Winter Pond Temps

[brokensword]

Got my remote thermometer and thought I'd report from Michigan, today.

Vitals:

Location: Bloomfield Hills, Mi (near Detroit)
Pond Description: ground level
Style: natural
Approx. gallons/liter: 2400 G
Max depth: 4 ft
General Notes: Air pump only, located 16" below surface on a shelf, floating de-icer above but not in use
GF only; 15 at about 6", 70 or so 2" or less, turtle and somewhere, 3 frogs

Date: 12-Dec-2012
Time: 1300 hrs
Outside air temp: 35 F
Surface pond temp: 32 F
Bottom pond temp: 41 F

half the pond (the far side) had a thin film of ice, the other where the bubbler sits, was free. Disturbed a fish or two lowering the remote sensor in--I'm sure she didn't like that.

Glad there's folks doing this as I'm as curious as the rest. I think the real test will be when the pond is iced over except for the bubbler hole.

Michael

 

[richyd]

Location: Birmingham, UK
Pond Description: Partially below ground
Style: Formal
Approx. liter: 5500
Max depth: 3.5 ft
General Notes: Pumps still running along with Oase swim skimmer with built in bubbler. Pump has been moved so the main body of water is undisturbed. Fish are hanging out in the main body at the bottom of the pond
3 ghost koi, 10 goldfish, 5 golden orfe, 5 shubunkins, 5 commets (all approx 12-14 months old)

Date: 13-Dec-2012
Time: 11:22 hrs
Outside air temp: -3.0 C
Surface pond temp: 2.5 - 3.0 C
Bottom pond temp: N/A

Rich

 

[Mmathis]

I'll post a blank template that folks can use to post their info. Once you've posted your pond info once you can just quote your own post and change what is needed.

Craig

Question: "surface temp" Should this be like the 1st inch or so?

 

[Craig58]

Question: "surface temp" Should this be like the 1st inch or so?

Mine is simply a floating thermometer. The probe is probably really about 4-6" below the surface. I don't think it makes much of a difference within the top 1-10" of the pond.

I think most of us are just interested in the relative differences throughout the winter between temps at the top and at the bottom. So we can maybe see what pond designs work and what changes we see at what depths and the impact of various combinations and uses of air pumps and heaters.

Craig

 

[Craig58]

..

 

[Mmathis]

Mine is simply a floating thermometer. The probe is probably really about 4-6" below the surface. I don't think it makes much of a difference within the top 1-10" of the pond.

I think most of us are just interested in the relative differences throughout the winter between temps at the top and at the bottom. So we can maybe see what pond designs work and what changes we see at what depths and the impact of various combinations and uses of air pumps and heaters.

Craig

Gotcha!

 

[MitchM]

The bottom pond temp reading had been hovering around the 59 - 62F level, this morning the temp reading was 81.9F :lol:
Outside temp is -19C/-2F
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I have a bad probe for sure. :neutral:
I haven't been able to make it into town yet to get a replacement. Pond is completely frozen over so I couldn't do anything with it anyways.
Does anyone know how long koi can survive under solid ice cover? It's been about 3 months so far, with probably another 3 months to go. :neutral:

 

[Craig58]

I guess it will depend on what's under the ice. I.e. fish load, debris in pond, water flow, (if any), air pump.. etc...

I'd be worried after three months however.

Do you have a hole in the ice anywhere? A heater in place?

Craig

 

[Craig58]

Location: West Chester, Pa
Pond Description:
Style: Formal
Approx. gallons/liter: 3600 G
Max depth: 4 ft
General Notes: Only running air pump. Airstone located 12" below surface on shelf
15 Koi, 8" - 24"

Date: 22-Dec-2012
Time: 0030 hrs
Outside air temp: 32.0 F
Surface pond temp: 41.7F (5.4C)
Bottom pond temp: 44.4F

Craig

 

[MitchM]

I guess it will depend on what's under the ice. I.e. fish load, debris in pond, water flow, (if any), air pump.. etc...

I'd be worried after three months however.

