Dropping the brood pond 3' today to get ready for Sunday's seine. This last week's weather has made the draining problematic since I didn't want to drop the pond with warm water. Increased crowding, warm water, and potential decreased DO due to the RBT crowding, all made my decision easy though. I was waiting on this cold snap to lower the water temp, and it hit perfectly. Yesterday at 04:30, the outdoor air temp was 68 degrees. This morning, it bottomed out at 31 degrees. I think that's low enough to hold the colder water until Sunday, and all should go well.
I've also been taking almost daily water temps at the surface, 3', 5', and 12' down. What I found was that once I hit 3', the water temp remained the same all the way to the bottom of the pond (12'). I also found that wind affects the surface temp greatly. Basically, the stronger the wind, the quicker the air temp drops or raises the pond's surface temp. Knowing that gives me options.
Since I already have the 3" water pump set up to drain the pond, I wanted to figure out a quick and easy way to take advantage of the warmer or lower subsurface water temp depending on whether I needed a slightly longer season for cold sensitive fish like tilapia, or cold weather fish like the RBT. I think I figured out a way to do this, and aerate the pond also. It only took a few pvc elbows I didn't already have, pvc I had laying around, and some quiet time to think. Whether it has merit or not, is something I won't know until I try it. I have to admit Cray's post about his LMB dying started all this. I sure hated it happened to him, but it made me realize I had no contingency plan if this same thing happened to the RBT. I hope I have one now.
I'll post some pics once it's set up, so when I do, please kick it around all you want. Won't hurt my feelings one iota, and I built it all with male/female fittings at the end of the pvc pipes, so changes only require altering or replacing the actual end pieces.
