Need a inexpensive way to cool the pond water. Phoenix AZ current temp HOT!!

I live in Peoria AZ and from mid June till mid Sept its over 100
degrees every day even at 3am its 100. My poor fish have to endure
extreem pond temps, I dont know exactly what the pond temp is but I
would guess about 90 degrees. I just got done doubling the size of it.
I would guess it's about 700 gal give or take.
1250gph pump to my UV filter, Bio Filter, & water fall. Filtration and
airiation is pretty good but the fish hide during the day trying to
stay out of the Sun... Good luck out here. I have some pigmy palms to
the back of the pond and the pond has the block wall fence on two sides
of it and I have a Ficus tree in front of it but the tree is still
young and not big enough to provide any shade yet. On top of everything
my house faces east west so the back yard gets direct son for about 6
hours.
I have read about using a small dorm size fridge and converting it to
cool the water in the pond. I would like to hear from other AZ ponders
and know if you all are doing anything for cooling your pond temps.

Thanks,
Chris

I'd try some serious artifical shade.
Depth is another option but not inexpensive.

kathy :-) www.blogfromthebog.com
this week ~ Mosquitoes!
Run For Your Life!

Pond 101 page for new pond keepers ~
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

Depth isnt really going to help.. unless i could dig it about 10' deep
which I cant..
I am serious its 100degrees 24/7 for 3 months this time of year. the
ground is sooo hot the tap water comming in the house is not very cold
either this time of year.

I have some Lillys now but not enough to cover the whole pond and I
just put in 4 more plants yesterday... more lillys and some iris and
something else....

By morning the water is 20 degrees cooler but by 2pm its very warm.

What about that blue die for ponds? I have some of that. wonder if that
would help at all. I dont like the look it gives but its liquid shade
in a bottel.

Chris

"Dude" wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in Peoria AZ and from mid June till mid Sept its over 100
degrees every day even at 3am its 100. My poor fish have to endure
extreem pond temps, I dont know exactly what the pond temp is but I
would guess about 90 degrees. I just got done doubling the size of it.
I would guess it's about 700 gal give or take.
1250gph pump to my UV filter, Bio Filter, & water fall. Filtration and
airiation is pretty good but the fish hide during the day trying to
stay out of the Sun... Good luck out here. I have some pigmy palms to
the back of the pond and the pond has the block wall fence on two sides
of it and I have a Ficus tree in front of it but the tree is still
young and not big enough to provide any shade yet. On top of everything
my house faces east west so the back yard gets direct son for about 6
hours.
I have read about using a small dorm size fridge and converting it to
cool the water in the pond. I would like to hear from other AZ ponders
and know if you all are doing anything for cooling your pond temps.

Thanks,
Chris

The only solution (and it is not necessarily an easy one) barring expensive
refrigeration units would be to dig the pond deeper, so that it will be
better insulated by the earth, and to completely shade it from the sun.
Other than that, the only other solution I can think of is to buy a
refrigeration unit (and like I said, they are expensive):

http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/chforaq.html

Those listed on this web page, however, will likely not help you much if
your pond is very large. I just posted the link to give you an idea of how
expensive these things are. But here is another web page for ponders that
might give you some ideas on how to cool your pond water. It is important
to make sure that the water doesn't get too warm, as O2 levels will plunge
as the water temperature rises.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/ar...id=434&aid=417

I hope this helps. Good luck.

The only solution (and it is not necessarily an easy one) barring expensive
refrigeration units ....

Very, very, very expensive refrigeration units. For any pond of any reasonable
size, no mortal can dream of affording such a thing. The prices would be well
into the thousands $$.

I did see an interesting home brew project where the guy built a heat exchanger
deep, deep into the earth. He had a backhoe one day, and some extra time, so
just went with it. This can work very well, and your only expense is the tubing
and the pump. He was happy with it, but discovered later that he should have
gone deeper. His area (AZ) has some pretty hot ground in summer, I guess.

At a guess, doing something like building a heat exchanger underneath a
shaded patios slab would be about optimal.

Other than that, the only other solution I can think of is to buy a
refrigeration unit (and like I said, they are expensive):

Force additional evaporation, and the pond will cool some. Course, this means
replacing the water. Which might be a plus is street water is cooler than the
pond. And you have a way of getting the chlorine out quickly enough.

No, heavy shading and making it nice and deep are about all you can do here.

I missed the original message. However, if this is to protect koi, I believe
it is proper to do temperature measurements across the depth of the pond. If
the koi can escape to a moderate temperature on the bottom of the pond, I
think they'll be okay. You might want to check with a local koi specialty
place about that.

