Do you guys have issue every Spring?

[Malak]

Hey, you know how they say that the biofilter does not really do much till the water temp is over 60F and how you should slowly add fish to your new pond to increase the bacteria? I was wondering if you guys with a fully stocked pond have issues each Spring since the full amount of fish are already in there? Now, someone pointed out to me that there are probably lower temp subspecies of bacteria that are unknown so maybe that's it or could it be that the bacteria are alive but dormant? What do you do with your trickle filters during the Winter? Impossible to prevent a spraybar from freezing...

 

[vertigo72]

I thought certain nitrifying bacteria where active from 5C (41F) onwards, well before your fish become active.

Not that Id know, as my biofilter is new and hasnt wintered yet, but I plan on keeping it running and probably Ill put a small (~300W) heater in there, to help prevent freezing and to improve its working especially in spring, like now.

Now I do have a fairly large and relatively deep pond, so the freezing risk is probably small for the water I pump from the bottom, more so I will keep air pumps running, but we will see how that goes.

I do fear how keeping my pumps running would cool my entire pond though, by pumping up all the "warm" water from the bottom and allowing it to cool at the surface. Doesnt seem likely Ill manage to freeze 6 foot of water that way though, but I wouldnt know..

 

[koiguy1969]

different strains of bacteria have different tolerances in tempersture.my fish move indoors in September.. my basement pond is 56*f - 58*f and stays that way from late November / December til (well even now). when they go back outside. my basement pond is only 800 gals and i always have atleast 25 fish in it.(theres been as many as 60 - 70) 5 koi that are over 15" plus 20 or so that are 5" and a 18" pieco. if there was no active bacteria under 60* i wouldnt be able to do this..especially feeding 3-4 times a day...thats 7 months in this pond.

 

[fishin4cars]

malak, I run mine year round so the bacteria adjust to the fish and temp on their own. i just make sure and keep with my same cleaning schedule by back flushing and doing small water changes even in the winter.

vertigo, You'll find more information about that if you research a little more, basically bringing the water from the bottom regulates the temp better, that deep the water will be warmed and the air and water movement help keep an opening in the ice for gas exchange, I have read on this many times as my pond being shallow I was worried about pumping the bottom water up and it making more of the water freezing temp, but actually just the opposite happened this winter, We got colder than normal a few times and the water being circulated up from the bottom actually kept the pond surface from freezing.
I have read that if the water is deeper than four feet, It's best to place the air stones at the four feet mark as this leaves a warm thermal layer deeper for the fish and yet is deep enough to circulate water back up.

Also, the 300 watt heater idea, might want to scrape that idea, they are designed for aquarium use and really don't work in a pond, I tried several different applications and ended up just taking it out. This worked 100 Times better! It comes on automatically when the water reaches freezing and stays on until the water climbs above freezing, It's rated kind of high in watts but in reality in my application It didn't effect the electric bill much at all. http://cgi.ebay.com/Farm-Innovators...318?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b6fb4266 Worked great for me all seven days I needed it. LOL

 

[vertigo72]

Also, the 300 watt heater idea, might want to scrape that idea, they are designed for aquarium use and really don't work in a pond,

I dont plan on heating my pond with 300W. Im gonna need an aquarium style heater for my quarantine tank anyway, and figured Id put it in the biofilter after Im done quarantining. It wont make a dent in pond temperature, but it might a little bit in the 55gallon tanks, especially when its cold.

Good tip about moving the airstones a bit up though, and you are probably right about the rest for the winter. Although as you know, my pond isnt a square box, but more shaped like a bowl where only the middle is relatively deep, and with a lot of surface area. Ice cover actually is a great insulator, so if its going to stay ice free, Im still a bit worried. I doubt it will stay ice free though. Last winter I kept a 5000L/h pump running and it only kept the edges ice free, and not even all of that. Thats all i wanted, to prevent expanding ice pressure from cracking the concrete

 

[fishin4cars]

I dont plan on heating my pond with 300W. Im gonna need an aquarium style heater for my quarantine tank anyway, and figured Id put it in the biofilter after Im done quarantining. It wont make a dent in pond temperature, but it might a little bit in the 55gallon tanks, especially when its cold.

Good tip about moving the airstones a bit up though, and you are probably right about the rest for the winter. Although as you know, my pond isnt a square box, but more shaped like a bowl where only the middle is relatively deep, and with a lot of surface area. Ice cover actually is a great insulator, so if its going to stay ice free, Im still a bit worried. I doubt it will stay ice free though. Last winter I kept a 5000L/h pump running and it only kept the edges ice free, and not even all of that. Thats all i wanted, to prevent expanding ice pressure from cracking the concrete

So what you would want to ultimatly want it to run the airstone during the winter to make a break in the ice, looking at your pond you have the sump in the deep middle, If you went up the slope to where the water is about 4 ft deep put one there and the move one or two toward the side, This will give some relief on the ice building pressure against the side.

staying ice free isn't the goal, your ight it's just as much a insulator for the pond. (Igloo effect! LOL)we can't control that having ponds outside, Your just wanting enough hole for gas exchange.

