Pond frozen over

[clark kent]

Thousand gallon pond. Zone 7a. 4000 GPH pump/filter system feeding a 2~3 foot high waterfall. This is my first winter taking care of the pond and the fish.

The temperature has been below freezing here for the past couple of days, (fifteen last night,) and the pond was frozen over this morning. The waterfall is still running, but the ice is about half to one inch thick right up to the waterfall . The fifteen or twenty common goldfish in there seem to be okay, they are still moving around some, although slowly, as to be expected I guess. I understand that the ice can prevent any aeration of the water and that could be bad for my fish.

I broke up the ice at a spot near the edge of the pond where I could easily reach and put a twelve hundred watt livestock trough heater in the resulting hole in the ice. It seems to be keeping three or four square feet of the pond around it clear of ice.

Is that good enough to provide air for the fish?

 

[Jhn]

If the waterfall is running then you are getting oxygen and gas transfer through the waterfall and should be fine as long as it stays running. The trough heater is more than enough keeping a 3-4 sq ft space open, as well.

 

[poconojoe]

Just as a mention...I don't know how hard you were banging on the ice to break a hole, probably not very hard considering it wasn't that thick, but banging on the ice can cause shock waves that can harm fish.

Also, does the stock tank heater have a guard around the heating element? You don't want to melt your liner.

All you need is a small hole somewhere in the ice to allow for gas exchange.

As stated, your waterfall helps with adding oxygen. Any disturbance on the water surface will help with that. Some of us have aerators with air stones suspended just below the surface for the winter. You don't want the air stones on the bottom during winter. It will infuse cold air in the warm bottom where the fish are hibernating.

Keep an eye on the pond surface where your waterfall hits. Make sure it keeps an area of open water. You dont want that to freeze solid and cause the water to spill over on top of the ice. That situation may result in water escaping the pond. Probably won't happen, especially if you have a good flow of water, but just keep an eye on it when you get long term sub-zero temperatures.

 

[sissy]

I live in Va 15 minute to the NC border and no ice yet on my pond but true like said an aerator and a heater will be better .I did what you did 1 year and learned my lesson .I saw the ice and a hole but that night around midnight I realized the ice was sagging down and went out in PJ's to find that I only had a little over a foot of water in the pond and it was snowing hard .I had to rush and hook hose up in the basement to add water from my well and just prayed my fish would survive the change in water temperature ,They did ,but i will never do that again . The water got diverted over the side where the ice was thick and i did not notice it .I added just enough water to make it safe for the fish and got a new pond heater and a aerator the next day .Scared the daylights out of me and it was after 4 in the morning before it had enough water to save the fish .I had to keep turning off the water every half hour or so ,i did not want to burn up my well pump since it is in the ground over 400 feet

 

[brokensword]

Just as a mention...I don't know how hard you were banging on the ice to break a hole, probably not very hard considering it wasn't that thick, but banging on the ice can cause shock waves that can harm fish.

+2


Never bang on the ice covering your pond; use pots of boiling water next time or plug in a deicer.

 

[Mmathis]

WOW, 1/2” to an inch of ice overnight?

 

[Nevermore44]

If the shape of your pond can do it.... what I’ve done many times is let the ice form ..... drill a hole into the ice (2-3” circle) and then actually pump out some of the water. This leaves the entire surface of the pond open to gas exhange and the water doesn’t freeze up below.... making an air gap

 

[Lisak1]

I really don't think your ice is that thick from a few days of cold weather, but the thickness of the ice isn't really the issue. If your waterfall is running you don't need to worry about keeping a hole in the ice. The moving water will do the trick for aeration.

 

[clark kent]

Yep. The ice was an inch thick at its thickest points, (I measured it) and it grew that thick over a 48 hour period. During Christmas, the temps here did not get above freezing for about three days, and dipped into the tens and twenties at night. That's a bit unusual here where the climate is pretty mild. A couple of inches of snow didn't help either. The temps got into the forties since then, and now the ice has all melted.

I didn't know about not banging on the ice. Acoustic shock, like fishing with dynamite? Anyway, no harm done. The fish appear to be doing fine. Didn't have any trouble with ice dams diverting water outside the pond either. The layout of the pond and waterfall was pretty good for preventing that.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ducdoc]

Free backyard pond ice skating ⛸

 

[Bluerooster]

I've had ice up to 3" on the pond. No adverse effects. The fish just went deep and hid out for the season. The falls kept running, so plenty of aeration.