On 06/02/2012 12:31 F wrote:

Management is concerned that the goldfish in the pond are, as last year,
going to die if the pond is frozen over for anything more than a few
hours, so it looks as though I need a heater, a thermostat to turn the
heater on when the temperature drops to ~0ºC, and an outdoor socket.

Toolstation do a suitable socket
(http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p77440), Seapets sell a heater
(http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/po...ef=googlebase),
but I can't find a thermostat.

Anyone able to suggest a source for the thermostat? Comments on the
socket and heater would also be welcome.


Thanks for the contributions and suggestions. I have installed the
socket from Toolstation and the Blagdon heater.

Following comments here and elsewhere about the value of a waterfall in
cold conditions, we're thinking of installing one (only short, ~1M
long). Has anyone any suggestions on a suitable pump and pre-formed
waterfall? The pond is 2M x 1.5M x 0.75M deep.

Suggestions on any associated equipment that would eliminate/reduce the
green pea soup we currently experience in summer would also be welcome,
along with suggestions for suppliers. The Seapets experience was less
than inspiring with telephone requests for advice being met with great
vagueness and emails being ignored.

--
F

On Feb 15, 2:07*pm, F news@nowhere wrote:
On 06/02/2012 12:31 F wrote:

Management is concerned that the goldfish in the pond are, as last year,
going to die if the pond is frozen over for anything more than a few
hours, so it looks as though I need a heater, a thermostat to turn the
heater on when the temperature drops to ~0ºC, and an outdoor socket.

Toolstation do a suitable socket
(http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p77440), Seapets sell a heater
(http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/po...nt/pond-l....),
but I can't find a thermostat.

Anyone able to suggest a source for the thermostat? Comments on the
socket and heater would also be welcome.

Thanks for the contributions and suggestions. I have installed the
socket from Toolstation and the Blagdon heater.

Following comments here and elsewhere about the value of a waterfall in
cold conditions, we're thinking of installing one (only short, ~1M
long). Has anyone any suggestions on a suitable pump and pre-formed
waterfall? The pond is 2M x 1.5M x 0.75M deep.

Suggestions on any associated equipment that would eliminate/reduce the
green pea soup we currently experience in summer would also be welcome,
along with suggestions for suppliers. The Seapets experience was less
than inspiring with telephone requests for advice being met with great
vagueness and emails being ignored.

Assuming you mean a carpet of duckweed, this can be minimised by
flowing water, preferably a fountain which will keep an area clear of
it. Frequent scooping out with a kitchen strainer also helps a lot.

Doug.

On 16/02/2012 06:16 Doug wrote:

On Feb 15, 2:07 pm, Fnews@nowhere wrote:
On 06/02/2012 12:31 F wrote:

Following comments here and elsewhere about the value of a waterfall in
cold conditions, we're thinking of installing one (only short, ~1M
long). Has anyone any suggestions on a suitable pump and pre-formed
waterfall? The pond is 2M x 1.5M x 0.75M deep.

Suggestions on any associated equipment that would eliminate/reduce the
green pea soup we currently experience in summer would also be welcome,
along with suggestions for suppliers. The Seapets experience was less
than inspiring with telephone requests for advice being met with great
vagueness and emails being ignored.

Assuming you mean a carpet of duckweed, this can be minimised by
flowing water, preferably a fountain which will keep an area clear of
it. Frequent scooping out with a kitchen strainer also helps a lot.

No, no duckweed. The water simply turns green and it's difficult to see
even a few centimetres into it.

--
F

I've a 3000 gallon koi pool that's 5' deep. I run in summer, an Oase 8500 submersible from a pump sump that feeds the filter and supplies the waterfall on a valved by-pass.
In the winter I run an Oase 5000 just for the filter.
I don't run the waterfall in the winter as this would lose a lot of the heat in the pool by the latent heat exchange.
The water is kept from going green by employing a 35watt UV sterilser 24/7 in the summer.
The rate of flow from any pump depends a lot on how far and how high it has to lift the water, the diameter of the pipe and how many bends in it.

What pump depends on what rate of flow you want to come down your waterfall, from just tinkling sounds, to a torrent.
Garden centres usually have some running, but they will configured to show as near their maximum output because they'll have the pumps close to the outlet and they won't be lifting the water very high.

Garden centres also sell a lot of different pre-formed waterfalls. Some look quite good, but they didn't 25 years ago when I built my pool.
A lot depends on what sort of surround you have to your pool.
A non-matching one can look really naff.

You could build your own. I did that using the same York stone that surrounds our pool. It's set in concrete, we like to think we've got it looking as natural as possible. The waterfall is supplied by a pipe from the sump under the surround and up to the back of the waterfall, you can't see it at all.

If you can illuminate it, the combination of the sound of the running water and the changing reflections of the light can make it look very attractive on summer evenings.

