Damn really... I live in Canada so every winter is brutal and no ponds here Haha.. but that really sucks.. could you have done anything to save them you think?
We will see where this goes...
- Thread starter MrsE88
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Keep them inside for the winter.
This was their second winter outside. Their first winter went ok and I thought I had a better setup this past winter. But with weeks of snow storms and temps -20 through -40 with windchill into the -60’s there was nothing I could do. The pond got buried, my heater stood no chance of keeping water open when it froze from underneath up to the top.
I feel so angry for wanting to keep them outside. I thought it would be less stressful to keep them in the pond over moving them into the basement every winter.
The water is all clear. I’m sure it will be short lived, but it’s nice for now.
You can see the two little feeder goldfish I tossed in.
And here is some Moss I put on a couple rocks last year. I wasn’t sure it would live so close to the water and in a place that gets direct sunlight for most of the day. But you can see it is spreading and doing really well.
You can see the two little feeder goldfish I tossed in.
And here is some Moss I put on a couple rocks last year. I wasn’t sure it would live so close to the water and in a place that gets direct sunlight for most of the day. But you can see it is spreading and doing really well.
In Wisconsin I could never keep a pond of 4ft or less in depth from freezing straight to the bottom, and any shallow areas seemed to make it freeze even faster.
A friend was able to do a rectangular pond 6 ft deep with straight 6 ft drop sides, no gradient, but also had to keep a pump running thru the entire winter, to keep the ice from stopping air exchange.
So I always brought all fish, and water lilies into the baesment to an over wintering kiddy pool.
I would imagine the same is needed in Minnesota, is it not colder?
The good thing about bringing fish in, was just after spring ice melt, daphnia and grammarus would get started breeding before the fish were added, providing a feast for when the fish were dropped in, I never fed the fish during winter, my basement held around 50'F
.
A friend was able to do a rectangular pond 6 ft deep with straight 6 ft drop sides, no gradient, but also had to keep a pump running thru the entire winter, to keep the ice from stopping air exchange.
So I always brought all fish, and water lilies into the baesment to an over wintering kiddy pool.
I would imagine the same is needed in Minnesota, is it not colder?The good thing about bringing fish in, was just after spring ice melt, daphnia and grammarus would get started breeding before the fish were added, providing a feast for when the fish were dropped in, I never fed the fish during winter, my basement held around 50'F
.
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We are about the same, maybe a tad colder then Wisconsin.In Wisconsin I could never keep a pond of 4ft or less in depth from freezing straight to the bottom, and any shallow areas seemed to make it freeze even faster.
A friend was able to do a rectangular pond 6 ft deep with straight 6 ft drop sides, no gradient, but also had to keep a pump running thru the entire winter, to keep the ice from stopping air exchange.
So I always brought all fish, and water lilies into the baesment to an over wintering kiddy pool.
The good thing about bringing fish in, was just after spring ice melt, daphnia and grammarus would get started breeding before the fish were added, providing a feast for when the fish were dropped in, I never fed the fish during winter, my basement held around 50'F
.
Our first winter went just fine. A bit of ice, but nowhere near freezing solid. Our winters the previous 5yrs have been pretty easy going. After the harsh reality of this winter we’ve been putting a lot of thought into how we will handle winters from now on.
First plan was to dig a second pond to connect to this one and have that one be 6’. Then dig the current pond down to 5’. Hoping more depth and water volume would help. But.... I feel like once the bad weather starts I’m helpless to do anything. Getting hit with multiple feet of snow, temps dropping -30+ and howling winds for weeks without a break. I’m not set up to handle that.
I think we have finally come to a decision. Wintering outside is just too risky if we are going to invest in koi again. I’m doing my research now and looking into building a holding pond in the basement.
I’ll still be fixing the pond up a bit, and building a new filter.
But my main project will be the basement pond.
I felt it was time to sort through my gt babies and cull some so I can focus on just the few I’d sell.
I didn’t really want to dispose of them, so I figured it was a good time to try having them outside.
Night temps are still a little cool, but the water is holding at 60F at night.
These are the ones that didn’t make the cut to stay inside.
Nothing really wrong with them other then most are small for their age. The bigger male finds himself here because his brothers must have been picking on him. His top fin was a bit torn up.
This morning I went to make sure they made it through the night fine and I saw the bigger male hanging out my a fold in the liner.
I didn’t really want to dispose of them, so I figured it was a good time to try having them outside.
Night temps are still a little cool, but the water is holding at 60F at night.
These are the ones that didn’t make the cut to stay inside.
Nothing really wrong with them other then most are small for their age. The bigger male finds himself here because his brothers must have been picking on him. His top fin was a bit torn up.
This morning I went to make sure they made it through the night fine and I saw the bigger male hanging out my a fold in the liner.
The pond water is so clear. I’m currently only using a very rough filter and no uv. 
I gotta enjoy it for now. Going off pictures from when I originally started the pond the water started going green around 14 days from being filled. I might make it a little longer this time because the bio load is so small, I’m not feeding, and there is already established algae covering the walls.
I gotta enjoy it for now. Going off pictures from when I originally started the pond the water started going green around 14 days from being filled. I might make it a little longer this time because the bio load is so small, I’m not feeding, and there is already established algae covering the walls.
Why not build a raised pond around the original pond. Sleepers or blockwork to raise the pond up 2feet or so, this could be heavily insulated. This would give 2 foot extra depth and a better chance to over winter. Also winter time cover with thick insulation or put a pond tunnel over it.
Thanks, that’s not something I had considered. I might have to give that some thought. At the very least when I reshape the pond I can build the sides up at the same time to give more volume and depth.
I still don’t feel that would be enough against a winter like the one we just had. I just don’t want to go through that again.
Hello; Too bad about the pond last winter. I recall the pictures you posted. Back in the 1970's I took a Limnology course and seem to recall here was a minimum depth for a pond to avoid freezing solid. My thinking is the depth varies depending on where you live. You might check with the Ag folks or farmers COOP in your area. They should know.
Probably should bee some deeper than the code for buried waterpipes. Around here I think it is 24 inches. Likely much deeper for you. For some reason 15 to 20 feet deep keeps coming up in my memory.
Probably should bee some deeper than the code for buried waterpipes. Around here I think it is 24 inches. Likely much deeper for you. For some reason 15 to 20 feet deep keeps coming up in my memory.