Do you have a hole in the ice anywhere? A heater in place?

Craig

I did put a heater in, but it doesn't really accomplish much. I'll plug it in every few days and it will open a hole to the water. All that happens is the air that the airstones are pumping in escape through there instead of finding their way out through the edges of the pond ice.
I came across a thread somewhere that stated koi can live at a temperature of 58F for 4 months, no food with no ill effects.Darned if I can find it again. Maybe it was over on KKU.
When I first put the temp probe in, it registered 39F, so that's probably what the actual temperature is.
This is a first year pond with a very low fish load, so I'm not that worried about O2 depletion. I would still like to test for that, but it's a little difficult with a solid ice cover.

 

[MitchM]

came across a thread somewhere that stated koi can live at a temperature of 58F for 4 months, no food with no ill effects.Darned if I can find it again. Maybe it was over on KKU.

Found it over on Koiphen. If I can get a link with some detailed info I'll post it back here.

 

[Craig58]

I did put a heater in, but it doesn't really accomplish much. I'll plug it in every few days and it will open a hole to the water. All that happens is the air that the airstones are pumping in escape through there instead of finding their way out through the edges of the pond ice.
I came across a thread somewhere that stated koi can live at a temperature of 58F for 4 months, no food with no ill effects.Darned if I can find it again. Maybe it was over on KKU.
When I first put the temp probe in, it registered 39F, so that's probably what the actual temperature is.
This is a first year pond with a very low fish load, so I'm not that worried about O2 depletion. I would still like to test for that, but it's a little difficult with a solid ice cover.

I think as long as you open the ice once every week or two, I think they'll be ok. 58F is nothing and they can easily survive at that. But six months at 33-35F is what you are probably looking at. Keep us informed!

Craig

 

[MitchM]

I came across a thread on another forum about a fellow that had a very large pond setup in Norway where they have similar temperatures and about 5 months of ice cover.
He lost many of his high quality koi over each winter, but he also imported his koi from Japan. There was some discussion about how higher quality koi may not be as hardy as koi that are reared locally.
I'll have to try to find out where the fish that I have purchased have been reared. They were 4" when I put them in this past summer, about 8" when I last saw them in October.
Size may also be a factor, mine may not have been fat enough to survive. The fellow in Norway purchased his koi around 18" in size.

 

[Dave 54]

It is well known in the koi world that the high end koi are how can I put this ???....delicate in that they have a very narrow gene pool to work from so their immune system is somewhat more delecate than that of Japanese home grown koi from our respective countries i;e British Bred American Bred etc .
They bring these koi in out of the mud pools everywinter, at their respective Breeders.
Peter Waddington Author of Koi Kichi KoiKichi II everywinter goes on the offensive in that all koi should be heated and that cruelty goes on throughout the koi world.
Many folk dont see it his wau and many UK owners dont heat the pond.
However weve hit upon an idea that works in that our pond Filterhousing is double glazed and we only heat the air around the filters, which in turn warmes the water .
At the moment our water is at 14.7c with an outside temperature of 10.3c so you can see that this way of doing it does work and is very effective when the temperature is down in the single figures.
So yes he would loose his jigh end koi because they are simply not up to surviving Freezing cold temperatues way down in the minus figures.
If you think this isn't why high end koi koi are effected by the cold , we lost an high ender n our first year outside our Health officers findings an impared immune system .



rgrds

Dave

 

[Mmathis]

Location: Shreveport, LA (NW corner of the state)
Pond Description: Garden pond with goldfish, but made with box turtles in mind [now brumating].
Style: Eclectic
Approx. gallons/liter: 3000+ gal
Max depth: 4'
General Notes: Running pump through Skippy filter. Stopped feeding fish a while back (plenty of algae growth) 'cause our temps. are bouncing around from 30's to 70's. Fish seem to be doing OK; seem healthy; active.

Date: 12/22/12
Time: 3:30pm
Outside air temp: 64
Surface pond temp: 51.6
Bottom pond temp: 52.1