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Post by parker002 on Jan 10, 2017 10:40:45 GMT -5
We had a cold snap in mid-November and I removed my UV and bio-filter to get ready for winter. Of course, then we had a warm December and now my pond is a nice, soupy green.
It's been running in the mid-teens for the last couple of weeks and I'm scared to do anything to get rid of the outbreak for fear of screwing up water chemistry during a time when the pond normally sits for 3 months with nothing but the waterfall running. I don't want my fish to be oxygen starved but I'm fearful that doing anything to change the water chemistry would turn the pond over.
Should I just let it go or what?
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jan 10, 2017 13:44:26 GMT -5
I'd would think as long as you have surface tension breaking in the pond, there wont be an issue with the fish. Even more still with them being so inactive for winter.
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Post by childofiam on Jan 10, 2017 14:12:43 GMT -5
Cover your pond with a tarp. The fish dont need the light in winter because they go into a dormant state when it gets cold. Temps under 45deg I think. My pond has been covered with deep snow and ice for two months at times in the past and everyone was fine in the spring.
Richard
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Post by parker002 on Jan 10, 2017 15:03:55 GMT -5
It's not possible to cover with a tarp - one it is odd-sized and two the wind tears up everything around here. We don't normally have issues with it in winter, it's just that the beginning of this winter was abnormally cold followed immediately by a return to late summer.
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Post by childofiam on Jan 10, 2017 16:33:31 GMT -5
The other thing you can do is leave your UV running through the winter. I am doing this as I installed a TMC pond UV this last spring.
Richard
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Post by Carl on Jan 11, 2017 10:22:42 GMT -5
The other thing you can do is leave your UV running through the winter. I am doing this as I installed a TMC pond UV this last spring. Richard Yes, this is my thinking too. The only problem is cold water is not as effective for UV Sterilization. Placing a heater right next to the pick up for the UV may help with this potential problem Carl
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Post by parker002 on Jan 13, 2017 15:35:14 GMT -5
How would I keep the whole thing from freezing up solid? It's really cold here (like 10 degrees during the day with a 0 wind chill) and the main line is buried so I'd have to run the auxiliary above ground
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Post by Carl on Jan 13, 2017 17:32:54 GMT -5
How would I keep the whole thing from freezing up solid? It's really cold here (like 10 degrees during the day with a 0 wind chill) and the main line is buried so I'd have to run the auxiliary above ground I am surprised you are even having algae or cynobacterial problems with these temps? How frozen is the pond right now? An air stone can help break surface tension and prevent freezing, but this only works so well when it gets this cold. So my thoughts are if it is this cold now, that the algae should not be a problem. Otherwise use the air pump/air stone combo, heater just before the intake and then make sure lines do not freeze by either being deep enough or using electric heat tape (for outside plumbing) www.americanaquariumproducts.com/ClearPond.html#winter_careCarl
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Post by childofiam on Jan 14, 2017 11:34:15 GMT -5
Our temps here in Indiana got up into the 60's in December. Earlier this week we had thunder storms as out temps went back up into the 50's. I December the string algae began to grow for a short time.
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Post by Carl on Jan 14, 2017 13:34:12 GMT -5
Our temps here in Indiana got up into the 60's in December. Earlier this week we had thunder storms as out temps went back up into the 50's. I December the string algae began to grow for a short time. Wow, you are in a colder winter climate than us here in Oregon, but we have not seen a 50F reading since sometime in Nov. and we just the other day had a reading above 40F for the first time in a while. Carl
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Post by parker002 on Jan 17, 2017 13:24:34 GMT -5
Our temps here in Indiana got up into the 60's in December. Earlier this week we had thunder storms as out temps went back up into the 50's. I December the string algae began to grow for a short time. Precisely. We had a snap in late November where it got into the 20's and I was worried my above-ground secondary filtration (pump, bio-canister, UV) would freeze so I took it out and winterized it. In early December or so, it got into the 60's and even into the 70's a couple of days (with sunshine and subsequent heavy thunderstorms) and the blue-green took off immediately. The pond has looked like a wheatgrass smoothie ever since.
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Post by Carl on Jan 17, 2017 16:42:50 GMT -5
Our temps here in Indiana got up into the 60's in December. Earlier this week we had thunder storms as out temps went back up into the 50's. I December the string algae began to grow for a short time. Precisely. We had a snap in late November where it got into the 20's and I was worried my above-ground secondary filtration (pump, bio-canister, UV) would freeze so I took it out and winterized it. In early December or so, it got into the 60's and even into the 70's a couple of days (with sunshine and subsequent heavy thunderstorms) and the blue-green took off immediately. The pond has looked like a wheatgrass smoothie ever since. Just running aeration the rest of the Winter may be all you need, whether this helps with your wheat grass smoothie appearance, I cannot say as I never have had this happen to me. But at least you will be making sure adequate oxygen is available Carl
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Post by parker002 on Jan 17, 2017 17:01:42 GMT -5
I don't really have an "outdoor" air pump so before I drop the cash, my waterfall is run by a 4250gph pump and drops approx. 2.5 feet before hitting the water. Wouldn't this be adequate for aeration?
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Post by childofiam on Jan 18, 2017 7:44:43 GMT -5
I don't really have an "outdoor" air pump so before I drop the cash, my waterfall is run by a 4250gph pump and drops approx. 2.5 feet before hitting the water. Wouldn't this be adequate for aeration? This is natures way of doing it. IMO it's the best...
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Post by parker002 on Jan 18, 2017 12:14:04 GMT -5
As luck would have it, it's going to be 50 today. And in the upper 40's for at least the next week. This weather!
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Post by Carl on Jan 18, 2017 18:54:04 GMT -5
The water pumps most likely would be adequate, I assumed it was winterized.
I will add though that an air pump with a large air stone does a good job of lifting water from the bottom where things may be a bit too anaerobic
Carl
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Post by parker002 on Jan 20, 2017 11:47:47 GMT -5
I might look for an outdoor pump then.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jan 20, 2017 14:12:05 GMT -5
Something I was thinking.
I went out to a pond contract I have yesterday, which has a lot of surface tension being broke, the largest veggie filter I've ever made, 110 watt sterilizer... and yesterday there was algae in the pond! (The reason I was hired for this pond) I wondered what happened.
Taking a few minutes to think about it... Check the sterilizer that's the first go too. On and water going through it... It all clicked when I used my phone to look under the surface.
Here's what I think causes algae in the winter.
First of all, there's been a ton of rain and snow. That's all uncontrolled water being dumped into the water. The parameters had changed, so I lost a balance of chemistry. I also found where the algae was... it was all on died plant matter. All the plants in my veggie filter and ones that started covering the pond died back. The plant matter under the water was all covered in algae. That makes sense, since algae takes advantage of dying plants.
There was also an excess of bioload from leafs and bushes that had falling during the rain.
So, my whole balance was thrown off and that's when algae thrives. Plus, my plants that were dying back, were no longer feeding. So, the balance will the cycle I'm sure was off.
All these things usually equal slime/algae.
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Post by parker002 on Jan 24, 2017 15:16:12 GMT -5
Exactly. My question is whether or not I should try to correct the bad chemistry issue or just leave it alone. Winter obviously is a precarious time to be messing with water parameters.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jan 24, 2017 17:08:17 GMT -5
I did what I could, but I'm going to ride it out until it warms up and then I'll remove the died plant matter.
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