Will my pond breather fail in extreme cold?

[MitchM]

My pond breathers have worked fine at -40c with -52 windchill and 2 feet of ice.
Your pond, Kaniff, may not be deep enough for your climate.
Nylon zipties like morewater suggested, will help the tube stay clear of ice.

Floating stock tank heaters do not work for extreme cold. I tried a 1500w on my pond and the ice still formed a dome over top of it.

 

[addy1]

I am toooo cheap (thrifty) to run heaters. The fish do fine with the breather or a tiny pump keeping a hole in the ice. The big pond has both the 1000 gallon tank has just a breather. The small pump is in a home depot bucket stuffed with some filter material to keep it clean. The hole has stayed open all winter, varies in size depending on the cold hit. Around 200 gallons per hour or less. Can't remember what I put in.

 

[sissy]

Colleen uses pond heaters and she has never had a problem keeping a hole open .

 

[MitchM]

Colleen's pond is in a location protected from the wind.

 

[sissy]

Could be a factor and glad I live down here .The worst storms we get come up from NC as the ones that come across the mountain get cut down by them .

 

[Kaniff]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I guess I just panicked a bit. I made a hole in the ice and it was only about 6 inches so everything is fine...I cant wait till I get this first winter over with so I can stop stressing all the time.
cheers

 

[MitchM]

This is my third winter using the pond breathers.
They are very tough and dependable units.
My ice is 10 inches thick this year - a mild winter for here.