what should I do differently next year?

[philip_g]

I tried to keep my small pond running all winter, I have friends that do and it works out OK for them in this climate. (zone 5) but we had a cold snap and when my waterfalls froze over I ended up with so much water trapped in ice the pump was sucking air, so unfortunately I had to pull the pump for fear of it finally freezing up. I have no fish in there, this was a trial run for what I wanted to do next year. It's a 5200 or so GPH pump I normally throttle back a little but I opened it up for max flow.

Should I just kill the falls and run a small heater? I don't really want to spend a ton on electricity. Maybe a bubbler? It is not a big pond but next year I'd like to winter some fish in it, hopefully successfully.

Water was flowing great under the ice cap, but the level had dropped so low I was concerned and the hoses are all frozen so I couldn't top it up. the pump sits in a skimmer box, not on the bottom and only had about 3" of water over it when I pulled it out. In the dark. When it was about -10. That was fun.

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

I have a 19000 gal pond w/fish that I have run 24/7 all year for 8 years. You should put a heater at the inlet of the pump that feeds your water fall. Also you need to have a large volume of water flowing through the water fall this will keep the falls open and an opening at the base of the falls. Do Not draw your water from the bottom of the pond if you do it will cool your entire pond. I hope this will help you. It was a good idea to try this first without fish.

 

[philip_g]

I didn't think to put a heater in the skimmer box, that sounds like a good idea, what kind of heater would you suggest? My friend used a stock tank type heater one year and it cost him about $150 a month in electricity, yikes.

 

[sissy]

I bought a 250 watt kh heater from petmountain and it only comes on when water hits a certain temp .Never checked to really see how much it cost to run since it does not get that cold here .Last year only ran it 2 times and I put mine right over top of my pump

 

[philip_g]

I bought a 250 watt kh heater from petmountain and it only comes on when water hits a certain temp .Never checked to really see how much it cost to run since it does not get that cold here .Last year only ran it 2 times and I put mine right over top of my pump

well, if it keeps the falls from freezing up too bad that would work great.

 

[sissy]

I bought a kill o watt tester and check what my electric uses are on each thing in my house .Electric is not getting cheaper .I think you may end up with your falls freezing some any way .I wish I could have gotten a smaller one but they did not offer the 100 watt one and this one was less than 30 dollars with free shipping ,I bought it the end of season after the 2010 winter here .I only use a 2150 pump in the winter and in the summer I add a 2900 gph pump to the mix ,2 filters and 2 waterfalls I need them both then .My pump is submerged around 2 feet under the water and my heater sits right over it .If it gets really cold I can raise the pump up to be closer to the heater .Both are tied to electrical conduit so all I do is raise the rope tied to the pump .Tried to keep it easy and fast ,just in case .

 

[sissy]

How big is your pond and how deep ,that may help .The kh one has a thermostat and can be submerged or can float .My pond is around 7 thousand gallons with 2 koi that are just over 2 feet long and several other fish .It has been 11 years for my pond and I have not lost 1 fish

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

I use 2 1500 watt tank heater you can buy them cheaper than buying from a pond store.

 

[philip_g]

pond is 2' deep at the deepest with a 1' shelf and the skimmer box is probably about 10" or so deep where the pump sits I would estimate. I'm fine with the freezing I just can't let it ice up so bad as it did this year, it's been in the 50s and 60s even for a week or 2 now and it's still an ice block, maybe today I'll put the pump back in and see if I can circulate some water and thaw it out, then I can get a heater on order and try it out this winter to be safe for next. I'll try that k&h 100w, the 250 might be a little much if you think it's too much for your setup.

I guess I wouldn't have thought a de-icer would make much difference in the skimmer box, that's a nice cheap solution.

 

[dieselplower]

That is not very deep for overwintering in CO. How many gallons is the pond? What I would do is put a 300 gph fountain pump on the 1' shelf and aim it towards the surface so that it shoots the water up just an inch or two above the surface. Do not put an actual fountain attachemnt on the end, just an extension tube. That is what I do and it works well. I have not needed a heater and my pond has not frozen over. The picture below is single digit temps.

 

[dieselplower]

All other pumps are shut down. All flowing the water does is allow it to cool faster, sometimes to below 32 degrees. There is no benefit to that. The fish are trying to do as little as possible down on the bottom. The don't want the current. They also are barely eating, and breathing less, so less waste is produced. No filter is required.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Philip, your pond looks small, so it will not matter where you put your pump, the water will still be the same temperture. I would not run the water fall in the winter, rather I would move the hose to near the surface of the pond and get a small heater like Sissy says. You could use a bubbler too cause you do not get too cold like here in zone 2/3 like me,

I have been running my ponds non stop for well over twenty years now, and my ponds are only three feet deep max. I have about 4000 gallons of water between the three connecting ponds, and I use one 1250 watt heater for all three connecting ponds, so you should be good with a 250 watt heater as you don't get real cold like me, early December we had minus 40 degree tempertures. If your fish are small then they will not require as much oxygen as very large Koi do.

My large koi have been outside and exposed to minus 40 degree weather for over twenty one winter seasons now, and I would strongly recommend keeping the pond filtered and running a pump all year for very large koi, and not worry about how cold the water is, rather worry about how much ice is smothering the pond and then the deadly gases can build up. Very large fish die off first if there is any shortage of oxygen in the pond, as they need much more oxygen than small fish. I have seen many of my friends lose big fish in the winter, over the many years, with just a bubbler and heater, I think a bubbler is not good for very cold zones like me as too much ice can build up. Running water gets rid of the ice much faster so the fish will not run out of oxygen.

I cannot understand why so many people worry about the water being cold and don't worry enough about the fish getting smothered under too much ice for too long. My water is always barely above freezing in winter, top or bottom, been that way for well over twenty seasons now, since 1991 actually! My Koi are very old and never get sick or seen any strange illness. Goldfish and Koi are cold water fish and so cold water cannot hurt them in my experience of over twenty years.

it is like this..... I never go fishing for "Whitefish" in the creeks or rivers here during the summer because the warm water makes them taste funny and they can have worms in the summer.... but if you go ice fishing, the fish taste so much better pulled right out of the ice cold lake because the ice cold water kills the bugs and worms and keeps them fresh!! Koi and Goldfish are really the same, (I do not eat my Koi or Goldfish) but that is probally why they are so healthy in my ponds now for well over twenty years, because I keep them outside all winter in ice cold RUNNING water!

 

[dieselplower]

Oh, I just saw the picture of the pond for the first time. That does look like it will be difficult to keep open. The reason I suggested the method I use is because it does not seem like the OP is excited about raising his electric bill by $150 a month like his friend did. I actually decrease my expenses in the Winter. Keep in mind, the fish are in a hibernation like state. Their breathing is greatly reduced. The water is also cold, and cold water does hold more oxygen. There are many ways to successfully Winter a pond but I will say this, if that pond is as small as it looks, it's probably not a good idea to keep any Koi in there anyway.

 

[sissy]

The only reason i went with a 250 watt ones is that was all I could find but now see they have more sizes and cheaper prices on them .You can compare prices on webbsonline .They show you who sells it the cheapest and all the sizes .we do not get too cold here because I live 15 minutes from the NC border so it stays warmer .Really there is no pond the same and no weather pattern the same and sometimes you have to try and fail .I know for years no pond heater worked for me and I made a bubbler with a submerged pump and hose and pvc pipe with holes drilled in it and an end cap on the pvc .Hose from pump fits tight inside pvc pipe
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[sissy]

sorry the pics are so big camera was not set for size of pics correctly