Here is a picture of the pond this morning. It worked good taking it in the dark, well it is 9am and it is still dark here :o You can see that the thermo pond is doing it's "thing"

This pic certainly fits this new room! Nice one K!
Looks like you have a nice hole open from you aerator. What does that heater do exactly. From the pic it looks like it just melts the ice that touches it. :blink: Is there some sort of hole in the center of the heater?
t

I think that heater just warms the little ring in the middle so that gases can vent in and out of that small opening. KK, it's amazing you can keep an opening in the ice, however minute!

HOLY COW KK its only the middle of Dec. I know your in Canada but how far north are you? Can you see the North Pole from your house? Just kidding.
You sure look like you have everthing under control their.
If I were a koi I would want you for a owner. I might just ask you to move a wee bit closer to the equator. haha
I am in southern Ontario Canada and we are the same latitude as northern California. Lake Eire and Lake Ontario have quite a moderating effect this time of year. We get a lot less snow than Buffalo to the south.

Keepup the good work.
Wayne

We are supposed to get the big time cold again next week, UGH, I am trying to win this battle! I was feeling not too bad until you reminded me that it is only December!! Of course my tree and all my decorations should have been my first clue. I keep thinking about next year and what kinds of things I can come up with to do even better for the fishy's. I am thinking along the idea of building them a heated insulated "fish house" and filling in my pond some so I could actually fish them out to put them in the fish house!!! If they had a winter fish house then I wouldn't need such a deep cavernous hole for them to live in and hey, I might even see them once in awhile.

We won't be getting our 'real' ice until Jan-Feb. If that de-icer can handle your pond, our Allied will be making our little puddle into a spa!! :lol:

I'm keeping a real close eye on it! As soon as it starts to get colder again I am going to pop out the thermo pond and stick the allied in the hole! Trick is to get the thermo pond out before it freezes over again.

KK, something tells me (I still can't find the article I read researching my pond for midwest winters); but anyway seems to me the article read something like 3 feet and deeper, the thickness of ice is relative to the depth of pond.

That's why I went 3 feet deep with my pond. (Don't tell anyone, city regulations say I'm not supposed to be deeper than 2.5 ft.) I'm wondering since you're pond is 8-9 feet deep; if it was shallower would the ice be thinner.

I am soooooooooooooo tell'n

Ok John, I am going to need our resident scientist to help with this ice thickness and water depth thing!!! My brain can't comprehend the meaning of that! So, ROBYN...........HELP! Hey I just thought of something, I could ice auger into the big pond as it is shallow and then do the same to the deep pond and compare! I don't want to know what the ice depth is in the big pond though as I am sick with worry about the fish in there as it is :(

John you are a bad, bad, boy! :lol:

K, you certainly have been working hard to keep the hole open. I feel for ya. You are fighting a good fight against Mother Nature and sounds like you have some pretty good tools to do it with. You go girl!!

Shallow ponds tend to freeze down farther. Deeper ponds have a larger depth to surface area ratio which means they have a larger "heat sink" of water in the pond so they freeze less. It's all about the thermal carrying capacity or something like that. You'll notice when the first cold weather hits, it's the tiny ponds and shallow ponds that get the first ice not the big ponds which have more water to heat. Conversely in the spring, the big ponds will hold their ice longer as it takes longer to heat up all that water. Ice and snow also acts as a blanket to keep cold and wind off of the remaining water under the ice. What matters (for how far the pond will freeze down) is both the total volume and the ratio of depth to surface area. All of this is assuming there is no added aeration, heaters, de-icers, etc. which change things. Obviously, a single de-icer can easily keep a little shallow pond from freezing solid but not a large deep one (although it should keep a little hole open). Of course, if we're talking about KK's climate, no matter the size, it's all ice!

You guys ARE just talking about the surface being all ice aren't you?? Not like the whole depth of the pond right? OMG I feel a panic attack coming on!!!!!!!!!!! Please tell me no one is saying that my pond will freeze to the bottom?????? I am going out there in the dark RIGHT NOW and drilling a hole!

Relax. Your pond won't freeze to the bottom . You have done a good job with the depth of the pond and protecting it. Just keep that hole open.
Wayne

Thank You Wayne!! I just came in now. I got a big a** drill and a big a** bit but I couldn't even make a dint in that ice to check the depth. I guess I will have to get the old auger out tomorrow and give my arms a work out. I pulled the thermo pond out and put the allied in, then I took the allied out and put the thermo pond back in because the thermo pond makes a bigger hole and if the allied died, then I wouldn't be able to put the thermo pond back in so I thought since the thermo pond is doing its job and keeping the hole in the ice open then I should just keep the allied for an emergency. I just don't trust that thing anyhow. I know the thermo pond I can trust. I got my "warning pump out" Christmas tree lights up on the pond anyhow. It looks gay but at least I can just look outside and know the aerator is on!!!

K I was just looking at some of your summer pics. Question. Is your pond raised so the water level is above the ground level.

The pond is only raised a foot above ground, the other 8 are in the ground. Basically the foot that is above ground was evaporated before winter hit.

The question I have in this whole matter is this. Will my pond freezing affect my skimmer box? My pond is about 18" deep in the middle. I do have a tank heater in there right now (yes, I plan on paying out the wazoo for electricity), and I still have the waterfall running.

Do I shut down the pump and put her to rest for the rest of the winter in a five gallon bucket of water in my garage?

I will leave a heater in the pond to keep my oxygen levels up for my goldies, but when it does freeze, is there a possibility that my skimmer box could crack?

Thanks for the advice!

Sorry KK to give you a heart attack! I was being sarcastic! Your pond won't freeze to the bottom (or will it :o ).

Bogey, what zone are you in? Since your pond is pretty shallow, I would say to turn of your waterfall if you are in Zone 6 or lower. If you turn off the pump, most new pumps can be stored dry but, if you're not sure, you can store it in a bucket of water.

I've never had a skimmer but your concern about freezing in the skimmer is one of my own. I hope others who do have skimmers can tell you what happens to their skimmers when it's really cold. I would think any skimmer you buy would be built thick and strong enough to not actually crack if they freeze (partially or fully).

My heater sits in front of the skimmer so I don't think it freezes (I should look inside), but the waterfall box definitely freezes, although it doesn't have much water in it.............geez, I suppose I should have taken the filters and the charcoal out of the darn thing.....ooops. I wouldn't think freezing would do much harm, but it will be very brittle when frozen if you happened to bump it or if the lid was weighted down so the water couldn't expand as it froze you might have a problem.