Houston temperature

[Matt24]

This is are last real cold night . I’m liquid under the tarps & snow

My little 1800 gallon pond with the fingerlings is liquid under the plastic and snow. My big pond has no tarp though and is ice/snow covered.

[delbert]

We’re looking better now 1 more cold nite and we’re good

[Matt24]

That's really deep Delbert.

[Matt24]

I've had different experiences with my 3 ponds with different pump sizes, filters etc during this cold snap down to -13 F. As described in posts above, the 12,000 gallon pond made it through okay as far as I can tell. There was a lot of melting at 45 F today, but still only the waterfall (mostly) and a little hole beside it have cleared off. I have not seen the koi yet. The plastic covered 1800 gallon pond with the fingerlings is likewise okay, though I have not seen the koi. It never froze over.

One I have not mentioned yet is a round tub I have mostly in-ground and filled to about 400 gallons. All I have in there are 4 of the least attractive fingerlings that I plan to re-home. The filter is a cheap 20 gallon plastic trash can. As the tub was starting to freeze over for a couple of days a little over a week ago, I noticed the filter's outflow pipe was icing up pretty bad, with much more severe weather forecasted. From past experience, I knew it would not make it. The outflow would surely freeze and make the filter overflow, and all but 4" of the tub would pump out, then that water would freeze along with the koi and the filter, which might burst, along with the intake hose.

So I decided to shut it down. I unplugged the submersible pump and drained the filter, all but about 7" in the bottom, and the intake hose. I tried to drain the last 7" of water below the connection for the inflow hose, but the valve and drain pipe were frozen. So I left it. After about 8 days and with it warming up, I flushed (but did not sterilize) the filter, and got the system flowing again. The filter seems to have not burst or have leaks. The tub is still frozen over except for a thawed place where the water started flowing in, and I have not seen the koi and don't know if they made it. I am wondering it I have to worry about anaerobic bacteria having taken over from the aerobic, and if so, what to do. Or maybe it will be fine. I don't really know.

[Matt24]

... tub I have mostly in-ground and filled to about 400 gallons. ... I decided to shut it down. I unplugged the submersible pump and drained the filter ...

Enough ice had melted by this afternoon that I could see that the four "fingerlings" appear okay after about 10 days under solid ice, with no aeration or filtration and temps as low as -13 F. I use the quotes because 2 of them are tobi that are closer to 8". Still that it a pretty light fish load for 400 gallons in cold weather.

Heartfelt prayers for the folks in Houston and other areas who may have found pond plumbing to be much further down on the list of big concerns due to the extreme weather.