The pond dig has begun!

[sissy]

If you put the heater closer to where the pump is it sends warmer water to the filters .Thats what I did and it is windy and cold here but no ice in the filters yet

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree, Sissy, but my pond is in the wide open, with all elements hitting it (wind, snow, etc.) so maybe that is why it is frozen so much. And, not much of anything is going to keep the ice off when the temps get down to 10 and the winds were blowing all night long. My ponds were totally thawed out on Sun., got the cold snap that night, temps down to 10, winds howling all night long, woke up to more than half of each pond frozen. But, I did NOT have a heater on either pond, so maybe that would have helped. You let us know if it keeps the ice off of your pond. It stayed in the low 20's for high ever since Monday, until yesterday it got close to 30, slowly warming up. The heater in the goldfish pond is not opening the hole in the ice any more than it already was, though, and it's right on top of the bubbler water pump.

 

[sissy]

I never realized when I built mine about winter sun and that the pond does not get sun on it until around 2 pm as the side of the house shades it and in the summer it gets sun by around 11 am .The wind here is now gusting at 35 and 40 .I guess your house shades it also in the winter .With the open fields that just makes it worse for you .The colder nights here is what worried me and thats why I took my heater out yesterday and put it in .Fish are circling it .We are at 14 degrees right now and with wind chill news just said minus 8 degrees

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, the weather you are having is what I had here this past Monday. I went from 56 on Sat., to 40's on Sun., ponds totally thawed out, then BOOM, Sun night/Mon. a.m. the winds were howling all night, and temps dropped to single digits, woke up to more than half of the pond frozen. By that evening, the waterfall had frozen and was no longer running again. I think maybe the waterfall grabs more cold air by moving over rocks that are above ground level, or that's my theory anyhow. Not really sure, just wondering.

 

[addy1]

I used a waterfall in arizona to keep my pond cool in the summer. The act of the water falling, even through hot air, cooled it. So falling in cold air cools the water even more. When I turn off the bog and waterfall here, the pond warms up, with it running the pond is kept cooler. The surface area of moving water in the bog is a good cooling bed, the water fall cools it more.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes water does cool as it falls, and depending how much it fallls may make a big difference. My water drops about 6 inches or less from the top pond to the middle pond, and the water drops cleanly, and all together, not messy and little splashing. Then the heater is next to that water drop as well, but it still does get a hard ice shell in spite of the heater when temperatures get below 0 Fahrenheit for long periods.

I also find that with better circulation around the heater keeps a bigger hole open and much less ice.

 

[CountryEscape]

This morning the koi pond with just air bubbler has only about a 1.5' diameter hole. The goldfish pond with water bubbler (that is slowly decreasing in power, BTW, must have gotten some algae on it again) has an opening about 3-4' in diameter. So ... the heater make a much bigger difference than I thought! I've left the heater on just to see the difference. Bog on goldfish pond is still running, though, but with hard ice shell over it, I suspect the water running under the ice doesn't get cooled as much as a waterfall or stream would cool it. Still learning, still figuring it out.

 

[sissy]

moving water will freeze at the top layer and as it gets colder it will freeze more of it and ice will get thicker .I found in the summer taking bottom temps of pond that is what is cooling the water on top more .Pond works just like a geo thermal heating and cooling system on a house .It takes the cooler water from the bottom which is taking it's coolness from the ground around it and in the winter it is taking heat from the ground .I built my pond not far from septic tank so will get ground heat from that .I read alot on geo thermal systems because I wanted one on this house but did not have the time to do it back then .People wrap there pools and septic tanks in pipes to pull heat and coolness off them .

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, the heating running on the goldfish pond has thawed it out about 75%, so moved it over to the koi pond, which has a much stronger air bubbler than the very weak now water bubbler on the goldfish pond, and still has only small opening. Hoping to help thaw out the koi pond in the next couple of days, with temps getting up to 50's and 60's.
You can see lots of the goldfish in the pond, enjoying nice ice this morning.

There is a small "cave" behind the air bubbler on the koi pond. I guess the pressure of the air bubbles made the cave of ice higher than the other ice levels.

 

[j.w]

Nice ice cave CE. I get to enjoy all you guys's pretty ice as we don't get any major formations here.

 

[sissy]

wow that ice was really thick

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sometimes you just got to break down and use the heater, going to have to plug my heater in tomorrow, going to get cold again! Those noisy Robins won't be chirping so happy Tuesday when temperture drops to -13 Fahrenheit!

 

[CountryEscape]

Woohoo, the heater helped melt the entire koi pond, so it's getting unplugged. Temps went up all night, almost 50 right now, heading up to 60 today and close to that tomorrow!!! Wish it was a weekend day, I could pull the pumps and clean them out. Will definitely do that tonight or tomorrow evening. Taking my Boston to the breeder tonight after work, so will likely be ready to just sit down by the time I get home.
You can see the heater on the far edge, where it moved as the ice thawed out. I thought the whole pond was thawed out (when it was a little darker) but see that the water is on top of the ice over about 2/3 of the pond. That should thaw the rest of the way today with 60's for air temps. Cleared all the way back to the skimmer, so that will get turned back on this evening, too.

Waterfall is completely thawed out, wondering if the water in the Skippy is total ice yet, though, with the insulation board around it. Should remove the top pieces, but they fit really tight, worried I would break them. So, going to leave them until this evening, turn on the pump (once I pull it and check it for blockages) and see what happens.

Stream ice still remains, as it's somewhat suspended above the stream bed. That will probably be gone by this evening, too. Bog in the goldfish pond has remained running all this time, even with ice on top of it, it still was pushing water through to the goldfish pond, so that pond has had continual filtration.

I know it will all freeze up again by the end of this week, but looks like I'm finally learning Colleen's system with the heater! This is a brand new heater, and although at first it seemed to not do much, I just didn't wait long enough. It seems to take about 24 hours to show a difference in heating the water. Thanks Colleen for staying with me, keep prodding me on. I'm finally "getting it".

 

[j.w]

YAY CE you are winning!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, looks like your heater is working good, just use it when you need to, then you can aways see the fish and rest assured when the weather turns cold!