The aquarium heater might help the filter, I tried using one under my deck to keep that area warm enough to not form ice, it didn't work, tried putting it in the skimmer. 0 effect at all with the pump running. Tried placing it on the bottom of the pond and placing a air stone near it to slowly bring up warm water. worked but I doubt it would have for folks further north than myself. I like my dei-cer, I think I paid $30 shipped and it's tough enough and designed to do a specific job well. If you ever do decide to get one I recommend farm innovations. for the money it's a good product.

 

[vertigo72]

With a concrete pond, there are at least 2 things to worry about; keeping some area ice free to avoid gasses building up (goes for any pond with fish), and avoiding ice pressure cracking the concrete. Having a hole in the middle of the ice, like you would have with an airpump or your deicer, solves the first, but not the second, it would not relieve all stress at the edge of the pond. You make a nice round hole in the ice, that does very little to weaken it or stop the expansion at the edges. The pressure goes around it and it still expands in all directions and could ruin the concrete.

You have to buffer at the edges, either with flowing water around the edge, or styrofoam or similar floating blocks that absorb the pressure. At the very least you have to "control' the icing, so outer edges slowly freeze over after the rest has frozen solid (and expanded already)

We learned this the hard way decades ago. cracked it twice when I was a teenager.

BTW, my father made a contraption to keep the pond "icefree" that defies imagination. I have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. He used a washing machine motor, put an excentric wheel on it, connected a huge wooden "bridge" that had a large styrofoam floater on one end. Then a cantiliver on the pond edge. As the excentric wheel turned,
what it did was push that floater slightly up and down nonstop, making waves. Genius.

 

[mrsclem]

Malak- I live in So. Md in zone 7. I use stock tank heaters to keep the ice open and have learned from having big fish kill every spring to make sure the pond is cleaned out as well as possible in the fall and get to it early in the spring. I use antibiotic food for the fist week in the spring and getr the pumps and filter up and running as soon as possible. We lsot 75% of our fish a couple of years age to to a bacterial infection that ran thru the pond.

 

[taherrmann4]

Hey, you know how they say that the biofilter does not really do much till the water temp is over 60F and how you should slowly add fish to your new pond to increase the bacteria? I was wondering if you guys with a fully stocked pond have issues each Spring since the full amount of fish are already in there? Now, someone pointed out to me that there are probably lower temp subspecies of bacteria that are unknown so maybe that's it or could it be that the bacteria are alive but dormant? What do you do with your trickle filters during the Winter? Impossible to prevent a spraybar from freezing...

Malak, usually my pond starts off a little slow, I get lots of string algae for about 6 weeks before my whole system seems to kick in with the bio filter, plants etc. However this year we had 13" of rain in april alone so I am sure that my pond went through a complete water change in about 2 weeks where we got the majority of the rain, and ever since I have had trouble with my water looking very murky and cloudy where it is usally crystal clear. It has been a real PITA this year. My plants seem to be growing very slowly, my water lettuce is looking brown on the edges so who knows. BTW all my stats on the pond are right where they need to be.

 

[addy1]

We shut ours down last winter, didn't think any fish were in it. I have read the bacteria starts growing around 40 degrees. We got our pond up and running as soon as the ice melted, around the first of march. The bacteria must be doing fine, no algae so far. Water parameters are great, but also very low fish load.

 

[addy1]

BTW, my father made a contraption to keep the pond "icefree" that defies imagination. I have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. He used a washing machine motor, put an excentric wheel on it, connected a huge wooden "bridge" that had a large styrofoam floater on one end. Then a cantiliver on the pond edge. As the excentric wheel turned,
what it did was push that floater slightly up and down nonstop, making waves. Genius.

Sounds neat looking forward to seeing the contraption.

 

[Malak]

Tahermann - could be runoff from the rain? Put in a Sissy Sand Filter like I did. Water looks cloudy at night with the underwater lights, but pretty crystal clear in the day.

 

[UT_Bruce]

pH of 6-8 works best for the most effective beneficial strains, and temperature around 70 F. They will multiply in lower temperatures, but if you already have an organic load, it can be a struggle to get where you want to be. Most effective strains go dormant with temperatures below 45-50 degrees.

My recommendation is to always do some springtime maintenance. I posted an article on our blog, and I believe also in the articles thread.