# Pond Ice



## tillymaud (Jan 22, 2010)

Hi

Could someone please give me some advice, should pond ice be broken or left, i thought you should make a hole for the fish to breath but recently i heard on the radio you should leave it. I have a large pond with over 50 gold fish and 3 small carp.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

If you can push your hand through to crack it you could get the ice out with a net or you could pour boiling water onto it. What ever you do don't smash it.


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## tillymaud (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks for your reply, i did use to make a large hole in the ice but after hearing the radio wasn't sure if i should


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2010)

As Hawksport said, you must certainly not smash it. To be perfectly honest, I would just leave the ice as it is. The very cold water conditions will slow metabolic rates right down, so the fishes demands for oxygen will be quite low. Colder water is more capable of holding dissolved oxygen anyway.

However, if you want to, you could fill a plastic bucket with some boiling water and leave it on the ice. The heat will slowly melt through it and make a hole.


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## tillymaud (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks that's great advice


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## Fishyfins (Feb 28, 2009)

in the future, in the winter, what some people do is put a bucket floating on top of the ice, so that when it freezes, this can be removed, leaving a free hole for the fish to breath through, without resorting to smashing.


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## tillymaud (Jan 22, 2010)

we moved hear last feb and the pond was already hear, i have a large pump going which kept the ice at bay untill that packed up over a month ago. 

Today my husband got it going again which brings me to my next question can you leave the pump going all winter?


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

If it is adjustable I would turn it to its lowest setting, if it is submersible try and hang it so it is just below the surface. The bottom of the pond is warmer than the top, you don't really want to be disturbing the bottom layer of water.


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

hawksport said:


> If it is adjustable I would turn it to its lowest setting, if it is submersible try and hang it so it is just below the surface. The bottom of the pond is warmer than the top, you don't really want to be disturbing the bottom layer of water.


Off topic a bit....love your new pic Hawksport...beautiful


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2010)

hawksport said:


> If it is adjustable I would turn it to its lowest setting, if it is submersible try and hang it so it is just below the surface. The bottom of the pond is warmer than the top, you don't really want to be disturbing the bottom layer of water.


Very true. In Lake Stratification, the Hypolimnion (the bottom layer of water in a lake, below the Thermocline) is the warmest layer of water in a lake during the winter, but the coldest during the summer (presumably due to the lack of wind, which causes surface-mixing throughout the water column).


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

deb53 said:


> Off topic a bit....love your new pic Hawksport...beautiful


He will be up for sale after March


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