Only covering part of the pond would be pointless. In order to do a test you would need to cover and nearly seal the whole pond. Green house effect is caused by the sun shining through a clear membrame and warming the air inside. If its not sealed, no warm air will be allowed to accumulate and the effects would be nill.
Winterizing small pond help
- Thread starter frankrizzo
- Start date
I had a small 4 x 8 foot pond (18 inches deep) at the last house I lived in. All we did was use a floating de-icer and all the fish were fine in the spring. I also live in NY. I plan to do the same thing with my current pond (8x10 - 2 + feet deep).
lauragal said:
I am all over the place in deciding what to do. Every hour my "master plan" changes it seems and now up to like 5 different ideas and scenarios. However I am now thinking heavily about the de icer idea you mention. With such a small pond, a deicer I am thinking will be able to do some nice work in my pond. Allowing me not to have to worry about setting up the fish inside my garage in another "pond".
I guess one of my fears is that would the deicer just keep the area around it from freezing, but enough of the pond could still freeze around and below the deicer - harming both the fish and the preformed liner? Or am I just being silly?
I also see submersible de icers, but then the opposite thoughts - would my fish be warm but the pond freeze over completely at the top?
stroppy
stroppy
i dont have quite the same problems living here in the uk frankrizzo but i have been doing some reading and found this http://www.pondsolutions.com/pond-heaters.htm it might help make things clearer for you ..... and no your not being silly i too would want whats best for my fish :biggrin:
stroppy said:
Thanks Stroppy, good info. So now my latest thought is getting a submersible de-icer (found website that said to use submersible if pond is less than 30" deep and fish are smaller than 6" - which my fish are or right at 6" at most). Then it says to also use an aerator, but wondering if I could just use my spare small 300gph pump instead - placing either at bottom or pond (output shooting straight up) or on one of the shelfs with output pointing directly out across top of pond.
Would be about a $30-$40 investment for the de-icer and that is it for the winter.
I live in Ottawa and it gets down to -22F (-30c) here. A de-icer would cost a lot of hydro to operate. I have not gone through a winter yet with my pond but someone who lives in Ottawa told me they point a pump at the water surface to keep the ice open and it works fine. Much cheaper to operate than a de-icer.
I don't remember the de-icer costing too much in electricity, but what do I know, my husband pays the bills!! LOL - anyway, he never complained about it so I just assumed it wasn't a big deal. I know they have de-icers that are only 200 watts for a small pond - I can't imagine that would cost much.
lauragal said:
Yeah was looking at one around that size. Basically equivalent to 2 lightbulbs in my house and they have thermostats on them, so theoretically aren't running 24/7 when not needed.
koikeepr said:build yourself a little dome out of 3/4" pvc pipe which is highly bendable. You just use elbows/tees to tie it all together. Just follow the lines of your pond with the right amount of PVC pipe. If you buy 1/2" or 3/4" in those long lengths it's very bendable.
If I were you, I would get anout pieces of pvc to create a ring around the bottom of your pond--like a circle. Connect those pieces, and then arc other pieces up as if it was an igloo. Then you simply attach clear or opaque tarp sheeting on it. You can lift it easily when you need to and in the spring just stow it in the garage for next year.
I'm basically using the same thing on my pond. It's really simple to build.
Here is a pic of what I'm talking about:
I thought about this concept and really thought it would help give a greenhouse effect, and maintaining the water temperature.. Do you have floating plants in your pond? Does this help them from being destroyed by the cold?
I am also a little worried about my pond. I am in Portland Oregon so we don't get a lot of freezing weather. I had a larger pond like the one pictured 600 gallons and it was fine over the winter.
so here is my pond it is 160 gallons sitting on a wooden porch it is 3'x3' and 26" deep. I built it with 2x4's then I lined the inside with tyvek and the outside with tyvek too then covered it in cedar. I figured the air space would help with insulation. I will take the filer out but leave a pump to move the water up. I am thinking of getting a 300watt submersible heater to have on hand. with one of those switches that will turn on when the temp gets close to freezing.
so here is my pond it is 160 gallons sitting on a wooden porch it is 3'x3' and 26" deep. I built it with 2x4's then I lined the inside with tyvek and the outside with tyvek too then covered it in cedar. I figured the air space would help with insulation. I will take the filer out but leave a pump to move the water up. I am thinking of getting a 300watt submersible heater to have on hand. with one of those switches that will turn on when the temp gets close to freezing.
