switch off pump ?

[adavisus]

Hidehi Mogsie,

I notice you are over the Lake district way, any tips as to great art or photo galleries of such a picturesque place?

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[HARO]

Waterbug; Regarding the hole-in-the-ice thing, I open mine up roughly twice a week, and sometimes it is frozen over again in less than an hour, but I lose no fish. An aquaintance just a mile or so from me let her pond freeze over while she vacationed in Florida for two weeks, and when she returned all her fish were dead and the water stunk of rotten eggs. So I don't think it's necessary to keep a hole open all the time, but I wouldn't let it go TOO long. John

 

[Waterbug]

John, yeah, that is the rub. These are really tight tolerances. Even with good and expensive testing equipment I think it would be a tough call to make. And then when something goes bad a person would have to do expensive testing to find the cause.

It would be interesting to get temperature readings when you open a hole and your method. Like how long it would take for the newly opened pond to break stratification, if it did at all and what the new uniform temperature was. And also how long before new stratification took to form. Never seen any data on that and it's not a test I can do here in Phoenix.

 

[adavisus]

Three days is the usual point at which a pond, sealed by ice accumulates risky toxicity for oxygen breathing critters.

A simple way to measure how potentially toxic a pond is to take a sample of water, plants and small organisms (snails will do)

Place the sample in a dark cool place at ground temperature, sealed airtight and see how long it takes for the water quality to deteriorate (plants turn water black, methane and hydrogen sulphide then asphyxiate the snails)

That would indicate what frequency a pond needs to be vented in its current condition...

Regards, andy

 

[HARO]

I'll just keep turning on the de-icer twice a week! Take the easy way out!
John

 

[koiguy1969]

the ponds fish load has much to do with it as well ...i have left about 20 2"-3" fish in my pond for the winter with no pump.. no aerator..no hole in the ice ...all were fine come spring. and thats in a zone 5b winter ...minimum 3 months of frozen over pond....it was 18 goldfish if memory serves.

 

[Waterbug]

Andy, do you have a reference for the 3 day duration? The pond I had growing up in Upstate NY was iced over for weeks at a time and the fish, frogs and insects survived. And that pond had a very thick lay of muck and decaying vegetation. This was common for many ponds in the area. So I'd like to check your source to see what they're referring to.

 

[adavisus]

Andy, do you have a reference for the 3 day duration?

Sure, many winters noticing a correlation of fish kills on un vented ponds and the duration of three days of freezing. Some ponds will fluke no fish kills, where foliage, aquatic plant stems, ground water, springs cause venting. Three days is generally a point where sealed ponds vulnerable to fish kills become critical. The larger, the weaker fish, the fish with high oxygen requirements like orfes start turning on their side under the ice.Regards, andy

 

[addy1]

Last winter, we did not know we had fish, it did freeze over solid for a few months, ice was 8 inches thick. But our pond is 10k gallons and we only had 4 fish. This year we are keeping the pond open with a aerator. But so far the weather has been warm warm warm lol, 49 this am. I figure why take the chance and kill off my pretty goldies and shubies, easy enough to keep a hole open.

 

[sissy]

I have to say so far the weather here is holding out and I even still have a few flowers in my garden .It has been in the 50's and 60's here and we have only had 3 small frosts so beginning to wonder about old man winter .I have not even had a thin coating of ice on my pond and filters are still going ,so keeping my fingers crossed and a close watch on night temps .

 

[oldmarine]

From all that I have read, I might be fortunate in respect to the cost of keeping my pond running all year round. My pond is only 365 gallons with an efficient DYI filter system that has not failed my pond yet. The only thing I do for the winter months is break down, clean, and store the 27 gallon bio-filter. I do this usually about the time most of the plants in my pond start to die back. In the mean time I put a unbreakable submersable 200 watt aquarium heater in the pre-filter reservor. Even when the outside temp drops down into the teens at night, the pond never has ice on the surface. Works for me.

 

[JoaniePA]

Wow.. Too much to thinking for me and my humble shubies. I just turn the pump off when the bird baths freeze over, and stick in a deicer and an aerator. Then in the spring when a deep freeze is unlikely, I turn the pump back on and take out the aerator and the deicer. I've heard that the larger your pond, the less work it is. In our area, ponds and lakes do freeze over solid a few times during most winters. Mine is not that large, but large enough to be not much trouble.

 

[addy1]

I pull my pump, stick in a aerator, done for the winter. My filter nicely freezes over (the bog) when all melts in the spring around march 1 stick the pump back in line turn it on..........done lol