Pond in the foothills

[addy1]

MD has been in the 50/60 during the day just now starting to dive down.
Here we hit 65 day now back to almost 80 for the next week

 

[MitchM]

I don't think I could cope with a winter above freezing temperatures.
It would probably be too much of a shock to my system!

 

[addy1]

Lol I like the winter break, enjoy cold, but not to your extent.
I just checked the cameras, everywhere except at the bog waterfall is a light coating of ice. I will ask them to plug in the breathers, unplug the slow flowing pump

 

[Mike in Vermont]

I'm ready for spring.

 

[Lisak1]

There's really no benefit to me keeping an open hole in the ice.

We know several goldfish-only ponds in our area that don't worry about keeping a hole in the ice. Ponds freeze solid from edge to edge and the fish do just fine. Of course we have more like three or possibly four months of solid ice generally speaking.

 

[MitchM]

I like the idea of active aeration using the breathers, plus they're inexpensive to run.
I think koiguy lets his pond freeze over completely, with no ill effects.

 

[cas]

Thanks for posting the temperature differences. I went out today and removed the aerator and just have the pond breather going. Going to let the pond surface ice over and count on the pond breather to do it's thing.

 

[MitchM]

Pond ice this morning is 10 inches thick.
Water temperatures are 2.8c/37f at 5 foot depth, 2.2c/36f at 2 foot depth

One thing different this year is the amount of ice up the sides of the breathing tube of the pond breathers.
This year I left the 2 breathers alone and before the pond froze over the wind pushed the 2 breathers together.
Usually I keep the 2 breathers apart.

They are still working fine, but I don't like the ice accumulation up the sides of the breather tube.

 

[cas]

the wind pushed the 2 breathers together.

I wondered if anyone else had problems with the pond breathers moving out of position. Mine kept moving out of the center, close to the sides of the pond.

 

[MitchM]

My breathers were right against the sides last year with no problems.

 

[addy1]

My breather in the 1000 g pond was against the side all winter the fish and it did fine.

 

[Chris Bennet]

I have a question about the pond breather. I don't know if I am doing something wrong. The pond is very little, only about 2 ft deep. This is our first winter.
There are 7 goldfish in it. I am not sure whether to turn off the pump or not.
I turned it off when the pond started icing over, and then plugged in the Pond Breather.
The weather has been all over the place, mostly a warm winter, but there have been some very cold nights.
When there is ice on the pond, then I turn off the pump and the fish go to the bottom and don't seem to move much.
When it warms up, the ice melts, and the fish come to the top - they appear to be "gasping" for air. Does this make sense?
So I tried to turn the pump back on, get the waterfall flowing again, and then the fish were happier and just swimming around a little.
I believe the Pond Breather is working - there is a little bit of heat at the top of it.
Is the Pond Breather supposed to be enough in terms of putting air back into the pond.
I don't have an air pump or aerotor - should I have one?

 

[MitchM]

Welcome Chris.
Where are you located?
What are your temperatures like?
What are the other dimensions of your pond?

You should see water moving within the top clear tube of the pond breather.

.

 

[Chris Bennet]

Hello, I am in Lancaster PA. The winter has been all over the temps. Currently getting very cold, but just two days ago was warm and pleasant. Looks like winter has finally arrived.

I think the Pond Breather wasn't working correctly. We could feel heat, but there is no water moving in the clear tube.
We opened it up and found the pipe has a kink in it blocking the water. This is a simple thing to fix and will hopefully solve the problem.

Can you give me some idea of the pump should be off. I presume when it is cold enough for ice to form on top. But what about other times?

Thanks.

 

[addy1]

I shut my pumps off, just leave the breather running in the winter.