In from the Cold North

[Calgary_Aquaculture]

I found this site via a subscriber to my youtube page. I live up in Calgary Alberta, Canada and I have not shut off the pump to my pond in two years other than when I clean out the strainer basket.

I am really hoping that I find this site to be a great channel for me to help people out, and I would be even more impressed if people could help me.

you can view some of my pond picks and videos here

http://www.calgaryaquaculture.ca/gallery

I do hope you enjoy.

Clint

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the group, nice looking ponds there

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Calgary-Aquaculture. Welcome and I liked your ponds too, especially the winter one. How do you keep the pumps from freezing up?

 

[Calgary_Aquaculture]

I actually do not do anything to keep the pump from freezing. I let the properties of what that are responsible for sustaining life do the work.

Water is heaviest at 4 degrees which is why ice floats. Even though it can get a rare -40 ℃ and a more common -30 ℃. We had a two week period of -20 ℃ just a week ago. Despite those temperatures the actually water temperature has only reached as low as 1.7 ℃.

The biggest thing is do not shut the pump off at any time. That sounded a little redundant but that is the major factor.

Another key is to not have the return line blocked by gravel like a lot of wet land return systems and the best results happen if the pond is south facing.

I tried on a north facing pond with a return that had a wetlands return system and the pump eventually dead headed because the ice build up in the gravel.

One of the biggest advantages to running the water all winter is water quality and the plants seem to get a rather large head start. My moss oddly is still green and I get the odd shoot coming up

'Typed via blackberry'

 

[addy1]

Once we have our pumps running we might leave the bog running for the winter, the stream would always be turned off due to possible ice blocks forming.

Glad yours is doing fine.

 

[Calgary_Aquaculture]

The ice actually creates a blanket over the water and does not block. I have pictures of my pond with 2 feet of snow over te entire pond. I will put pics up when I get home. It is -30 ℃ right now soit should be completely covered in ice now. Everything I was told about not being able to run a pond in the winter has been incorrect. Mostly do to what people assume would happen if the temperature drops

 

[j.w]

Clint

 

[CometKeith]

Calgary_Aquaculture thank you for the tips. I think one of the biggest reasons I don't keep my pump running other than the manufacturers warning, is that I am afraid of disturbing the layer of warmer water that lays at the bottom of the pond. The 4 degree water or for us folks south of the border the 38 degree water. From what I understand it is almost like a bubble and if you disturb it then it will break up. Also I would imagine that if you are constantly pumping it out of the pond it will mix with the colder water and lower its temperature. Do you feel that it would harm the fish to disturb this "bubble"? I have a relatively small pond 350 gallons that domes down in the middle so there is not much of the warmer water there to begin with. Also I don't face South or get direct sun in the winter because it is next to my garage which is South of it. In the Summer it gets plenty of direct sun. Thank you for your comments. Keith

 

[Calgary_Aquaculture]

Comet keith provides a great variable in the topic for discussion.

The variables at play when the pond is not running is aeration and gas exchange. Most people use aerator stones or rubber membrane defuses.

The question is what is happening to the water when these are used? Cold ambient air is injected into the pond water at the bottom of the pond where some is dissolved into the water while the rest exits the pond causing gas exchange.

I really do hope everyone uses aerators for both aeration and keeping a hole in the ice. if you do use a heater, please put it on an analog timer or just unplug it when it is warm.

dissolved oxygen is used for three things in a pond: Fish, Decay and plants. all three of these must have oxygen in the winter.

But the real variable is will the fish benifit more from 4 degree water or 2.3 degrees less with very healthy water. Lets take out the fact that aerating the water will drop the temperature just the same as running the water.

I will be honest, I have serviced over 300 ponds in Calgary and one thing I know for sure is that a lot of ponds need more than one air stone. while a pond can have nice decay around the air stone, across the pond through a narrow area (perhaps the pond narrows for a bridge) the pond may not be getting oxygen and have anaerobic decay (oxygenless decay).

a good way to test this on a smaller pond is the water in your skimmer in the spring when the pond is ready to start up. make a point of pumping the water out of the skimmer before you hook up the line. That water is almost always stagnant and smells like rotten eggs. Don't pump it into the clean aerated water.. oops I am off topic.

I don't have a lot of substantial evidence for this and I don't like to just assume anything, but I do think the fish do better with a healthier water over the temp difference. water quality is key.

I will be honest. pond builders up here build ponds with no filtration and tell the clients that a pond will filter themselves. Scary isn't it?

 

[addy1]

Yes that does happen. A lot of people don't really understand ponds, just the fact they want one.

 

[Calgary_Aquaculture]

how can you blame them for wanting a pond; ponds are poetry in motion when they are built correctly.

 

[addy1]

how can you blame them for wanting a pond; ponds are poetry in motion when they are built correctly.

Totally agree, I have had one at every house I have owned, built by me. First ones were pretty small.

 

[DrDave]

That has always been one of the first projects for me, build a pond. This home of 18 years now has evolved to 3 ponds.

 

[CometKeith]

So Calgary or anyone else that might know, I have two airstones running in my pond to keep a hole and I add 5 gallons of treated water a few times a week that is room temp to keep the hole open and add water to the pond. There is at least 2 ft of snow on the pond. I would have to wade through 4 ft drifts to get to it now. How important do you think it is to keep the hole open right now? I have heard about heavy snow resulting in fish kills, but don't know if they had aeration or not.

 

[DrDave]

Your pond is so small that I would definetley keep it from freezing over. With only 400 gallons, that could become a solid cube overnight with the weather we are having.