Snow and water loss?

[Nepen]

We are having snow storm yesterday and today. Lucky for me we only have a few inches of ice instead

Anyway I decided to keep my pump running but at the end of the day I noticed I lost about 4 inches of my pond water. The stream and bog are mostly covered by ice. I couldn't figure how the water got out. None of the ice/snow on the edge show sign of wetness but it could be below it. So I turned off one pump and keep the other running just to make the water level in the stream lover to not touch the ice on top.

This morning I lost about 5-10 more inches I haven't gone out to measure it yet.

Can snow wick water?

My berm is not low but it's not high either. If snow can wick water then I'll have to turn off my pump and figure how to drain it. I didn't buried it deep enough for it not to freeze.

This is my new pond first winter.

 

[MitchM]

No, snow doesn't wick water.
There has to be a place where water is being diverted out of the pond because of the ice and freezing.
Any pictures?

 

[sissy]

Ice will also be so heavy it will push water out of the pond and being cold it will turn to ice .It has happened to my water fall pond again with all this heavy wet snow and ice .No pumps running so it is not them .Just the weight of ice and snow .I have aerator line up there but even that did not work to keep an opening in the snow and ice

 

[Nepen]

I actually found the side of the stream where I think the water got out, slowly I think. But with that much water gone I though the ground would be full of ice but it's not. So I don't know... More than 1000 gallon of water dont just disappear.

I just turn the pump off. I dug to where I had a switch I could turn on to let the water out of the pipe, and under the snow the grounds not frozen. I tired to let water out but I think it keep sucking the water from the pond with it too no way to brake the effect. I'll wait a bit longer before I let th water out from pipe again...

The pipe is now under snow... Will it freeze? Won't snow help insulate the pipe?

Picture will come.

 

[Nepen]

The top of the snow is now ice I could walk on it without sinking.

Notice th ice crack at the edge, it sunk down because the water lost.

Hardly see stream anymore

 

[MitchM]

Thank you for the pictures.
With the amount of ice and snow you received, it's entirely possible that the water was diverted out of the pond.
It can be decieving where the water goes if the ground is frozen as well.
It looks like you have aeration providing a hole in the ice, so I would continue with the aeration and shut off the pumps until you find where the water was going.
10 inches of water loss is significant.

What is your weather forecast for the next week?

.

 

[sissy]

I put pipe insulation around my hoses where they do come out of the pond into the waterfall pond into the filters .

 

[Faebinder]

Fortunately hasn't happened to me, and my filter and waterfall are running under the snow. I cleared a bit from the top.

 

[peter hillman]

Snow can absorb water like a sponge to a certain extent, but not with the amount of snow v.s. water loss in your pond.

 

[Nepen]

thanks all. I think it is probably the ice diverting the water out since after I stopped the pumps, the water lever has been stable. I'm going to have to wait for a few days until the ice are gone to start the pump again and fill in the water a bit (unless water from melted ice is enough... but i dont think so.

yea the amount of water loss is quite a lot... it's quite scary to think what would happen if I wasnt at home!

 

[Nepen]

Thank you for the pictures.
With the amount of ice and snow you received, it's entirely possible that the water was diverted out of the pond.
It can be decieving where the water goes if the ground is frozen as well.
It looks like you have aeration providing a hole in the ice, so I would continue with the aeration and shut off the pumps until you find where the water was going.
10 inches of water loss is significant.

What is your weather forecast for the next week?

.

around 40 / 28 so I don't think I'll get more snow but the ice might not melt soon.

 

[sissy]

My pond has no ice but have ice and snow in the filters and temps. are going up and if you have sun on your pond it should melt fast .You are south of me and I know here today it was 44 and tomorrow supposed to be in the 50's .and by the weekend 60's .

 

[pecan]

I left my big pond running this winter and "lost" quite a bit of water when the falls froze over. Thing is the water loss was the ice building up above the water level. So I wasn't loosing water it was just turning to ice and the water was flowing under it. Now that temps have warmed a little and the falls have thawed, the water level it back to where it was.

In my smaller pond and large bog the ice built up around the clay pots the water runs up through and built up enough ice to create an ice bridge that extended past the edge of the liner. One night the water flowed over the ice and out of the bog completely draining about 10" before I woke up the next morning.

 

[Nepen]

I left my big pond running this winter and "lost" quite a bit of water when the falls froze over. Thing is the water loss was the ice building up above the water level. So I wasn't loosing water it was just turning to ice and the water was flowing under it. Now that temps have warmed a little and the falls have thawed, the water level it back to where it was.

In my smaller pond and large bog the ice built up around the clay pots the water runs up through and built up enough ice to create an ice bridge that extended past the edge of the liner. One night the water flowed over the ice and out of the bog completely draining about 10" before I woke up the next morning.

Thanks Pecan. I was hoping to run my pond all winter too. I think I still could, just after the ice melt i'll see if i can see where the water might be able to escape and try again. we dont have a lot of ice and snow so this is pretty unusual for us. I think water turned to ice could make the water level dropped but I think mine dropped too much to be just that, but i'll keep that in mind so if it's a few inches then i wont worry so

 

[sissy]

I left my big pond running this winter and "lost" quite a bit of water when the falls froze over. Thing is the water loss was the ice building up above the water level. So I wasn't loosing water it was just turning to ice and the water was flowing under it. Now that temps have warmed a little and the falls have thawed, the water level it back to where it was.

In my smaller pond and large bog the ice built up around the clay pots the water runs up through and built up enough ice to create an ice bridge that extended past the edge of the liner. One night the water flowed over the ice and out of the bog completely draining about 10" before I woke up the next morning.

pecan have you ever had your clay pots freeze and crack