Winter Pond Temps

[addy1]

Addy, why do you call it your "pretend skippy"???

Well at this point is has very little filter material in it, built sort of like a skippy, water comes up from the bottom of the buried barrel, waterfall into the shubbie tank. I have a drain tube at the bottom to drain it. With our sloped land I can bury the 55 gallon barrel and still drain from the bottom.

I just ran a pipe down the middle of the barrel to a t with two side pipes coming out to send water back up through the filter material. I need to put a lot more filter material in it to have it really filter. Right now only about 1/3 of the barrel has filter material. I had impatiens growing out of the top of it this summer, they did great.

 

[MitchM]

I think the worst part of our winter has past now, and the bottom pond temperature is at it's lowest, 38.6F
There's a 2 foot deep layer of snow on the pond with maybe another 10 inches of ice.



The 2 pond breathers have kept their own area open to fresh air the whole time.
I'll be using them again next year. (unless you would like yours back Wayne.. )

 

[haver79]

Addy I like the look of your rock falls and love the impatiens in the top. May try adding some impatiens to mine this year.

 

[dereklawler]

Stop any feeding of your koi for the entire fall/winter season when your koi pond water drops below 55° F and stays there for ten to fourteen days, day and night. Once you stopped feeding for the fall/winter season, Do Not feed your koi even if your pond water temperature rises.

Note: There are two major reasons why you stop feeding your koi when pond water temperatures drop below 55° F.

1- The metabolism of your koi starts to slow way down with pond water temperatures below 55° and your koi can not digest their food. Your koi do not have a stomach, just a long intestinal tract, the food lays in their digestive tract and rots, causing death.

2- Even if your koi could digest their food at colder pond water temperatures of 55° or below, their waste would produce deadly ammonia in your koi pond water "that's the last thing you want going into a winter shut down".Hope this URL helps you http://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/5888698?articleid=5888698.

Plus, feeding your koi below 55°F will cause your ammonia levels to rise because the Good Bacteria in your pond filter that removes the "ammonia" from your koi pond water keeps slowing down as your pond water temperature drops and eventually stops functioning. DO NOT feed any kind of food with pond water temperatures under 55°F

 

[callingcolleen1]

I always quit feeding my koi here in early September or late August, as the nights get too cold and it is better that they eat the natural high Carb algae when the temperature drops as that is easy to digest than protein.

 

[MitchM]

My pond will be the last to thaw out, but even though it presently has a pretty thick ice cover (10 inches), the bottom water temperature has risen to 42F.
I was able to get the thermometer working again after freeing it from the ice.
I'm not sure what is causing the water temperature to rise. We still have full snow cover on the ground.
Perhaps there is some solar radiation starting to penetrate the ice and snow cover. Solar radiation maxed out at 946 watts/square meter today, according to my Davis weather station.
There's also the possibility that the thermometer is no longer accurate.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Good grief, you still have all that snow, is nothing melting at all Mitch? I looks like you have warmer weather and there should be water melting on top of the ice or are you still in pretty much all day shade?

 

[MitchM]

That was yesterday, Colleen. We had cloud cover pretty much, but today we have full sun.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I just came back from the river and big ice chunks are breaking up down here and they look to be two or three feet thick the ice on the river this year. {up stream of the warm power house}. So you should have an ice break up soon with these warm temperatures.

 

[waynefrcan]

What a location you have there! I have full open water for over 2 weeks and have done 2 partial water changes already.

 

[MitchM]

I've set up 2 temperature sensors for this winter, one at the 5 foot depth, one at 2 foot depth. I shut off all water circulation a few weeks ago and the temps have remained the same except when the sun is shining. Then, the temperature only varies by a few degrees.
I have an improved setup, with sensors from my Davis weather station being what I'm using this year.
Today I have some ice on the pond, water temperatures are 4C/39F.
Ruby red minnows are still active at various levels and no sign of the goldfish - they're probably at the bottom.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Interesting about the minnows being active, 39 degrees is pretty cold

 

[MitchM]

Yes, I don't know if you saw my post somewhere about a week ago, but I was finding new minnow fry at 44 degrees as well.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Yes, I don't know if you saw my post somewhere about a week ago, but I was finding new minnow fry at 44 degrees as well.

Wow, No I didn't. That's crazy!

 

[addy1]

with sensors from my Davis weather station being what I'm using this year.

I put some in my pond too, will be interesting to see what temps the pond reaches

I pulled the pump today, the bog cools the pond water, it went up 3 degrees since pulling the pump, a toasty 57f, but we are full sun, 70 degrees today.