Water Temperature Issues

[LuapYllier]

I am having an issue with my pond water temperature. I live in North Florida and the sun has been kicking pretty hard last couple weeks. The pond was filled and started at the end of last summer so I didn't really have this issue but my temps are now in the mid 80's range. The sun hits it from early morning to around 11 am. I have ordered a sunscreen that I intend to install but the shipping has taken over two weeks so far and I am not even certain it will help even when installed. If the water is too cold you can use a heater, but what can you do if it is too hot? I have done two 40% water changes wish cold fresh tap water in the last week and it has done almost nothing to the water temps. I thought maybe ice but who is going to buy a bag of ice every day to dump in a pond and have it last for maybe an hour at little effect. Also the pond itself is made of concrete so I think it is holding the heat and dissipating it back to the water even after the sun moves on. Even in the middle of the night it barely gets below 80 for the last several days.

Any ideas?

 

[IPA]

What are you keeping in the pond, goldfish, koi? 80 degrees isn’t the worst. Make sure to keep your pond under stocked. How deep is it on average? Try and have your pump drawing water from about the middle depth of the pond so as to not disturb the colder water on the lower layer. How many gallons is your pond? You should try and not do any water changes, water chemistry changes, especially sudden ones are probably worse than slowly changing water temps. I’ve added ice to my ponds before, live in 8a, but now I just let them go. I won’t feed the goldfish much if any during the hottest weeks during the summer.

 

[LuapYllier]

Most of the info on my pond is in my sig...it is about 300 gallons, 2 feet in the shallow area and 3' in the deep. Pump pulls from the bottom, nothing I can do about that at this point. Current temp is 86 degrees at the bottom (really anywhere I measure...it is well balanced). I have 6 goldfish and 4 pleco's.

I didn't know about the feeding thing.

 

[IPA]

I guess sigs don’t show on the mobile version. Here is a picture of my intake raised.

If your pump is pulling from the bottom then the whole pond will be the same tempertaure

 

[Tula]

300 gallons is a small volume of water, so will heat up quickly. On the plus side, at that size you should be able to buy a patio umbrella to shade it with. I would not perform water changes to adjust the water temperature, I think it's too big an adjustment for your fish.

Shade, aeration and water movement are all positives.

 

[WaterGardener]

Just so you know, pelcos are not good companion fish for goldfish. They have been known to suck the slime coat off the fish, causing ulsers on the fish and sometimes killing them. They do fine for a while, but as they get bigger, the plecos can turn on the goldfish.

 

[LuapYllier]

I will keep an eye on the Plecos thanks.

My pond has a bottom drain and external pump. It is not submerged.

 

[Mmathis]

Agree with @Tula.

 

[IPA]

I’ve seen cold water tanks set up for aquariums that have a coil of tubing running into and back out of a small refrigerator.