How Do You Keep A Hole In Ice On A Pond Open?

[fifefish]

I was wondering how exactly do you keep a hole open on a pond over the winter,
my pond seems to be freezing right over with an inch thick of ice...
any help would be appreciated..

 

[Truck]

We used to put a football in ours which would stop the ice forming.

 

[england]

float a tennis ball or a few

 

[Ben M]

my granddad used to float a ball in his.

 

[Honeythorn]

If you have some sort of waterpump ( aside from the filter) water feature, or if you can put the filter outlet so the flow is coming out at the surface and agitating the water rather than being submerged, this will also help keep the water from freezing as moving water does not freeze over as quickly as still water.

 

[Pipe Dream]

I was wondering how exactly do you keep a hole open on a pond over the winter,
my pond seems to be freezing right over with an inch thick of ice...
any help would be appreciated..

get a seal or a beluga, they do a good job of keeping the hole open as their life depends on it.

any other questions for the tropical fish crowd?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Just a technical question in this respect.... with heat rising, (which we all know)... why does a pond start freezing at the top and not from the bottom up.... it's always puzzled me.

 

[england]

Just a technical question in this respect.... with heat rising, (which we all know)... why does a pond start freezing at the top and not from the bottom up.... it's always puzzled me.

H2O is an amazing compound. It becomes more dense as it's temperature is reduced. At about 4 degrees above freezing (C degrees) it starts to become less dense. This is the fact that explain why the somewhat solid form of H2O, ice, floats on top of water. This phenomenon is caused by the angle between the two hydrogen molecules being 105 degrees. When the crystals are forming they lock together geometrically thus forming a less dense physical formation. If you dissolve salt into water you lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point. But, that is another subject for discussion.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Just a technical question in this respect.... with heat rising, (which we all know)... why does a pond start freezing at the top and not from the bottom up.... it's always puzzled me.

Remember, heat always moves from hot to cold, never the other way around. This can never be stopped, only slowed down (insulation in a house for an example).

So, if the ground around the pound is colder, then that is where the heat will also go, other then up.

Also, air can fluctuate in temperature a lot faster than water. So if the temp of the air drops below freezing, it will take longer for the water to drop. But the surface of the water is going to drop in temp faster/first because it is in constant contact with the air. So, when the air temperature drops below freezing, the corresponding water on the surface will begin to drop, which will begin to freeze. Also, the ground temperature 3-5 feet below the ground and further is always around, I want to say 57 degrees F, so it is near impossible for the water to freeze because it is in constant contact with the surrounding ground

Further more, when the pond begins to freeze over, the ice on top will act sort of a shield against colder temperatures.

-FHM

 

[Nick16]

you can buy polystyrene floty things for your pond. we use one for our koi. Some of them you can attack a water pump to and have a fountain from the middle of it. We also have a constant jet of water shooting into ours on one side and a waterfall on the other so it doesnt freeze there.

if your a cheapskate you can use a clean football or two

 

[OldMan47]

The most common method in a goldfish pond is to use an air pump to keep the water well stirred in some spot of the surface. It avoids the issues of a water pump freezing since you are only moving air, not water. Another thing that is used in colder climates is a heater made for a stock tank. It floats in the water and will keep a hole open by warming the water. The trouble with those is that they are rated in kilowatts, not watts. If you got your power for free they might be OK but I bring my fish indoors because I don't want to pay that power bill. As FHM mentioned, the ground itself seldom gets down to freezing temperature once you are under the ground more than a foot or two so the heat from the earth, in a deep pond, can be used as the heat source to keep the surface open by just circulating the water well with that air pump.