"ROSS TISDALE" wrote in
:

Hello I am in southern Ontario as well with a preform 220 gal pond I
built a cover for it and have a floating heater I purchased from TSC
a few years back but the heater I have can be difficult to find they
only carried this type for a short time under $ 40.00 and cost to run
with the cover over it is low , as the snow also insulates it this
year I have my pump running as well with a modified piping to keep the
water moving . I checked them this past weekend every one survived
has there was some nights I was wondering "Joel"
wrote in message
4...
"Gale Pearce" wrote in
:


We had a few cold days here in the Toronto. Canada area a week or
so ago
and despite my best efforts I could not keep a hole open on my
covered pond. last week when it warmed up and went out and cut a
hole in the ice and shined a flashlight into the deep area and saw
one of my large 14" koi dead on the bottom.

I had an airline running, but any moisture in the airline iced up
and blocked the air which is when my hole froze over.

Hi Joel - I am 35 miles east of Windsor and was having the same
weather as you. My airstone hole was freezing over like yours on the
coldest days and nights and I had to constantly keep opening the
hole when that happened with either a tea kettle or a steel rod - if
you let the "ice dome" freeze over solid it will start to thicken
and be next to impossible to open - that happened to me 2 yrs ago
and I had to use a 1500 watt heater that I sat on the ice and let it
melt it's way through to open the pond back up
I also have my airpump 3' off the ground (on my waterfall "hill")
and the
airline runs on a constant slope downwards with no low hanging loops
for moisture to collect in during thaw/freeze temp cycles, but we
haven't had any above freezing temps around here - have you? If not,
I would suspect the hole froze over solid enough to stop the
airflow, rather than the line freezing up
If you aren't able to check the air hole daily in the really cold
temps,
maybe you will need to use a 1200 or 1500 watt heater on a timer
for a couple hours a day with your airstone
I have been using an air pump for 10 yrs now with the airstone
no deeper
than 3" and it has worked fine for me even in the coldest winters,
except when I got lazy about keeping the hole open a couple yrs ago,
although T.O. has a bit cooler temps, I believe
It sounds like lack of oxygen, or rise in toxic gases as the
largest fish
are the first to suffer in those cases
I just pulled back more of my cover to expose half my pond, looks like
both my koi are dead, fish can be stupic, you spully them with a deep end
and they freeze on a rock in the shallow end.

I had the koi for 3 years, got them when they were 2 inches, now dead at
14 inches, oh well, I still have a bunch of smaller fish that survived,
maybe I'll stay will small fish and not go with koi again.

If I could find a heater for under $100 CDN, I would buy one, but have
yet to see any for under 175.00

Joel

Sorry to hear about your losses
Gale :~)




Thats a good idea about having the airline run downhill to keep
moisture going down and out.
My pond is small, 5 x 4 and 36" at the deep end, the ice is only 2"
thick and the airline was keeping a hole open, but the line froze up
like I said, I think next year Im goin gto try something different,
put PVC pipe from the pond to where I keep the air pump which is
under my deck 3 feet away, maybe as long as no snow or ice builds up
on the airline, less mositure will freeze up on it.

it is above 0C now, and I did the same thing, a poured hot water over
the airline to clear it up.
I was checking the pond once a week, so the last time I checked it,
it was fine, but during a week of cold unseasoned weather, everything
went bad.

I did try and get to the back earlier, but the gate was snowed in, I
couldnt get to the deck from the sliding door as it was snow in, the
only option was to climb the fense and that day when I was tring, it
was -40C give or take.

Everyear is a lesson learned.

My first year I had the pond, I didnt cover it up and I didnt have
any fish inside as it was too late in the season to stock it, so I
used the pond as a trial run over the winter, that year we also had
-40C cold snaps and by spring when the snow was gone, I measured the
ice to be 30" thick, good thing there were no fish that year.

I looked into getting a pond heater, but I wasnt prepared to spend
$200.00, I'll just have to check more ofter withthe airline as it
seem to work when its working.

Joel.