Pond Breather

[addy1]

Isn't that amazing how some survive even when you think it's not possible?

No kidding I was shocked to see them swimming around. All the small ponds had ice to the bottom, even stuck on the bottom. I kept pulling on it trying to get it to float so it would melt faster. This pond is maybe 1.5 to 2 feet deep, I need to measure it.
I had no clue fish were in there.

 

[addy1]

My breathers were, at times, covered with snow. They never kept a hole in the ice, around the breather, but the tube was kept ice free, water continued to be pumped up to meet with the air. The breather would slowly melt the snow around it.

Our ponds ice hit around 12inches deep.

The breathers never stopped functioning per-se but they stopped doing what they were supposed to do and thats keeping holes in the ice.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

No kidding I was shocked to see them swimming around. All the small ponds had ice to the bottom, even stuck on the bottom. I kept pulling on it trying to get it to float so it would melt faster. This pond is maybe 1.5 to 2 feet deep, I need to measure it.
I had no clue fish were in there.

Should be interesting to watch them and see how they do this year.

 

[addy1]

.
for sure, both are real pretty shubunkins

 

[tbendl]

They should get some type of fish treat after surviving all that!

 

[Tula]

For those who want Pond Breathers f or next winter......order now !! LOL

 

[Meyer Jordan]

@MitchM
How do you store your breathers? do you keep the small pump in water or just pull clean and put away until next winter.

I found two live shubunkins in a small preform that froze to the bottom. How did they survive?

Goldfish can survive for extended periods completely encased in ice. They don't freeze because they have the ability to generate ethanol in their blood and tissues.

 

[Jersey_Marine]

By the way. Im going to saturate my pond breather pumps in food grade silicone spray like I did to my other pumps prior storing them for the winter. I soaked them so all moving parts and rubber washers would stay good. The food grade silicone will not harm the fish when they are put in the water

 

[addy1]

My real pumps are all external, I have not had to try and keep a submersible in good shape when stored. My external ones, I just clean and put in the basement.
I will do the same Jersey to the pond breathers.

 

[MitchM]

@MitchM
How do you store your breathers? do you keep the small pump in water or just pull clean and put away until next winter.....

I just run some clean water through them and store them away.
The top piece of the breather tube twists off if you need to perform any maintenance. I find that there can be a build-up of gunk inside the water tube so I clean that out with a piece of straw.
One of my breathers had the water tube come loose and the heater element needed to be straightened out last year before I used it for this past winter.

 

[MitchM]

... The breathers never stopped functioning per-se but they stopped doing what they were supposed to do and thats keeping holes in the ice....

That's not quite right. They did keep a hole open in the ice.
The hole that the breathers create is from the breather tube itself.
People need to get away from the idea that you have to have open water on your pond.

 

[MitchM]

... I also treated the pond every month with Arctic bacteria that lived in water under 40 degrees. Im not sure if the breathers functioned enough to expel the ammonia gases from the water or if the bacteria really kept the ammonia gasses to a minimum or a mixture of both. ....

I have ice cover for 6 months of the year and do not add bacteria. It's the pond breathers.

 

[addy1]

They worked for me, I had a few dead fish, mainly in the small, supposed to be fishless ponds. The water froze to the bottom. Three dead in the big pond, found in the shallow end that also froze to the bottom, frozen in the ice. None dead in the 1000 gallon tank that had a breather in it, last ice check was 12 inches.

Thanks mitch, I have them off, going to clean and store for the summer. I have an aerator running right now, need to take out the pump and hook it up, about 15 minutes of time. Raining today, snow tonight and tomorrow so waiting for decent muck around outside weather.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sorry about your dead fish Addy...

 

[Tula]

I'm sorry too Addy. We bought a Pondmaster AP-20 today and the fish hatchery price matched Pet Mountain's online price. It works well enough that I'm thinking I was crazy to buy the Haku 80 last summer!

I guess I'm going to buy a small livestock tank, so I can drain the pond to catch the koi fy...mist wait for a little warm weather...as flurries are flying today!