6 replies to this topic

[chilligirl]

So, I've questioned myself a few times over having made my pond so deep (6 feet, with 4 of those feet being in ground and 2 above). It makes maintenance tricky and reduces viewing as even with the water clear and the sun shining, I can only see down about 3 1/2 to 4 feet max. Plus there's so much plant cover (floaters) and the fish like the deep water, so I often don't see them much aside from feeding time.

However, now with the weather getting colder, I'm really glad I did it.

Last night the air temp got all the way down to 48 degrees. I just fed my fish and checked the pond water temp - it's at 58. I know the pond hasn't started to warm back up from the night yet, as there's no sun on it just yet, so I can pretty confidently assume that 58 is as low as the pond dropped last night. That's 10 degrees warmer than the air (and still 5 degrees warmer than the air right now - we're up to 53 outside)!

I'm thinking that, if I build a PVC and poly cover, I can probably keep my pond above 50 for all but a few weeks of the season.

Somewhat OT, but I'm also happy that my pond bottom seems to be staying pretty clean since I cleaned it with my python/garden house hookup. I figured I'd have a bunch of plant debris down there, but I dropped my filter box right down to the bottom (hooked a rope to it so I wouldn't have to go swimming - brrrrr!) two days ago. Pulled it up and checked it today, and it's still nice and clean.

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

Hope it all works out for you. Let us know how it goes.

[chilligirl]

Just checked the pond temp again, and it's nice and stable. Pond is 59, the air outside is 64, and we're at about the hottest part of the day (it's 3pm here). I thought it might've warmed up a bit more than that (the pond I mean), but I guess that's the other part of a deep pond - takes longer to warm up. Plus I imagine the heavy plant cover is helping keep things stable too, by providing shade from the sun, but also preventing evaporation.

I know one thing I like about the floating plants - it's making it easy to nab the leaves that fall off the dogwood tree next to the pond and land in it. They sit on top of the plants and I just pick them off a couple of times a day.

[chilligirl]

woot! outside air is 37.4 right now - first hint of frost this morning. Pond is sitting at 58 and the fish are happy And that's without a cover!

[DrCase]

You did good ,, Let the warm earth keep your pond stable..

[oldmarine]

Chilligirl, I found the pictures you posted awhile back here in another part of the forum. I really like the pictures you took of your fish and pond. Your ponding accomplishments are inspiring to me, hopfully others to.

[chilligirl]

hey, that's really nice - thanks!