Winter pond

[johnkeegan]

I just put in a pond this year and I've decided to let it run through the winter.
Nice effect with the snow covered falls and a stream running under under the walk...with lighting on the falls and under the "bridge."

Have any of you in the colder zones attempted this for you or your customers?

Anything I should be wary of ...that you learned the hard way?

[livingwaters]

The only proplems I have seen, working in Colorado, was leakage. The falls freeze and push the flow over the liner.
Just something to check up on.

[4seasons]

We have ran them in the winter, looks sweet! Just keep checking water level.
And make sure it doesnt freeze in the pipes.
Has anyone ever built a falls with the ground frozen. I have the liner, underlayment, padding, and crane ready. Just dont know what a 3ton stone will do to my liner.

[johnkeegan]

Be careful. We did a long falls early last spring. Alot to the backfill soil was frozen. When it thawed we had problems with the grade dropping in a few spots and causing water loss. The ground under that boulder may also settle unevenly.

[RHayden]

Ice dams are the only problem we've ran into as well. A couple of clients use the floating livestock tank heaters but I really don't think they are necessary but it makes them feel better.

[Keith N]

The only problems I have seen are broken checkvalves. The other problem is getting a call to pull pumps after it is frozen that water is COLD!

[johnkeegan]

..I bought some neoprene gloves just for that purpose.

[4seasons]

John that was a concern as well....
but I would probably wait til its thawed even if its muddy.

[Cobble]

20 degrees below zero this morning in the Chicago suburbs. Pond and falls are running fine. Looks beautiful with the ice and snow and well worth the expense of running the pump. The stream has become a wonderful place for wildlife to find water! I agree....be aware of the water level....as the ice forms on the edges of the stream you can loose water from run off but it is not a major problem.

[Stonehenge]

Cobble - what are the dimensions of your pond?

[johnkeegan]

Glad to hear your's is doing well. I'm jealous..I had to shut mine down a few weeks ago. I starting losing water somewhere and with all the snow and ice I had a hard time diagnosing the problem. I know it was partially a damning problem but I think there's a problem elsewhere, as well.
It's all a learning process though, so I figure come spring I can put on my problem-solving hat and reassess things.

[Cobble]

Stonehenge -- The pond is about 16' by 22'. the stream is about 25' long with a total elevation drop of about 3'. The deepest part of the pond is about 3 1/2' deep. The home has a 13kw whole-house, natural gas, back-up generator so there is never a fear of loosing electricity and having the pump and lines freeze. The pond is home to 12 koi ranging in size from about 10" to 28".

[scl]

I am north and west of cobble by about 130 miles and we have not shut down or had any problems in the extrme cold. Can't see much though. All ice and snowed over. My dogs still stick their noses in the skimmer to get a drink though. Only problem I had was earlier I was cleaning debris and bumped the outlet pipe, broke the check valve in half. Hour fix and back running. As said previously, you really have to track the water level. 3 years back I had a huge pond project that the client let go low on Super Bowl Sunday while the Bears were playing. I was out for 3 hours in 10 degree weather just getting it going for them. Missed half the game but my Bears were getting kicked anyways LOL!

Scott

[Stonehenge]

SCL, I can't believe you went out on Superbowl Sunday to fix a pond. You, my friend, are more dedicated than I.

I was interested in dimensions because we did one that was roughly 50'x80', 4' deep at the deepest point. We learned halfway through the project that the GC and the client wanted the thing to run all winter. (Ok, it'd been nice to know that a few months earlier!) I was nervous about freeze-ups, so I emptied two bags of rock salt into the pond in late November (this was not a fish pond - long story - just know that nothing was harmed in the salination of the pond). We got one of the harder freezes we'd had a few months later, and the thing was fine.

Though on one very cold day (in the -15F to -20F range) the client tripped the breaker that supplied power to the pumps, and they stayed off overnight. Froze solid.

He didn't understand why the pumps wouldn't turn back on the next morning when the breaker was reset.

Surprised to hear how well some of these smaller ponds are doing in the extreme cold. Good to know.

[uniscaper]

Stone
Just a quick side note. We had a pond we were working with that had Koi problems that was about 30k gallons and put in 900 pounds of salt to heal the fish. Blew me away but it worked so 2 bags of salt in your pond was nothing.
I also put salt in my freshwater aquarium to keep the fish healthy. I was told I should put up to 1 lb of salt in my 55 gal. I haven't had the guts to put that much in but I do put in 1/4 to 1/2 pound at every water change.

Sorry everyone that has nothing to do with winter running.

[johnkeegan]

Is it possible that the ice can get so thick that it does not flow properly into the skimmer? If the ice is say 10" thick doesn't the actual water level then also drop below the skimmer opening...Or at least greatly restrict the flow. (Again, some of these things I was hoping to observe myself before I got water loss issues and had to shut 'er down for the winter.)

[scl]

I keep a heater in front of the skimmer, used to use a stock tank heater, then bought the 100w pond heater (cheaper to run). All works well. As long as your water is moving, you shouldn't see more than 3-4" of ice. The deeper the skimmer hole, the better off you are. Snow cover helps with insulating. I've even used a bubbler, (aquarium areator) and while it does work, it will create an ice bubble that your dog can break through, causing you to rescue your dog in 0 degree weather and falling through the ice, therefore freezing your walnuts off. (Sound like a true story?)
As far as salt, I check with a salinity meter, and keep a healthy level. It relieves stress on your fish. My pond is about 10' x 17', about 1300 gallons, and I can safely drop a 50 lb. bag of solar salt in it. It doesn't do much for the freezing, can't imagine what the concentration for that would be,but its good for the fish.

[johnkeegan]

It's good to hear about the benefits of the salt because I was somewhat concerned about spreading calcium chloride on my stone walk that crosses over the stream. I thought I had to choose between breaking my neck on the icy walk and killing the fish.
...Dilemma solved.