IMPORTANT POINT: high water temp reduces the ability of the water to hold
oxygen. Physical oxygenation techniques (bottom water pumping or an airstone)
are called for in this situation.

C//

"Dude" wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in Peoria AZ and from mid June till mid Sept its over 100
degrees every day even at 3am its 100. My poor fish have to endure
extreem pond temps, I dont know exactly what the pond temp is but I
would guess about 90 degrees.

$$ Home Depot - pool thermometers for $3.99.

I just got done doubling the size of it.
I would guess it's about 700 gal give or take.
1250gph pump to my UV filter, Bio Filter, & water fall. Filtration and
airiation is pretty good but the fish hide during the day trying to
stay out of the Sun... Good luck out here.

$$ Here in TN I had to partly cover everything but my 800 and 2000 gallon
ponds. Even with water lily leaf coverage the smaller ponds/pools were 86
to 88 F. The sun and heat are relentless here. Fortunately it does get
cooler at night.

I have some pigmy palms to
the back of the pond and the pond has the block wall fence on two sides
of it and I have a Ficus tree in front of it but the tree is still
young and not big enough to provide any shade yet.

$$ What about some waterlilies? Their large leaves really help shade the
water from the heat of the sun.

On top of everything
my house faces east west so the back yard gets direct son for about 6
hours.
I have read about using a small dorm size fridge and converting it to
cool the water in the pond. I would like to hear from other AZ ponders
and know if you all are doing anything for cooling your pond temps.

Thanks,
Chris

--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On 24 Jun 2005 20:28:36 -0700, "Dude" wrote:

I live in Peoria AZ and from mid June till mid Sept its over 100
degrees every day even at 3am its 100. My poor fish have to endure
extreem pond temps, I dont know exactly what the pond temp is but I
would guess about 90 degrees. I just got done doubling the size of it.
I would guess it's about 700 gal give or take.
1250gph pump to my UV filter, Bio Filter, & water fall. Filtration and
airiation is pretty good but the fish hide during the day trying to
stay out of the Sun... Good luck out here. I have some pigmy palms to
the back of the pond and the pond has the block wall fence on two sides
of it and I have a Ficus tree in front of it but the tree is still
young and not big enough to provide any shade yet. On top of everything
my house faces east west so the back yard gets direct son for about 6
hours.
I have read about using a small dorm size fridge and converting it to
cool the water in the pond. I would like to hear from other AZ ponders
and know if you all are doing anything for cooling your pond temps.

Thanks,
Chris


http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...ories/ssid/370


--
Charles

Does not play well with others.

I have read about using a small dorm size fridge and converting it to
cool the water in the pond.

You can forget that, it will be a complete waste of labor.

I would like to hear from other AZ ponders
and know if you all are doing anything for cooling your pond temps.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...ories/ssid/370

That will work if it's big enough. Keep in mind that /most/ of these units
are designed for home aquariums, and most home aquariums aren't 700 gallons.
OTOH, if one wants to take a pond from 90 to say 78 or so, a smaller one might
do it. I think one should probably do the math on the unit.

Now, before you go off and stock your pond with expensive koi that you fall
in love with, consider the consiquence if this chiller fails. At 90 degrees,
your koi will probably die.

I think you need to not have to worry about a critical failure here.

Deep pond, some shade. That's a good "plan A".

C//

Take a few milk jugs. Fill with water. Cap and freeze. Put in pond during
the day. Pond on the rocks. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Thats what I have done in our hot tub on a few occassions when I
wanted a cold tub more than a hot tub.......it works pretty good too.

I would have to venture with a lots of shade is about the only resort
unless your prepared to spend lots of money for a chiller unit.

Around this paart its not uncommon for high temps either,,.How about a
fine mist of water. I have heard others say a trickle tower has a
chilling effect on water up to a certain point.

Take some temp readings at the top and middle and bottom and you may
be surprised the bottom strata is a lot cooler than you may think.

Around my ponds edges the water this year has been in the mid 90's
down to about 8 or 12 inches, however after that its a big change and
hits the lower 80's, and at about 3 feet or so its in the 70's. I
monitor my water temp from surface to 12 feet just for the heck of it
usuing a bank of remote electronic thermometers and sensors that are
permanently installed. Once I get past 8 or 9 feet the temp stays
rather constant all year round......

More aeraton and shade would be a big help for your pond / fish

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 23:33:05 -0700, ~ janj JJsPond.us
wrote:

===Take a few milk jugs. Fill with water. Cap and freeze. Put in pond during
===the day. Pond on the rocks. ~ jan
===
=== ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~


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