Floating pond de icer

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I am experiencing a new situation with a floating pond de icer. I have been using one of these for the past several years in keeping a hole open in the ice. I bought a new one this year and put it in a few days ago and it is generating a situation that I have not seen before or with the older de icer. There is a ring of Green foam like stuff completely around the dome of the de icer (about 2" wide) and also completely coating the bottom of the de icer. I brought the de icer back and got another one and will put that in when the temps drop down again (now in the 40's) around here and see if the problem goes away. They talk about a Lime buildup on the de icers sometimes after awhile and you have to clean them with vinegar and brushing so it doesn't effect the performance of the de icer. But this started imediately or shortly after the initial usage. Anyone have any idea what that green foamy stuff might be generated from? Thanks
 

HARO

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Had the same thing happen, but only once. I think it has something to do with the free-floating algae heating up, but don't know why the foam forms.
John
 
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Thanks for the replies. I';m glad I have some company that has experienced the same type of thing. Got a new one yesterday (same type 1250 watt and will put in in over the weekend. I won;t worry about it should the green foam come back again. Strange... Thanks again....
 
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Ya - It looks like that is the norm with this floating de icers now. The new one I put in a couple days ago has the green foam halo and coating all over the bottom of it. The strange thing is that I have my older de icer hooked up as well and it does not generate any of that stuff. Strange. But doesn't appear to be anything to worry about. Thanks for the reply....
 

callingcolleen1

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Run a filter and pump all winter and you should not have this problem. I have never had this problem ever in 22 years of wintering my pond. I never shut my ponds down and always recommend that you place the heater where the water moves well so the heat is evenly distributed throughout the whole pond. Water in pond can go stale in winter without proper filteration and circulation. You don't have to run your big pump, but you should have a winter pump and filter to keep water fresh, or at the very least a bubbler of some sort, but I prefer the pump and filter over the bubble method.

Your fish are probably bigger now and produce more waste and that is probally why you see it now. Also make sure you are not heating the pond unless the air temperature is below minus 5c at least, or you may have too warm of water and no filteration, making water more stale.
 

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