Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Winterkill Prevention

I've got my winter water supply finished, a submersible pump in a tub dug into the stream is supplying 12GPM to the pond.
The insulated water line runs 120ft. from the stream up to the pond and should be able to keep the pond level up and provide oxygenated water to the trout, that's if it doesn't freeze.

The pond has 1/2 inch of ice now and the forecast is for 4 to 8 inches of snow tomorrow.
The aerator runs 24-7 now and has a decent opening in the ice and I also have a submersible pump in 4ft of water keeping an open area near the dock.


The 2 inch gravity feed pipe is on the right, it puts out 60gpm and runs 300ft. up above the waterfall, but I will shut it down soon so it doesn't freeze solid. The insulated pump line is on the left.

ADP,

A 60 gpm flow will freeze?! Are you sure?

Yeah Cecil I had it freeze up once, last winter I would start it up sometimes when the temps would stay above 10 degrees, and one night it dropped to 2 below and it froze, but it thawed that afternoon when it got into the 30's.

I elevated the pipe so it would have a continuous even downhill slope so that there wouldn't be any air pockets to reduce flow, but being elevated doesn't let it get insulated by the snow pack.
The weather station showed 7 degrees up there this morning but the stream water was 37 degrees 3 days ago so it should still be flowing. Atleast I have the insulated line and pump putting water to the pond.

Last Winter

I just can't believe there would be air pockets in a 60 gpm flow in a pipe that small! It doesn't take much water movement to impede freezing. Are you sure it's 60 gpm?

Yep, it fills a 6 gallon bucket in about 5 seconds.
The problem with air pockets happened with my 3 pipes that are 1 1/4 inches in diameter. They run along the ground and have ups and downs over the rough terrain with a max flow of 12gpm each, so when I put in the 2" pipe last year I wanted to make sure I got max flow.
Also there's alot of air bubbles in the stream water cause of the rapid flow across the rocks.
A 300ft pipe run in below zero temps tends to harden the water.

Cecil, This is what a million gpm of cold water does in winter but I can run 4 gpm of my 42 degree well water thru 300 feet of garden hose all winter to keep my pond open.

www.flickr.com/photos/mandj98/252792361

What a man won't do to keep his trout alive...

My pond only has 3 feet of water and the aerator going 24/7. One trout and 3 PSs released back to the pond in October. Some small PS servived the summer in about a foot of water.

Can't wait till spring when the pond will be full again and new trout stocked.

Have a happy holiday season AP.

Hey scruffy glad to hear your tough trout and PS's have survived, I hope Santa brings you lots of water and a Merry Christmas.

Things at the pond are good, it hasn't gotten above freezing for 10 days and Thurs & Friday were below zero in the morning.
Everything at the pond is working even with the cold temps.

The opening in the foreground is from the stream water pumped 120ft. thru an insulated pipe, the water around the dock is kept open by the small submersible pump under the dock, and further out is the opening from the aerator.

The pump is holding the pond within 7 inches of full, and even with below zero temps. the line hasn't froze.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will allow the trout to survive.

The water splashing has created a protective cover.

ADP those are some cool pics! I am glad I dont have to mess with all of that. All I did was wait till November and shut off my air pump. We don't have to many freeze overs here for very long. Maybe a week tops and most of that is clear ice.

Good luck dude,

Don't say that too loud, the Arctic Gods can hear.

24 below zero this morning at the pond, but the pump is still delivering water to the pond , and the water level is holding at 7 inches below full. Water temp @ 5ft. is 38.2F .

Hurry spring.

I think spring may have just arrived here. I'm staying just out of Washington DC tonight. The moderate snow we were getting 30 minutes ago has turned to a gentle rain.

Somehow, I don't think it will be very gentle on traffic -- it is 27 degrees F. I'm glad I'm parked in a private driveway, well off the street, and I've got a bag of ice melt.

MINUS 24. I'm trying to digest that info.

Dave minus 24 isn't too bad, I once camped out in 17 below weather, but I was a 15 year old Boy Scout, no sense no feeling.

I've been deer hunting in those conditions. When you only have a 9 day season, you have to make the most of it. At night, the trees were freezing and popping apart - it sounded like rifle shots all night long. At night it was in the -30�F range.

The cabin that we were staying in was raised up off the ground by 2 cinderblocks. It had an oil fired furnace, one common room and 2 bedrooms. When we'd wake up in the morning, the water that melted off of our boots on the floor was froze. I remember Dad putting his felt boot liners on top of the furnace and we went to the main lodge to eat (his cousin owned the lodge and we ate with them). When we got back to the cabin, it smelled bad. He forgot to take the liners off of the furnace and he burnt holes in the bottom of them. We'd sleep inside out sleeping bags, under the covers on the bed. That was a very cold hunt!

So far so good, the pumps and aerator have been working ok.
I'm really surprised that the little 20 watt submersible pump is keeping a good size opening around the dock, especially since we've been below zero 10 times this month.

There's a dock in that picture???

The pond filled up with all the rain we had friday but of coarse it ended as snow.
Now their predicting single digit temps. Sunday & Monday night , but warming later in the week.

The pump from the stream is still running and keeping an area open. Hopefully the ice will be gone in a month.

That's just doggone depressing to look at, AP. I woke to an inch of snow yesterday morning and it just deflated me. It's now a beautiful sunny day and about 40, so I'm happy now. It's going down to 18 tonight, though. Ugh. I'm done with cold and snow for the season - bring on spring! Hope you aren't too far behind, my friend!

Yeah Todd it's been a long winter, I checked the weather station near my pond and it was 2 degrees saturday morning and 5 degrees yesterday.
I don't expect to see ice out till after the middle of April.

I guess it could be worse, we could have no water like the poor guys in Texas.

Seems like a trade off to me. However, a couple of ft of snow would certainly help the ground water situation. Of course, it does nothing for run off.

How bad is the drought in your area Dave?

Our last significant rainfall for the D/FW area, about 2.5 inches, was 10/1/10. Since that date, we are about 8 inches behind. You don't catch up on that much shortage. We've gotten a couple of 1/4 inch rains since then but that's all. Our rainfall thus far for March is .01 inch. We generally average about 2 3/4 inches for March.

The maps that I've seen for most of Texas was either severe drought or extreme drought. Areas East or Southeast of D/FW are in a little better shape. Actually, some East Texas areas are almost normal. We are in a La Nina pattern without previously getting the rainy El Nino. We did get a winter storm that brought about a foot of snow, freezing rain and ice. That helped the ground somewhat.

I need to seine my forage pond. It's down to about 2 ft of water. My larger ponds, each about an acre, are down about 5 ft. I have a small 5 ft deep stock tank with a spring in the bottom. It's been dry for awhile. That tells me the water table is down over 5 ft.

When I seined the forage pond last year, my Grandson and one of his buddies helped me. We got an awfully large, narrow minded, brown water snake in the seine. I'm going to have to promise my daughter that I won't seine up any more snakes.

I think all snakes are narrow minded.