Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Measuring Pond Temperatures

I see a number of posts about water temperatures and have a few questions. What type of thermometer do you use and where can you buy one? Also, at what depth are measurements made when posters are talking about general pond temperature?

I'm a simpleton, my posts with water temps are strictly surface temps, I bought a cheap thermometer (bottom weighted) at a Pet Store, I think it was $1.99 If I need bottom temps, I'll tie a rock to the fishing line I attached to the thermometer While this may sound silly, it gave me perfect readings on when to stock Tilapia.

p.s. the thermometer was about 5" long and maybe 1/2" thick.

I have a Minnkota that I got from Basspro or Cabela's for $20. It comes with a 20 foot long wire (10 feet more than I need to get to the bottom) with the temp probe on the end. It also measures the air temp at the display and the time.

I regularly measure surface temp and temp at 3' (that's the depth at the end of my dock). A couple times last Summer I took it out in the canoe end measured the water temp at other depths, just for curiosity.

Our lake corporation bought a Sentry 3 oxygen meter a few years ago and we have been real satisfied with it. It not only checks the oxygen but the temperature of the lake. I check the lake temperature and oxygen once a month at surface, five, ten, fifteen, twenty feet and the bottom at seven different locations around the lake and keep records of it. We do this to monitor the progress of the eight diffusers in the lake. We have found that with the diffusers going the lake temperature is within about three degrees from top to bottom. It also helps us to figure out how much chemicals we should put in the lake to not deplete the oxygen.

John:

DO you know the (ROM) price of the Oxygen Meter?

I'm crazy enough re ponds that it is a distinct possibility my "sickness" could expand to wanting to measure O2.

Rocky1

I bought one for a swimming pool at Wall Mart .

Pretty cheap , it fills up with water and sinks . I put a float on the line for whatever depth I want to measure .

Works great . Harvey

i bought outdoor one 2" x 6" base , mounted it on 10', 1" pvc and marked foot increments. measure temps off the dock 2' to 9'. like John said , i see the diff is not much when diffusers are running.

Bought one at Home Depot like Harvey. Works good. You do have to shake it every once in a while because the water fills it up for it to sink algae will grow inside it.

Bass Pro and Cabela's have simple thermometers encased in black aluminum to prevent breaking. These are the simple red alcholol ones, not mercury.

I've tied a 5' twine to mine to get below the surface. I think it was like $10.

It works well, however, the increments are in 2 degree units, so if you need more precision, this is not for you.

Walmart's In-Door/Out-Door thermometer with 10 ft probe works well for me - about ten bucks if I remember corectly.
Tie a lead sinker to the probe.
George Glazener

Sorry I havent't got back on the answer to the price on the Sentry III unit. The computer was down for a bit. The price of our unit was 439.00 with and extra 15 foot of probe cable a total length of 30 foot 48.75 shipping was 6.00 for a total of 493.75. and we got our unit in Nov. 2001.