Outdoor pond owners, are you managing to keep on top of the ice?

[akuma 天]

Normally I clear any ice from the ponds as soon as I have time, but of late there is simply no way to achieve this.

Each day there seems to be a new 4+ inch thick layer of ice covering the pond.

So I'm making do with poking some holes in the ice, and popping a bucket full or 2 of warm warn into the holes tio try and keep the thermal layer under the ice a tad warmer.

Hopefully the fish will live, but as its never been this cold while I've had an outdoor pond, I'm not sure which way it will go.

[buddah]

we leave our pond completly frozen apart from were we have a bridge run across it , it doesnt freeze over under that, i thought you wernt ment to disturb the ice as it could shock the fish.

[Frase]

every tap on the ice can cause massive stress to fish =/

I cant see why your fish wont survive on the basis your pond is sufficient depth.

[buddah]

thats what i thought and im sure pouring hot water in it aswel will raise then temp and bring the fish out of a dormant state then when the water cools again the will go dormant this will mess them up.

[Purplebeardielover]

Do you suggest leaving the pumps running or switching them off

[buddah]

our pumps are switched off if it freezes to hard it will knacker the pumps and the noise will diturb the fish, the fish should be in a dormant state so they will be using far less oxygen and id imagine its far to cold for algae. we stoped feeding ours at the first frost and dont feed them again till spring

[Purplebeardielover]

Ok, thats great thanks

[170pand]

my pumps are on all year round and as got about 8 inches of snow in the garden and not one bit of ice on me pond,just gotta have good circulation of water and movement on top of pond and it will not freeze over

[mikef]

For ice, try using a football, this floats around so keeping some of the pond surface free of ice. As already said dont bang on the ice, the shock wave can be very stressful on your fish. if you need to break it, try using some hot water poured onto an area.
You must make sure that some of the pond is free from ice, if not dangerous levels of co2 can build up in the pond, this can cause suffication and will also lower the ph of the ponds water.

Pumps etc, keep them running, you dont turn them off, i know some people will disagree, but the filter is still working or be it very slowly, and as spring comes along the filter will increase in activilty quicker.

[170pand]

also the filters produce the bacteria for keeping pond heathly so turning these off in winter does not do your pond anygood