Winterizing in S.D.

[Outlaw]

Hello~
I have been browsing this forum from time-to-time for info...finally making my 1st post!

I have a small pond in my backyard that started off as a pondless waterfall. Later dug the pond deeper, and widened it to accommodate fish & plants. I estimate it to be around 150-200 gallons, 15"-18" deep at deepest spot.. I have approx. 6 or 7 Shebunkins in the 3"-5" size range. Handful of floating water lettuce & Hyacinth plants. Really pretty basic setup.

Here's my question / concern. I am located in SE South Dakota. Our winters can be long / brutal. Last year I bought a submersible pond heater that was supposed to heat up to 500 gallons. After about a month of 'winter', my pond was completely iced over and the heater was frozen in the ice as well! Subsequently my fish were all dead in the Spring once the pond thawed. I returned the faulty heater. I figured the heater was broken...but I realized that it just plain couldn't keep the pond thawed! It was warm to the touch upon investigation.

So, this Winter I have more fish & want to attempt to winterize again and save the fish. I plan to remove my pump and put in a bucket of water in my house. I'm afraid if I leave the pump in & waterfall running I will get ice dams and the water could get diverted out of the pond etc. So, NO MOVING water this winter.

I was told by a friend to just try an aerator this winter instead of the heater. Any thoughts or advice from any of you!? Considering we spend a lot of time at or below 0 degrees, and my pond isn't huge, what can I do to prevent winter kill!?

 

[dieselplower]

That is a very small pond it it will not be easy to manage successfully where you live. I personally would either get a bigger and deeper pond or bring the fish in. If you do not want to do that I would suggest putting a pump in the pond that shoots water straight up so that it creates a sort of volcano of water at the surface. If you could have it shooting up directly under the water heater, you may be able to keep a hole open, but I am not sure if that will matter as the rest of the pond is not deep enough to go below the frost line so the rest of the pond will probably still freeze. As far as the air pump goes, I have no idea. Never tried that. The thing I dont like about it when I think about it is that the air going into the pond could be very very cold. This could cool the water below the freezing point but may not let the water freeze because it is moving too much. Could be total bs I dont know.

 

[mtpond]

I would take my fish indoors. Your pond is not deep enough to keep your fish in all winter. I'm in Montana and our winters get cold too. I have an aerator in my pond to keep it open and mine works so good that I have to pull the diffuser up to about a couple of inches from the top of the pond so it doesn't cool the bottom of the pond so much. My pond is almost 4 thousand gallons and 3 1/2 ft deep.

 

[Tula]

I would take my fish indoors. Your pond is not deep enough to keep your fish in all winter. I'm in Montana and our winters get cold too. I have an aerator in my pond to keep it open and mine works so good that I have to pull the diffuser up to about a couple of inches from the top of the pond so it doesn't cool the bottom of the pond so much. My pond is almost 4 thousand gallons and 3 1/2 ft deep.

I'm interested in suspending a few air stones, so they're not resting on the bottom of the pond. How did you keep your a few inches from the top? Thanks! Kim

 

[mtpond]

My air tubing is 3/8" ID weighted. I really like it cause in the summer I just throw it in the middle of the pond with the diffuser and it stays put, then in the winter I pull the tubing up and leave the extra tubing lay on the ground.

 

[Dave 54]

Outlaw it sounds as though your pond is to shallow to safely overwinter your fish , we keep koi and it is recomended that the depth of the pond is at a minimum 4ft deep 5 foot being the ideal depth.
When you say heater are you talking about those floating ones ?
If so in reality their job is to keep an hole in the ice .
We have a free standing pond and to insulate it against the cold we have wrapped two sheets of 22mm polystyreene , silversided bubble wrapp and recycled plastic roof insulation , we cover the pond with Policrabonate sheets to keep the cold air out and all pipes are lagged .
We decided to box our large filter unit in insulated again with 22mm polystyreene sheeting .
The roof of the filter housing is covered with quadruple thickness policarbonate sheeting and for good messure we placed an 800 watt oil heated radiator to warm the air around our filters .
It works like this , the oil gets to temperature the shuts off allowing the oil to slowly cool then at a et temperature it heats up again ,it works out cheaper to run than the 1kw inlin heaters we could use and our minimum temperature is 10c max 12-14c at less of a cost than the 1kw heater.
It may be an idea that next year you perhaps enlarge your pond so it can be insulated against the cold and get that much needed depth.
This way you wont get half the problems your having or losses either.

rgrds

Dave

 

[Tula]

My air tubing is 3/8" ID weighted. I really like it cause in the summer I just throw it in the middle of the pond with the diffuser and it stays put, then in the winter I pull the tubing up and leave the extra tubing lay on the ground.

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Not sure what ID weighted means, but pretty sure mine aren't I wonder is fishing bobbers would work and anchor them to the sides of the pond?

 

[dieselplower]

ID means inlet diameter

 

[Tula]

Thank you, dieselplower

 

[mtpond]

I feel that the air tubing you use in a indoor aquarium doesn't belong out in a pond. It is so light and it does not sink at all. Maybe bobbers would work but I haven't tried that. If you try it let me know if it works.

 

[Tula]

Maybe I do have weighted tubing. I will check the box. I bought an air pump for my pond.....it has black tubing and was rated for a 2000 gallon outdoor pond. See.....I'm learning This would be good news, as I could chuck the bobber idea! Kim

 

[adavisus]

A sturdy cold frame over the pond will help stop freezing by stopping the heat loss of ground warmth which is about 50ªf.

It can be as simple as an 'A' frame of 4x2's which bolt together easy, and sturdy 6 ml plastic for a cover. Call it a 'fish house' for Winter.

Within that more milder space, a pond heater or 'Bickal de-icer' would be an extravagant extra measure

While an aerator might be to some degree effective on a larger pond to keep the water moving and keep a hole open, you can run into the problem of circulating deadly super cooled water where the fish are, in a smaller unprotected pond.

There are other effective techniques for venting a pond in a brutal climate, I quite like letting ice go 3" thick, draining an inch of water below the ice plate to create a double glazing barrier and setting a vent over the melt hole... Needs checking every day, though...

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[Tula]

So far I've had good luck using my pond deicer. One year I used a couple air stones in addition, but they didn't rest on the bottom of the pond.

Very interesting information on a fish house for winter, thank you for sharing. Kim

 

[Dave 54]

We just lay quadruple layered policarpbonate across ours its far simpler .

rgrds

Dave

 

[Tula]

I had no idea folks covered their ponds . I would have previously believed they needed sunlight etc.......learning new things all the time. Kim