George1:
In reading through your Thread "Hybrid Stripers" it became evident that the most critical time of the year for HSB is the middle of summer, when water temps. can go 90+ degrees F here in E. Texas. Bruces's chart of temps. show any thing over 80F, causing high stress, and probable mortality in catch and release situations. I wonder if it is possible to cool, to a degree that would be effective, a 1/2 acre pond. I have plumbed my well to my pond, have installed a spray nozzle on the up-right, and I use it to top-off the Pond. I have generally done this at night, for about 10-12 hrs., as my Well pumps 1200g an hour, or about 12k-14k gal. during the night. I have used this proceedure about every other night to replace evaporated water, and introduce some freshly oxygenated H2O. When it rains of course I have to stop topping-off, but when the weather is at it's hottest here in Texas, we have very little rain. My question would be, if I used this practice during the heat of the day, would 10K gals. of cool water be effective in cooling down a 1/2 acre Pond. The water is being pumped from 330 ft., so it's temp., even in the summer, is very cool, around 68F to 70F.. Could this practice minimize the stress levels experienced by HSB in very warm water, or would this introduction of cool water, that amounts to approx. 1% of the total water volume, be too little to be effective? I guess the drawback is obvious, I would be limited to an amount of water equal only to the rate of evaporation as I have no reasonable means of continuous out-flow, and would that amount (approx. 6k-7k gal. day) be adequate to approach desired effect.
I will stop rambling on now and wait to hear your and others opinions of this approach, surely some one out there has tried something similiar, and I'd bet you have too................Budster
