I do not think my pond is deep enough!

[leet13]

Hi everyone. I am worried... I better just get to the point and I feel embarrassed (I dug the pond with my husband and it seemed to be 3ft when I dug it). The deep end of my pond is 2 feet 9 inches... the rest of the pond is 2 ft 5 inches. Am I screwed? I would feel better bringing the fish inside but it seems my husband is not too keen on setting up a tank in the basement (or spending more on fish stuff lol). My basement is unfinished and I know its not freezing but perhaps its more like 55 degrees... maybe 50. Would I be able to keep my fish in a tank down there all winter if I bring them in?

My husband is telling me that it would be hard on the fish to bring them in... they wont go dormant and it may become a big mess. He thinks all I need to do is put a bubbler system in and that they would be fine. I worry about the depth... I feel so dumb for not making it as deep as I thought. :sad:

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Make a deal with him that you'll do it his way, but if you lose any fish this winter he has to build you an new and DEEPER pond next year.

 

[koiguy1969]

even tho it may n ot be neccessary..i vote for wintering in the basement...I DO! i have an 800 gal pond in my basement for my guys! heres a video.

 

[capewind]

I'm a bit north of you (Cape Cod) and for here, it would be a bit iffy. Fine if we get a mild winter, if we get slammed, I would expect loses, but again, that is HERE. What are the length and width of the pond? about how many gallons? The bigger it is, the less freezing/more swim area... You do have heater and air stone options...

We have a second pond that was supposed to be a bog... it became a comet pond instead. Most of it is about 18-24", but there is also a large area (about 8' x 8') that is almost 3'... I am planning all the adult comets to go back to the main pond for the winter, and all the babies are coming inside.

 

[fishin4cars]

I vote basement until you can go deeper, Only needed from first freeze until mid spring, then acn serve as a hospital or QT as needed later. Koiguy has a neat and fairly elaborate setup. Many have have had great sucsess with small systems. If I were the fish and I had my choice, I want to live in the south, Or at Marks house! LOL

 

[sissy]

make a sand bag pond on the floor .Thats what this is and well also a few hard as a rock cement bags the guy had left from work on his metal building

 

[sissy]

You could put foam insulation on the floor and then put sand bags or concrete retaining wall block as the sides and just throw the liner in ,he had heated floors in the metal building.he is going to build a pond outside next spring .

 

[leet13]

The pond is about 13 ft in length and 4 feet wide... I was out there measuring it all up to calculate my gallons the other day and I have been guessing right-- it is about 1200 gallons give or take because of the shelves that are notched out.

Would a submersible heater in the deepest part and a bubbler work well together? I worry about there being a power outage and then both of those failing which will of course kill the fish if it freezes.

 

[capewind]

As long as there is a hole for gas exchange, you will be fine. With those dimensions, we would have to really get slammed this winter for it to be a HUGE concern. I do think you have reason to worry, but something for aeration should be enough. *I* would have a heater on hand JUST IN CASE, With a smallish pond, IF you can get hubby to agree to bring them in, that would be the preferred choice... you can always tell him pond heaters are expensive to run;-) (I dont know that they are, our main pond is large enough that this isnt a concern.)

 

[leet13]

capewind- I was thinking a submersible heater and a bubbler would work... I did mention that pond heaters are more expensive to him- he was more freaking out about how much a BIG aquarium will cost plus equipment (he is not working right now... in the process of finding a job which is not going all that great... and I do the housewife thing right now) but I have seen some DIY on youtube that looked great... as well as sissy's suggestion above

 

[capewind]

How many fish, what kind, and how big are we talking about?

 

[taherrmann4]

What zone are you in?

3/4 of my pond is only 24" the other 1/4" is 3'. I have an aerator going all the time, summer and winter and have never had an issue. I am in zone 6.

 

[fishin4cars]

I doubt a submersible heater will help at all. But one of these will. http://www.ebay.com/itm/POND-DE-ICE...414?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item334d9159b6

 

[leet13]

Everyone! My husband has agreed to bring them in! We will build a tank as I have been researching online....

Btw I am in southern nj... Zone 6b.

I have 2 shubunkin.... 4 koi. 2 koi are about 7 inches and the other 2 are about 3.5 inches.



Anyways I saw one video on YouTube and I'm not sure if it was a video from a member of this board or not.... But the idea seemed great and I think regardless of if my pond will be done over deeper or not it would make me feel better if the fish are inside.

I am on my cell typing... Sorry for any typeos. I can't see the whole post.

 

[addy1]

We are right at the edge of 6b, 7a zone, My little stream ponds, they are maybe 18 inches deep did not freeze solid even with the first really cold winter. The big pond froze down 8 inches (at the time only 4 fish I did not know we had) With that depth you will most likely be ok. The main thing is to keep the ice open,don't let the pond freeze over solid.

I kept a aerator going last winter, which was warm. Will do the same this year, no heater, just air flowing, I am hearing predictions of a cold winter, only time will tell.

The deep end is around 5 feet, the fish hung out around 2 feet down from the surface, very seldom all the way down.