Pond in the foothills

[MitchM]

Colleen also is in a valley, surrounded by houses that are close, protected from the elements more than my location. I am constantly exposed to more wind than she is and cold fronts hug the foothills which is where I am located.


Floating heaters don't contribute anything to the overall temperature of the water. Heat from the earth is the only thing that prevents our ponds from freezing solid.

 

[Tula]

We're getting some cold weather this week and strong winds. Hoping the aerator and pond de-icer are enough, since my pond breather broke and they won't have any more in till mid March.

 

[addy1]

Wonder why your pond has stayed the same all winter, Addy? Is this the way it does every winter?

Last winter I used an aerator, with a thermometer at the pond, when I checked temps it was around 36-37 or so. A guy here lost all his fish, big pond, using an aerator so I decided not to use them anymore. Even with the aerator half my pond froze up, it was pretty darn cold last winter.

This winter I have a pond breather, no water movement, no aerator, The pond was 41f for months, just now went to 40f I am using a temp probe, with a secondary davis transmitter sending the temps to my davis console. Our septic field in in the back field away from the pond. The septic tank is near one of the stream ponds. So I doubt it is helping with the big pond temp.

It has been cold, no significant amount of snow. This week is darn cold, will be interesting to see if the pond temp drops.

 

[MitchM]

We're getting some cold weather this week and strong winds. Hoping the aerator and pond de-icer are enough, since my pond breather broke and they won't have any more in till mid March.

It will probably be fine Tula, but the breather is a much more economical means of aerating the pond.
Too bad you got a defective one. It's the only one I've heard of.

 

[Tula]

It will probably be fine Tula, but the breather is a much more economical means of aerating the pond.
Too bad you got a defective one. It's the only one I've heard of.

Just my luck Oh well, there is next year!

 

[MitchM]

I'm getting a little impatient waiting for the ice to melt so I placed a small pump at one end of the pond on the plant shelf and ran a hose to the other to get some water circulating. I had to break away a piece of the ice on the edge to make an opening to place the pump in enough water to cover it.

The skimmer box is still frozen solid, which makes sense because the ground is still frozen here so the pump had to sit outside the skimmer.

I placed the outlet of the hose on top of the ice at the far end of the pond and in about 1 hour the flow has cut through the 5 inch thick ice.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'd say if you put that pump close to under the ice, and unhooked anything from it, simply had it pumping water towards the underside of the ice, you would see a hole in the ice much faster, and then that hole would expand quickly. The air temp is so warm there, somehow you need to get more air temp hitting more moving water. Soon you will have no ice, I have no doubt!

 

[MitchM]

Sounds good, CE. What I've done is lay out the garden hose so it gets hit with a lot of sunshine and hopefully gets some solar heating before it exits at the other end of the pond.
The ice is still thick enough so that it is still sitting right on the plant shelves, so any water that the pump would spit out wouldn't go very far without the hose hooked up.

 

[MitchM]

This is after 3 hours of the pump running.
I've moved the outlet so it attacks another area of the ice.

I'm looking forward to next winter (doesn't that sound a bit crazy) when I have a slow flow pump running through the winter.
Wouldn't that be great if I could knock off 1 month of ice cover on each end of the winter season.

 

[CountryEscape]

Ahhh I see your thought now! Great idea. Looks like it is kicking butt on that ice, too, thinning it down to nothingness!

 

[callingcolleen1]

This is after 3 hours of the pump running.
I've moved the outlet so it attacks another area of the ice.

I'm looking forward to next winter (doesn't that sound a bit crazy) when I have a slow flow pump running through the winter.
Wouldn't that be great if I could knock off 1 month of ice cover on each end of the winter season.

View attachment 79313

Why do you think I leave my pumps running? The faster the flow the less ice, summer is too short and I an out enjoying the pond!

 

[j.w]

Sheesh CE you are way colder than Mitch now. He is like 30* warmer than you. Way to go Mitch on ice melt.

 

[callingcolleen1]

and waiting for ground to defrost more cause I am digging a new hole!!

 

[j.w]

You digging right now Colleen?

 

[MitchM]

Why do you think I leave my pumps running? The faster the flow the less ice, summer is too short and I an out enjoying the pond!

Remember my first year though, Colleen? What a disaster it was?
The 1500 watt deicer constantly froze over and the pump got clogged up with back swimmer bugs, plus I had high energy bills and all the koi died.

Next year I'm going to use a low flow water pump that will require no maintenance for 6 months with big filters on it plus I will use my 2 magic pond breathers.

I'll call it MITCH'S ULTIMATE WINTER POND SETUP (patent pending)

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