When to start pump & waterfall

[Redbird]

Had record high temps in MN today melting a good amount of ice in pond...is there a rule of thumb for starting up (reinstalling as I removed and stored for Winter) pump and waterfall after Winter? Have some Spring pond fever. Been running (and still am) a pond breather. Half the ice is gone from surface area of pond. Have around 8 small goldfish

 

[Jhn]

Pretty much as long as ice can’t form and divert the water from the waterfall out of the pond I would turn it back on.

I never turn my pumps off as water can’t be diverted out of my pond by ice. Plus is during the winter the waterfall can create some interesting ice formations.

 

[poconojoe]

I would wait. March can be a month with wide temperature swings. Too much to risk just because you might have Spring fever.
Like just about everything that has to do with ponding, patience is paramount.

 

[GBBUDD]

i wish i could leave my pumps running. But then again this is the ponds third winter with no issues, due to shutting the pumps down. And this past fall i was not able to get half of the leaves out before the freeze due to traveling. I Have an air bladder running all winter long that i keep in the shallows. And with the current 50's the ice has only started to recedeas it was a foot thick from all the snow. So i thought i'd give it a little boosts by using the rhino bladder and main drain at the bottom of the pond and pump air under the ice. Even using an 120 it took about 3 hours to cut it's way through the ice. I was able to see 4 of my fish down there and surprisingly the algae is not to bad only a little string in a very thin slimy state where the air stone had been running all winter. I would or could have issues with the stream over flowing due to ice. I have very low sides tot he stream area , so i have to wait until its all clear of freezing.

 

[mrsclem]

Is it an external pump? If so I would wait until there are no more hard freezes.

 

[Mayank]

I would wait. March can be a month with wide temperature swings. Too much to risk just because you might have Spring fever.
Like just about everything that has to do with ponding, patience is paramount.

Hi @poconojoe I'm just curious. When is a good time to start the pumps and waterfall, etc? Also, what is the exact risk of starting the pumps in March with the temp swings? Risk to the equipment? My pump is the type that goes into the skimmer box and could it freeze? The highs everyday up to March 25th in the Detroit area are pretty much above freezing mostly in the 40s and 50s with lows in high 20s or higher.
Or, are you talking about risk to the fish?
Thanks in advance!

 

[brokensword]

you're worried about ice as that can either crack any filter boxes/drums or divert water via your waterfall. If the flow is strong, you'll be okay in March, but keep an eye in case the temps get much below 20, especially for more than a day or two. As long as the water moves, it shouldn't cause you problems. Generally, BEFORE I put a tent over my pond to keep it ice free, I always opened up my pumps April 1st. Now, I can keep them going all winter.

 

[Kirk44]

I started ours up Saturday. I wasn't planning to but it was so warm and I figured the sooner I could get that water circulating the sooner it would clear. The fish have been pretty active and grazing on the algae.

 

[GBBUDD]

I am in ct and pulled the trigger and fired the pond up fully this weekend. it was only a week ago i had a foot of ice on the pond . it did have some help melting faster with air bladders but none the less no below freezing the next 2 weeks so she is up and running now.

 

[Mayank]

Yup our pond's fully up and running also. Waterfall has biofilter (bag of bio balls, bag of sponges, three filter mats/ sheets) and because of koi we even added the pondMax 3600 external filter which is behind the arborvitae.

 

[GBBUDD]

I hope not many koi in there 16 sf surface area is pretty small for more then two and that's tight

 

[Mayank]

I hope not many koi in there 16 sf surface area is pretty small for more then two and that's tight

It's about 120 or slightly more square ft surface and yeah didn't know about the koi otherwise we'd probably have done things differently. There is one larger koi and six small ones. That is why we added the pond Max last summer. Now I'm wondering if we should add one more pond Max in series? But if numbers are OK then should I worry?
Also I'm happy to enlarge the pond to twice the gallons from current 1800 or 2000 approx to maybe 3500 or 4000 but how to do while still keeping the current fishies safe and happy?

 

[Mayank]

Sorry for "hijacking" you thread @Redbird btw what did you do? Did you start your pond waterfall?

 

[mrsclem]

It's about 120 or slightly more square ft surface and yeah didn't know about the koi otherwise we'd probably have done things differently. There is one larger koi and six small ones. That is why we added the pond Max last summer. Now I'm wondering if we should add one more pond Max in series? But if numbers are OK then should I worry?
Also I'm happy to enlarge the pond to twice the gallons from current 1800 or 2000 approx to maybe 3500 or 4000 but how to do while still keeping the current fishies safe and happy?

The test numbers are important but it looks like only a very small area of the pond has any depth. It looks like you have a shallow area all around the edge plus the island in the middle. Your small koi could end up 24-36".

 

[Redbird]

Sorry for "hijacking" you thread @Redbird btw what did you do? Did you start your pond waterfall?

No worries... I enjoy reading the posts as I am able to learn more about pond keeping. I actually started it today