Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Water Temp. What is too hot?

Im in Phoenix AZ. Every summer i have been loosing the biggest fish. My pond is only 6 feet deep. What is the max temp. catfish and bluegill can handle?

What stratigies are used to cool water?

Hey azpond, I'm in Phoenix as well. Only had pond for a year but made it through last year's brutal 110+ days with my smallmouth. Pond was pushing 90-95 degrees during that time.. Pond is only 6' deep as well. I think the circulation of my aerator and waterfalls assisted, but other than shade it's one that's hard to crack. Where are you located? How large is the pond?

Im in gilbert. pond is about 40 x 70'. i have an aerator. no waterfalls.

I was considering putting some water dye in my pond this year to shade the water itself. Does anyone have experience with dyes? Since it's shading water from light penetration does it also keep the pond marginally cooler??

What's the ground temp at say 3-6 ft underground in the summer? You might be able to circulate your hot water into a huge heat sink (the earth) with a pump and a big loop of several hundred feet of pipe underground and back to the pond and cool it off some if the ground temps are considerably cooler than surface temps.

Halfastro has a good idea, albeit not cheap... Check to see what the mean temp is for your area. If you pump enough water around say 5 feet down, it should cool that water off substantially before it comes back up to the pond. Almost like a geothermal heating or cooling system.

If you have 110VAC available for the pump and your soil is reasonably easy to dig in, it shouldn't be that expensive if you do the work yourself. Maybe a couple hundred $ for the motor and pump. PVC pipe is prety cheap. Plastic tubing might even be cheaper but I'd be afraid of crimping it. You will invest some sweat in it for sure.