[peter hillman]

The pond water idea is a good one, it will help get the nitrate cycle going, don't feed them for awhile after putting them in the tank. Good job adopting out the fish!

 

[Kevin Koloff]

This is what I do. Before or right at first freeze I remove the waterfall pump. Net the pond before leaves get too far out fro falling (I have two redbud trees over part of the pond). You really don't need to monitor temp, as when it drops below 50, it will not change except gradually cool as winter comes. I have a small heater as to keep the pond from totally icing over, that is for it to breathe. I also add cold water bacteria as per instructions. Pond is 16x20 approximately 4000. I don't feed the fish at water temp below 45 degrees.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to order the pond breather and look into possibly a smaller aerator/air stone as well for the koi pond.

As for the small goldfish/comet pond, we are going to either get rid of it or m rebuild it elsewhere in the yard in the spring. We love the fish but don't like the current condition of their pond and it's getting too cold to start any projects.

I have found some people to adopt a few of my fish and I will be keeping a handful as well over the winter. Question is, what's the best way to bring these little guys indoors? My father is handing me a 55 gallon tank and stand for the house. I'm thinking of keeping maybe 3 or so of them. I've read between just dropping them in new water and I've heard some say I should add 20% pond water to the tank. Advice?

Use pond water, but once you have put water in the tank, put in a small airstone and leave it for about 4 weeks while a biofilm develops that can process the fish waste one you add the goldfish.
Test the water every few days for ammonia and nitrites. Once you have a reading of zero for both, it will be safe to add the fish.
You must see some ammonia register in the beginning, otherwise you will need to add some ammonia yourself.
You can buy straight ammonia (not sudsy) from the grocery store for a couple of dollars.

 

[Kevin Koloff]

This is the pond last winter with net. The open area is where the heater is.

 

[teeemkay]

We left the waterfall running all last winter per the instructions from the previous owner of our house and we didn't have any issues. We ended up with two de-icers we tried last year--the high-watt one (which runs up the electric bill) and a low-watt one. Beyond that... we had to add some water to the pond a number of times, usually after dry but ice-cold snaps, since water evaporates quickly in those conditions. And really that was about it, other than just keeping an eye on things in general.

 

[Fishfinder]

Is there more or less disolved oxygen in the water during the cold of winter?

In our ten years here, we have run the breather to keep a hole in the ice. The breather is 2 years old and we run both waterfalls year round. They have never frozen over. We've had no fish fatalities.

I love my air stones, but it sounds like they are not an absolute necessity this winter. I think the breather is by Farm Innovations, which states the wattage as 1250.

 

[teeemkay]

Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, but I believe the issue during the winter is not necessarily just oxygen, but the buildup of other gases/elements in the water if the pond is iced over.

That's why it's also important to get leaves/fall debris out of the pond as much as possible before it ices over--you don't want a bunch of it decomposing in the pond.