Pond in the foothills

[addy1]

That would be a little upsetting on certain body parts, well actually on all body parts

 

[j.w]

Ah what can a few little leeches do to ya? I had them on my ankles and feet once when I was gathering up pond plants in a river. I just swished them off and went back to gathering the plants. Now if they would have been those big sucking ones I would have freaked out something awful

 

[CountryEscape]

I had the tiny ones on my ankles once when I was a little girl, Brownie group went to a local farm pond. The adults freaked out, and had all the girls screaming. Now, here, about 4 years ago after a downpour, and the very deep ditches were flowing over the road down by the neighbor's house, I found several on the road, clinging to the surface trying to keep from being washed away, and they were as big around as my thumb, and anywhere from 4-12" long! I thought one was a snake, it was so long. Yuck ....

 

[j.w]

Double Yuck CE!!!

 

[cas]

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)

I too would like to try the 'Mitch's Ultimate Winter Pond Setup'!
After reading the thread on the pond breather and Colleen's thread on her water circulation in the winter, I was considering a pond breather and a submersible pump with one of those filters too.
So with the 'Mitch's Ultimate Winter Pond Setup' :
1. What size pump should be used to circulate the water in a 1,000 gallon pond?
2. Where should the pump be placed? (On the bottom, on a crate on the bottom, on one of the shelves?)
3. Where should the water from the pump be discharged? (At the surface, below the surface, shooting above the surface?)
Hope you don't mind me invading your thread with my questions.

 

[MitchM]

Hey cas,
I don't mind at all.

I haven't decided on exactly which pump yet, but it's most likely going to be a Laguna.
I think I'm going to strap mine to a plastic shelf of some kind, milk crates are not readily available around here. If the pump is right on the bottom, there's a greater chance of the filters clogging.
I don't know how deep your shelves are, but mine are within 2 feet of the surface and my ice gets that thick so mounting the pump on a shelf won't work for me.

The most important factor for wintering a pond is to allow for good gas exchange.
The second consideration is to reduce ice cover, so all the submerged pump needs to do is to grab heat from the earth and help keep the ice accumulation to a minimum.

The actual temperature that the pond water reaches is not a factor for the goldfish and koi that we keep.
I have read lots of warnings from koi keepers about the water temperature but I have yet to read any actual incidences where cold water threatened a koi's life.

My pump outlet will be directed along the pond bottom.

 

[cas]

Thanks for the reply Mitch.
I wondered if anyone kept the pump circulating the water towards the bottom, versus bringing it up to the top.
I also was thinking of not putting the pump on the bottom to prevent clogging.
I know your pond is much larger than mine, and your winters are much worse, so your pond needs will be much different than mine. I was wondering if a simple spitter pump - 210 GPH - would be enough for 1,000 gallons in the winter here. Your thoughts?

 

[MitchM]

210 gph would be fine. I was thinking something like that for my own.
It really only needs to minimally circulate the water.
This spring I had a small pump that made a huge difference for getting rid of the ice.
On the other hand I don't want to have open water too much during the winter because it will cause more evaporation.
It's a balancing act.

 

[cas]

Thanks!
By the way, I really enjoyed reading your thread. Love the wildlife you are capturing on your cameras. Your scenery is beautiful. But seeing your winters makes me appreciate mine.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks cas.

I've been lazy about getting the trail cams out again, hopefully I'll get them out in the next couple of weeks.
Apparently the cougar population has really exploded around here in the last few years.
The wilderness area next to us has gone from a population of 700 to 2000 cougars in the last 5 years or so.
When we're out walking the dogs we see lots of various sized droppings, it will be neat to capture some of our wilder neighbours on the trailcams.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

Do you ever see the Cougars, Mitch?

 

[MitchM]

We have seen them a few times in the 7 years we've been here, Mike.
We saw one walk right through the front yard while we were having breakfast, my wife had one cross her path when she was out walking on of the dogs, lots of tracks.
I'm sure they have seen us much more than we've seen them overall.
Just 10 yards into the trees surrounding our place you can see signs of a lot more wildlife activity.
We have our space and they have theirs I guess.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

From what I hear, they are very illusive creatures.

 

[addy1]

I've been lazy about getting the trail cams out again, hopefully I'll get them out in the next couple of weeks.

Get in gear! I love seeing your pictures of critters.

 

[MitchM]

The problem is I sometimes have a hard time finding the trail cams again.
When I do finally retrieve the camera, it always has a bunch of pictures of me walking back and forth right in front of it!