Testing water at different temperatures?

[Bossman]

Does the temperature of the water make a difference when testing? My water temperature this morning was 40 degrees but in the summer it is in the 80's.

 

[Jhn]

If you are testing for the normal water parameters....No, not really. If you are testing Oxygen levels, it should be higher as colder water holds more oxygen. Your fish slow down at lower temps, so they aren’t producing as much waste, many of the various bacteria population that aid in the nitrogen cycle go dormant at colder temps as well, but not all. The only time you may see a fluctuation in Water quality is coming out of winter into spring, when the fish become more active before the biofilter gets going, which is why many people experience a short lived algae bloom until their pond comes into balance again. Although a well planted pond will prevent this early algae bloom.

 

[Gazzas pool]

Does the temperature of the water make a difference when testing? My water temperature this morning was 40 degrees but in the summer it is in the 80's.

That's pretty dam cold, I hope my oranda will survive that temperature in the winter months if it gets that cold at the bottom stata of a 22inch pond 8-}

 

[Lisak1]

There's no "strata" at 22 inches @Gazzas pool . The water should be slightly warmer at the bottom, especially in an in-ground pond. But stratification occurs in deep bodies of water.

 

[Gazzas pool]

There's no "strata" at 22 inches @Gazzas pool . The water should be slightly warmer at the bottom, especially in an in-ground pond. But stratification occurs in deep bodies of water.

At what depth do stratas occur Lisak1 then, will I get away with raising my pump up to a 10 inch shelf and have the waterfall run 24/7 thru winter or should I shut it down and run the fountain via the solar on occasion at the 10inch shelf height? We rarely get a heavy frost on our coast where a 2inch +frost occurs on still waters

 

[GBBUDD]

10 the temps of that area and the temps outside will be the closest to each other

 

[Mmathis]

@Gazzas pool If you mean thermoclines, I think you are talking in the neighbor hood of many, many feet of depth. More like what you would find in a lake, not a small backyard body of water. My pond was 4’ at its deepest. At the most, I noticed maybe 1/2 degree difference between the surface temp and bottom temp.

 

[brokensword]

At what depth do stratas occur Lisak1 then, will I get away with raising my pump up to a 10 inch shelf and have the waterfall run 24/7 thru winter or should I shut it down and run the fountain via the solar on occasion at the 10inch shelf height? We rarely get a heavy frost on our coast where a 2inch +frost occurs on still waters

you won't get any substantial thermocline until you get at least 10' down and even then, there's mitigating factors. If you raise up the pump and have the waterfall on, you will be mixing the upper and lower. There IS some advantage to not doing this but you're also helping oxygenation, which is good if not as beneficial in the winter (because cold water holds more O2 than warm and your fish don't need as much.). You don't hardly have frost let alone ice, so I'd not worry about it and just keep them both on.

 

[Gazzas pool]

you won't get any substantial thermocline until you get at least 10' down and even then, there's mitigating factors. If you raise up the pump and have the waterfall on, you will be mixing the upper and lower. There IS some advantage to not doing this but you're also helping oxygenation, which is good if not as beneficial in the winter (because cold water holds more O2 than warm and your fish don't need as much.). You don't hardly have frost let alone ice, so I'd not worry about it and just keep them both on.

Is that 10 ft or inches, we do get ice but rarely still frozen up to the next evening, I didn't want to cycle the lowest 10 inches if I didn't have to unless the whole 20 or so inches would be same temp anyhow

 

[Gazzas pool]

@Gazzas pool If you mean thermoclines, I think you are talking in the neighbor hood of many, many feet of depth. More like what you would find in a lake, not a small backyard body of water. My pond was 4’ at its deepest. At the most, I noticed maybe 1/2 degree difference between the surface temp and bottom temp.

What's all that I heard about koi needing a bare minimum of 3ft, ideally 4ft to guard against the cold of winter & =>

 

[brokensword]

Is that 10 ft or inches, we do get ice but rarely still frozen up to the next evening, I didn't want to cycle the lowest 10 inches if I didn't have to unless the whole 20 or so inches would be same temp anyhow

that's feet so you won't get any thermocline. There might be a few degree difference IF you didn't mix but nothing appreciable. When I measured last winter, top and bottom (and under my winter tent, btw) the water was about 36F near the bottom and of course, nearly 32 at the top. I got just a thin coating of ice under the tent, mainly because there were some holes I didn't notice and patch before setting up. I like the idea of just disturbing the surface a bit to keep any ice from forming over totally.

If you get ice, it will actually insulate, especially if you have snow on top. That though, creates a problem in that it's a good thing to have sunlight piercing the ice as much as possible. Some suggest clearing the snow actually helps via more oxygenation from the algae below. Most fish kills on lakes and ponds comes from too long a period of snow and ice coverage. Keeping a hole open allows any buildup of toxic gases from the rotting debris below, to escape. That's the main purpose of doing so, not for oxygenation. This process happens to use up oxygen whereas the algae gives it off.

 

[Mmathis]

What's all that I heard about koi needing a bare minimum of 3ft, ideally 4ft to guard against the cold of winter & =>

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about 22”.

 

[Gazzas pool]

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about 22”.

No, you were well informed Mmathis, I miss understood the situation regarding shallow waters like mine,
It seems I just need to concentrate on making sure my pond doesn't freeze solid which is very unlikely given my location and in the event of a freeze over, keep a breathe opening to allow possible toxin build up to escape ;-}

 

[Gazzas pool]

you won't get any substantial thermocline until you get at least 10' down and even then, there's mitigating factors. If you raise up the pump and have the waterfall on, you will be mixing the upper and lower. There IS some advantage to not doing this but you're also helping oxygenation, which is good if not as beneficial in the winter (because cold water holds more O2 than warm and your fish don't need as much.). You don't hardly have frost let alone ice, so I'd not worry about it and just keep them both on.

Thanks, in my case my pond is probably too shallow to have any difference in top to substrate temperature, but if it were say 6ft deep, surely by raising the pump to a say 1ft shelf would just circulate the top couple of feet with the waterfall on from that pump just curious,, the pump on my shelf would probably still circulate the water from the substrate,,,,, very slowly but enough to completely even up any temp difference. Am crossing my fingers for my Orandas n we're still in mid summer lol, but 16°C cooler than a week ago

 

[Lisak1]

You'll hear that 3-4 feet depth quoted frequently for koi - here in the Chicago land area, I've visited dozens of ponds that are 24 inches deep where koi live year round. Either keep the pond running or find a way to keep a hole open in the ice and they'll be fine. And I can guarantee you we get far more than a thin sheet of ice on our ponds here. We run our pond year round and have never had an issue with fish in the pond.