pond in frederick, md

[taherrmann4]

I can check with the gal I bought them from, see if she will have some for sale next spring.

Addy can you see if this person you got the plants from is going to have any available this spring?

 

[CountryEscape]

I have the same aerator as you, Addy, thanks to your suggestion. I have it on my deck, with a tub over it to keep it out of the rain, and just that black tube going into the koi pond only. I used zip ties, attached a ceramic block and then the diffuser to a milk crate, and sank it in front of the skimmer. Only problem is that it's too far from the skimmer because of the shelf, so there is about 24" of ice from the skimmer to the air bubbler, which caused the skimmer pump to work too hard to suck the water in, so I shut it off. I have a good bubbler volcano going, too!
I'm trying to figure out which I like better, air bubbler or water bubbler. Of course, the water pump is not nearly as strong as the air pump, so that's not a fair comparison. The air is staying open larger area than the water at this point, but again, very large air pump, 1600 or 2400 water pump. Both are on milk crates (water pump and diffuser, that is).

 

[addy1]

I only have external pumps, my only option is the aerator. So far it is working great, except for one floating episode lol

 

[callingcolleen1]

Oh my goodness their must have been hot breath on the mirror cause it looks "steamy" he he he
Now for "cooler topic" he he, about that 4 inches of ice in lotus pond, is the lotus still below the ice? Will it come back froze so hard?

What about the fish in the deck pond? Are they still in there? You said it was froze solid, wondering what if the ice expands and busts the deck pond? Did you have much trouble last year with bubbler?

 

[addy1]

Last year we never got this cold, the bubbler did just fine. It just managed to get a little ice on it (in looking again, I think the tube into the water iced over and started shifting, made the diffuser move and float) and floated up to the surface. I sank it again yesterday, tied to a huge rock, it is doing fantastic, big hole in the big pond ice, small hole in the lotus tub ice. The first year of the pond (only 4 fish in it unknown to me any survive the ph death) it froze down 8 inches, deer where walking on it! That was a cold winter.

The lotus are below the ice, the tubers are about 16 inches deep, I also have rosey reds in there. If the lotus tubers froze they would die.
I went down to check pipes etc yesterday, could see those fish swimming around under the ice. There is a hole in the ice, I sent some air over there from the aerator. One of the small preforms is frozen pretty deep it has some small rosey reds, saw them swimming around under the ice also.

The deck pond fish are spending the winter in the house, nice and toasty. The deck ponds don't appear to have swollen or causing any issues. We built them with landscape timbers glued and nailed together. There is plenty of room for the ice to expand up. The spoiled in the house deck pond shubunkins, will go out into the new 1000 pond come spring. My plan right now, is to keep it a all shubunkin pond. I still need to set up the water input and water fall back into the big pond. Have to cut lines past the pump, put in a T and run some lines, put in a ball valve to control the water flow into the shubunkin pond. Next year it will need to be kept unfrozen for the fish, probably another T in the aerator line.
I am thinking of building a skippy type filter to place before the flow into the shubunkin pond, as the water going into it will be unfiltered from the big pond. I have 3 55 gallon barrels, one already piped and ready to go. Just need to change the filter material. I set it up to get rid of the fine debris from the pea gravel when we first built the pond. But also need to figure out how to plant it so it is not an obvious big white barrel sitting down there. Might dig it in some, run the bottom line way out to be able to drain it. The slope helps with this. Waterfall from the barrel into the tank.

The 1000 gallon tank has all of the pond lilies in it for the winter, they had even started to grow new leaves, which are now frozen in the ice. The water appears to be frozen down at least 4 inches, maybe deeper.

Once we get past this cold we pop back up to the 40's - 50's I am going to start to work on it. It will take some time

The bog is frozen solid.

 

[addy1]

Addy can you see if this person you got the plants from is going to have any available this spring?

Will do Tmann, I will even send her a message that I know of people that have interest in them. It is too early right now, they are dormant, the only time you move them is right before they start to grow.

 

[addy1]

This morning

 

[sissy]

says it is gonna be in the mid 50's on monday after this cold spell .Heater is doing it's job keeping ice off of my pond and it is extremely windy here ,pushed the chairs on the front porch sideways and woke me up

 

[addy1]

yep 55 next week, poor fish will be heated up again............
We are supposed to get a good snow smack tomorrow.

 

[sissy]

they are saying here it will not get past the new river valley ,so I hope they are right

 

[addy1]

The forecast varies from 3 inches down to one depends on when you look at the forecast. We will know when it happens lol

This is my tiny, but open ice hole in the lotus tub



The air volcano is doing its job




Snow melting fast now, a warm 25, full sun.

 

[sissy]

temp says it is 29 but with winds feels like 10 degrees .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Oh ya! That looks really good, nice job landscaping too! You got a big hole and the ice does not look too thick, I think that snow is making the ice look deeper that it really is. Never had any "Rosy Reds", going to ask the pet store if they have any, would like to have some for my pond out front. I am going to get the pond going out front come March, got lots of plans for the spring.
Can't wait to see you new pond up and in "action"! How exciting, a new pond for Addy to "play with" and it will help get the rest of us excited for spring.

 

[addy1]

I measure the edge away from the hole, it measured 2 inches yesterday, already melting. The new pond is about 4 inches, (I drilled a hole in the ice to check it out lol) Not insulated real well yet, the dirt stops about a foot from the lip of the tank, not water movement, no air. Next year with fish in it I will need to keep it open.

Rosey reds are a type of minnow. Some stores carry them as feeders. I started out with 3 ended up with xxx amount, had a ton of little ones, some wandered into the big pond, not sure they made it with the big fish in there.

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosies.htm

Mine are pinker than the picture above

 

[callingcolleen1]

Oh yes, now I see them, thanks! We just called them minnows up here and I used to have lots a few years ago, but as I got more koi they started to disappear!