winter water quality

[cinder]

Here i stopped feeding them in the fall. Usually in October but it was such a mild fall and start to winter it was a little later this year. Tonight i just went outside to take my dogs out and check on the pond and it 3 above 0 with a wind chill of -20 right now. My dogs even wanted to hurry back in! And the pond is almost all frozen except where the de icer is and the areators are.

 

[cinder]

Another question I just was outside checking on the pond and its starting to freeze completely over, even though I have the de icer and aerator going. Its just so cold, can you tell me I have a small de icer I think it's 315 watt should it be bigger? Would that help? It was a thin layer of ice so I was able to take a small net and break the hole bigger with ease, and its suppose to warm up tomorrow but for the future can someone let me know what they think? Thanks

 

[MitchM]

Cinder, my pond is frozen over for more than 6 months of the year.
I use 2 pond breathers and nothing else.
The pond breathers have worked fine in more than 2 feet of ice thickness.
Even 1500 watt floating deicers ice over here so they are a waste of money.

 

[cinder]

Thanks for the info, but one other question with pond breather is it suppose to form ice all around it like its frozen it the water? That's how mine is and I thought it needed a hole in the ice for the gases to escape? Or does that take the place since it pumps the water up to the surface thru the tubing? Thanks for all your help.

 

[MitchM]

Think of the pond breather as a diving snorkel for your pond.
As long as water is circulating in the clear upper tube, the pond breather is working as designed.

I have 2 breathers on my pond because they do get frozen in place, and to replace one would be difficult in thick ice.
I have not had one fail yet, after 3 years of use.

 

[MitchM]

Here is a picture of my breathers from January 2 of this year.

 

[cinder]

Thanks for all your help. I now understand why you have the 2. My pond if fairly small and the breather is working fine I checked it this morning. Tomorrow here its suppose to be in The 20's and by the weekend in the upper 30's so since the gases will escape that way I feel more at ease that the fish will be ok. Thanks again.

 

[MitchM]

You're welcome.

 

[cinder]

Wow I didn't realize that they would get so frozen I ! Thank you so much for sharing. Later I'll post a picture of ghd little bit of ice I have on my pond. No comparison. LOL and I worried about a thin layer!

 

[MitchM]

This winter is different from previous winters for some reason.
Normally the breather tubes are more clear of ice.
Last fall the wind blew the two breathers together (right beside one another) before ice formed, and as a result so far the ice level has climbed higher along the breather tubes.
Maybe I'll drill the ice with the auger again today to measure the thickness to check.

 

[Lisak1]

Hi @cinder ! I'm from the Chicago area also - a bit further north, but same climate. It's been a strange winter, hasn't it? We finally have ice on the pond after the last few days of bitter cold.

I just wanted to reassure you that your fish will be fine. You have a low fish load for your size pond - which is good! Many people overload their ponds with big fish which creates a lot of issues with water quality. But shubunkins are just goldfish in a fancy package. They're tough little creatures. I have seen a number of goldfish ponds locally that the owners allow to freeze over completely and the fish are fine, so I have confidence that yours will be, too.

Spring will be here soon - even though it sure seems unlikely today!

 

[cinder]

One other question. I was told I should leave the aerator s running all winter but do they serve a purpose if the water freezes, because do the still function they way they should?

 

[cinder]

Thanks it sure had been a strange winter. I can't believe how mild it has been up till now. I had a smaller pond and 2 years ago when we flooded i had the pond rebuilt. But it's like I have to learn all the stuff to do over again. I had just gotten used to taking care of the smaller pond and knew what I needed to do to maintain it. .LOL

 

[Lisak1]

Aerators still aerate, if that's what you mean. When we used a pond de-icer we used to float it right over an airstone to help keep the hole open in the ice. (We would move the airstone to the top shelf in the pond, about 12 inches under the surface.) We don't shut the pond down anymore, so we stopped using the de-icer and we don't run the aerator at all in the winter.

 

[cas]

@cinder you don't need to leave the aerator on if you have the pond breather.