I hope this helps.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

On 16/02/2012 22:56 Doghouse Riley wrote:

F;950908 Wrote:
On 16/02/2012 06:16 Doug wrote:
-
On Feb 15, 2:07 pm, Fnews@nowhere wrote:-
On 06/02/2012 12:31 F wrote:--
--
Following comments here and elsewhere about the value of a waterfall
in
cold conditions, we're thinking of installing one (only short, ~1M
long). Has anyone any suggestions on a suitable pump and pre-formed
waterfall? The pond is 2M x 1.5M x 0.75M deep.

Suggestions on any associated equipment that would eliminate/reduce
the
green pea soup we currently experience in summer would also be
welcome,
along with suggestions for suppliers. The Seapets experience was less
than inspiring with telephone requests for advice being met with great
vagueness and emails being ignored.
-
Assuming you mean a carpet of duckweed, this can be minimised by
flowing water, preferably a fountain which will keep an area clear of
it. Frequent scooping out with a kitchen strainer also helps a lot.-

No, no duckweed. The water simply turns green and it's difficult to see

even a few centimetres into it.

--
F

I've a 3000 gallon koi pool that's 5' deep. I run in summer, an Oase
8500 submersible from a pump sump that feeds the filter and supplies
the waterfall on a valved by-pass.
In the winter I run an Oase 5000 just for the filter.
I don't run the waterfall in the winter as this would lose a lot of the
heat in the pool by the latent heat exchange.
The water is kept from going green by employing a 35watt UV sterilser
24/7 in the summer.
The rate of flow from any pump depends a lot on how far and how high it
has to lift the water, the diameter of the pipe and how many bends in
it.

What pump depends on what rate of flow you want to come down your
waterfall, from just tinkling sounds, to a torrent.
Garden centres usually have some running, but they will configured to
show as near their maximum output because they'll have the pumps close
to the outlet and they won't be lifting the water very high.

Garden centres also sell a lot of different pre-formed waterfalls. Some
look quite good, but they didn't 25 years ago when I built my pool.
A lot depends on what sort of surround you have to your pool.
A non-matching one can look really naff.

You could build your own. I did that using the same York stone that
surrounds our pool. It's set in concrete, we like to think we've got it
looking as natural as possible. The waterfall is supplied by a pipe
from the sump under the surround and up to the back of the waterfall,
you can't see it at all.

If you can illuminate it, the combination of the sound of the running
water and the changing reflections of the light can make it look very
attractive on summer evenings.

I hope this helps.

'ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting'
(http://tinyurl.com/6vwkdmx)

It did help: thanks!

Just a couple of questions:

- from reading the Oase website, the filter appears to be separate from
the pump and placed above water just before the waterfall?

- I see the UV steriliser is in a housing. Is it connected into the pump
in the pond or the filter just before the outlet to the waterfall?

--
F

On Feb 11, 11:44*am, Doghouse Riley Doghouse.Riley.
wrote:
'Doug[_5_ Wrote:

;950566']
As a newbie to pond fish I have four shubunkin so what are their
chances with part of the pond frozen over? I thought the main problem
was lack of oxygen rather than cold. The temperature in London this
morning is somewhere between -5C and -9C, the worst yet this winter,
but my little fountain is still running, just.

Instructions on the *packet are to stop feeding when the pond temp is
below 4C and the fish haven't appeared since the cold weather
started..

Doug.

It's difficult to make general recommendations, I can only speak from my
own knowledge and experience. Different fish can tolerate different
conditions.

I've a 3000 gallon koi pool, I've a filter about six feet away from the
pool in my garage, the pool and garage are parallel to each other with a
four-foot pathway between. The filter is a complex of four 40 gallon
tanks (old technology I built it 25 years ago) This is insulated and
I've a swimming pool cover cut to fit and floating on the pool, but the
filter runs 24/7 as does an Oase *air pump feeding two air stones
presently raise near the surface of the pool. Both are running at a
reduced "winter rate." I'm also running a 300watt aquarium heater 24/7.
We live south of Manchester and my pool has so far never been below 6C.

[image:http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/1592/p1040070s.jpg]

Fish will reach a dormant stage as the temperature drops, they will stop
feeding and sit on the bottom of the pool conserving energy. you don't
want a situation where you are providing them with food that will remain
undigested in their stomachs.
I'd try to keep an area your pool free of ice with a few kettles of
boiling water. I don't know how big is yours but you don't want to
effect a rapid change in temperature, fish can react badly to that as
they will a rapid change in water quality.

I tried very hot water to melt the ice but it didn't work. The
fountain though managed to keep a circle of water around it oxygenated
and free of ice.

Now that the freeze has finished my shubunkins have reappeared and are
feeding again and seem to be OK. With the ice gone I managed to clean
the submerged fountain filter and now the fountain is reaching high
and the water remains clear and transparent.

There is some frost damage to the pond plants but they will probably
recover as they have in previous years.

Doug.