sherrye
Mn Ponder
I live in Minnesota, we have harsh cold winters. My first winter I used a tote box heater (tote box with 2 lightbulbs) and my pond froze solid, the water had bubbled up killing all my fish and breaking the lightbulbs. Last winter I used the tote box again, but also covered the entire pond with a heavy clear plastic, tented using a chair (this was after the top was iced over) and my fish all survived. I think the greenhouse effect of covering it really works, keeping the wind off it and warming it during the days. I felt the same about my fish, even though they didn't cost much money, I'm attached to them and especially now that I've had them for 2 years and they are getting so big.
Sherry
Sherry
I live in southern New England. Our winters are a lot warmer than Ottawa. My pond froze over with an air pump. Don't know about a water pump but I would not run one in the ice. Needed a dieicer RDK
I live near St. Louis, MO and this will be our second winter for our pool converted to a poor man's pond. Last winter we quit feeding our 25 goldfish but did not remove the floating plants. Initially, when the water froze, DH took a tea kettle filled with boiling water and pressed if on the ice to melt a hole to allow gasses to be released. Once we had colder temps and the ice got too thick, we bought a stock tank heater and rigged it to stay about a foot or 2 from the liner of the pool. This pool/pond is a 24' round, above ground pool. The deicer worked Gr8, keeping a hole in the ice on the coldest days. I believe it also has a thermostat which will control when on or off. All 25 fish survived. :highfive: This Spring a friend came over with her sump pump and we drained about 24" of water, mucked out the bottom from all the plants we neglected to remove and then refilled...in addition to allowing Mother Nature to refill with spring rains.
This winter, since we know better, all the floating plants will be removed and composted, although I may try to overwinter some Water Hyacinth in a tub in the basement again. DH and DS are putting together a "tote box heater" out of a large planter. Since DH is unemployed for 18 mos. now, we really do not want to use the stock tank deicer due to the electricity it uses, unless absolutely necessary. But it will be in the ready just in case. We now have way more Goldfish as well as a baby bull frog and a Green Frog and 6 BullFrog Tadpoles that are relying on us keeping things opened. I hope they all survive as we have no way to remove and rehouse them. We dropped a few cleaned, scrubbed clay drain pipes to the bottom for them to seek shelter if need be as well. They are located near the dug in area of the pool/pond, the same area the heater/deicer(s) will be. Keeping fingers crossed. :fingersx:
I too am interested if the anacharis that currently is in the pond should be removed or kept in for the winter. It did super this summer.
Shoestring Ponder,
CyndiMO
:goldfish:
This winter, since we know better, all the floating plants will be removed and composted, although I may try to overwinter some Water Hyacinth in a tub in the basement again. DH and DS are putting together a "tote box heater" out of a large planter. Since DH is unemployed for 18 mos. now, we really do not want to use the stock tank deicer due to the electricity it uses, unless absolutely necessary. But it will be in the ready just in case. We now have way more Goldfish as well as a baby bull frog and a Green Frog and 6 BullFrog Tadpoles that are relying on us keeping things opened. I hope they all survive as we have no way to remove and rehouse them. We dropped a few cleaned, scrubbed clay drain pipes to the bottom for them to seek shelter if need be as well. They are located near the dug in area of the pool/pond, the same area the heater/deicer(s) will be. Keeping fingers crossed. :fingersx:
I too am interested if the anacharis that currently is in the pond should be removed or kept in for the winter. It did super this summer.
Shoestring Ponder,
CyndiMO
:goldfish:
Have you given any thought to a Solar panel and heater? It may cost a few bucks to get it started but Harbor Freight has some great deals on Solar systems at times.
Frankrizzo: I live in New Haven CT. I have the exact same winters you have. 310gals My pond goes from 24" deep to 18" deep to 12" deep. I used a surface de-icer 100watts.in the deep end. An air pump also. I found most of my Gold fish loving to stay under the 12" end of the pond as long as there was an inch or two of solid ice above them. A think they felt safer their with a solid layer of ice above them. They were all fine and loved the Spring. RDK