Adding Water in Winter - Help

[JB]

I came home this morning from a trip out of town to find that approximately
1/2 of the water in my 3,000 gallon pond had drained out. Not going to
bother you with all of the particulars of how but it's not a liner leak and
I was able to stop any additional water from draining out. I've been ponding
for more than 6 years and the pond is home to approximately 25 koi and
goldfish and an assortment of plants. The fish vary in size from two feet to
5 inches. I need to get the water level back up but I'm not sure what the
rules are for filling a pond in the winter. (It's currently 29 degrees
outside and projected to warm into the mid 30s, then back below freezing
tonight.)

In the summer I often top off the pond or do occasional water changes but
never much more than 10%.

Here's my question: Does the 10% rule hold in the winter and, if so, how
long before adding the next 10%?

TIA

John

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

>On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 17:55:35 GMT, "JB" > wrote:

>I came home this morning from a trip out of town to find that approximately
>1/2 of the water in my 3,000 gallon pond had drained out. Not going to
>bother you with all of the particulars <snip>
>
>Here's my question: Does the 10% rule hold in the winter and, if so, how
>long before adding the next 10%? >TIA >John
>
As long as you have sufficient water treatment for chlorine or chloramines
you can refill..... though I'd do it at a slow rate over the course of a
day. Now if your source water is 10 degrees different in temperature with a
0.4 difference in pH. You might want to let it trickle in over 2-3 days.
~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[JB]

Thanks Jan! I was hoping that an experienced ponder was lurking out there to
give me some feedback. Trouble is, I'm out of water treatment at the moment.
I put in a couple hundred gallons and will fill tomorrow after getting some
water treatment.


"~ jan JJsPond.us" > wrote in message
...
> >On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 17:55:35 GMT, "JB" > wrote:
>
>>I came home this morning from a trip out of town to find that
>>approximately
>>1/2 of the water in my 3,000 gallon pond had drained out. Not going to
>>bother you with all of the particulars <snip>
>>
>>Here's my question: Does the 10% rule hold in the winter and, if so, how
>>long before adding the next 10%? >TIA >John
>>
> As long as you have sufficient water treatment for chlorine or chloramines
> you can refill..... though I'd do it at a slow rate over the course of a
> day. Now if your source water is 10 degrees different in temperature with
> a
> 0.4 difference in pH. You might want to let it trickle in over 2-3 days.
> ~ jan
>
>
> ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[George]

"~ jan JJsPond.us" > wrote in message
...
> >On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 17:55:35 GMT, "JB" > wrote:
>
>>I came home this morning from a trip out of town to find that approximately
>>1/2 of the water in my 3,000 gallon pond had drained out. Not going to
>>bother you with all of the particulars <snip>
>>
>>Here's my question: Does the 10% rule hold in the winter and, if so, how
>>long before adding the next 10%? >TIA >John
>>
> As long as you have sufficient water treatment for chlorine or chloramines
> you can refill..... though I'd do it at a slow rate over the course of a
> day. Now if your source water is 10 degrees different in temperature with a
> 0.4 difference in pH. You might want to let it trickle in over 2-3 days.
> ~ jan
>
>
> ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Unless it gets below freezing, in which case your hose may freeze. And I agree
about the pH. Be careful there. It would be good to test the pH of the pond
water and that of the water you plan to introduce to make sure that there is a
huge difference.

A couple of weeks ago we had a lot of rains over several days (probably 5 inches
total) here where I live. The water got within an inch of the top of the pond.
I connected my diverter hose to the hose that goes to my waterfall, and closed
the valve to the falls. Then let the water run out onto the patio. I went back
inside because it was about 29 degrees F outside. I then forgot about it.
Oops. Fortunately, my punp system is a suction system that cannot pump more
than about 1/3 of the water out. Still, I was quite mad at myself for the
situation. The pond water at that time was about 45 F while the water coming
out of the faucet was about 55 F. I used the appropriate amount of dechlor, and
turned the water hose on about 1/3 of the way. It filled back up within about 1
1/2 hours. Since then, I haven't had any problems. All of the fish are fine.

[Benign Vanilla]

"JB" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> I came home this morning from a trip out of town to find that
approximately
> 1/2 of the water in my 3,000 gallon pond had drained out. Not going to
> bother you with all of the particulars of how but it's not a liner leak
and
> I was able to stop any additional water from draining out. I've been
ponding
> for more than 6 years and the pond is home to approximately 25 koi and
> goldfish and an assortment of plants. The fish vary in size from two feet
to
> 5 inches. I need to get the water level back up but I'm not sure what the
> rules are for filling a pond in the winter. (It's currently 29 degrees
> outside and projected to warm into the mid 30s, then back below freezing
> tonight.)
>
> In the summer I often top off the pond or do occasional water changes but
> never much more than 10%.
>
> Here's my question: Does the 10% rule hold in the winter and, if so, how
> long before adding the next 10%?

I would feel plenty safe refilling it over a period measured in hours, as
long as it was dechlored. Your hose water, running through the cold air to
the pond, will be chilled enough, IMHO.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

[~ Windsong ~]

"JB" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Thanks Jan! I was hoping that an experienced ponder was lurking out there
to
> give me some feedback. Trouble is, I'm out of water treatment at the
moment.
> I put in a couple hundred gallons and will fill tomorrow after getting
some
> water treatment.
===========================
Then "spray" the water in from a height using one of those garden
water-wands. Most of the chlorine will dissipate. It works for us. We only
have chlorine here....
--
Carol.... the frugal ponder...
"They laugh because I'm different, I laugh because they're all the same."
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Benign Vanilla]

"~ Windsong ~" <P@P> wrote in message
...
>
> "JB" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
> > Thanks Jan! I was hoping that an experienced ponder was lurking out
there
> to
> > give me some feedback. Trouble is, I'm out of water treatment at the
> moment.
> > I put in a couple hundred gallons and will fill tomorrow after getting
> some
> > water treatment.
> ===========================
> Then "spray" the water in from a height using one of those garden
> water-wands. Most of the chlorine will dissipate. It works for us. We
only
> have chlorine here....

If your locality uses Chloramines. This will not work.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.