When is it too hot?

[Zoe]

It has been so hot here in south Texas. The lilies curl up in the afternoon and some of the leaves are getting toasted.
When is it too hot?


Cindy

[Marie Fisher]

Very good question. I have the same problem in Memphis.And am eagerly awaiting some
replies to your thread.

This year for lst time even a yellow broom has browned.

Marie Fisher

[Esther]

Guess I don't get where you're headed with this question. Too hot for what? My husband would rather have the temps above 90 but I'd rather have it between 75 and 80. So we can't all be satisfied.

[Zoe]

When do you provide shade for the fish and maybe lilies?

[Kat]

Tropicals will thrive in that kind of heat (although a few blooms do get crispy) & hardies won't like the high temps as much.

[SueSTx]

Here in the Texas panhandle, we've been TOO hot!  I was coming home from Victoria yesterday and it was 111* at Gutherie.  It was 106* here Monday.

My Pink Ribbon and the Arc En Ceil are pretty toasty looking.

I had some fatalities in a tank with no pump/filter.  I began to do water changes as soon as I got here about 8:00 PM.  Hubby, bless his heart tried so hard to keep everything alive while I was gone. but who knew it was gonna be so hot.

[miguynmkoi]

Esther, I'm with you on the cooler hot temps.   

I don't get nearly enough sun for my lilypond plus it's deep so no problems with the sun/heat there.  My koi pond on the other hand is not so deep and sits in full sun.  I set up the patio umbrella over the koi pond when it gets hot here.  The pond will still get morning sun but shaded in the hot afternoon sun.

[Zoe]

Thanks for the replies.  I have 4 air stones in addition to my pump and I know that helps.  I moved some lilies to my pond that does get some shade. Albert Greenberg does not like the sun.

[Mike S.]

The extra air stones are a VERY good idea for the fish!  As water temps increase, oxygen saturation levels decrease. Water temps above 80F simply can't hold much oxygen. Should the water temp go very much higher, the saturation point (the most oxygen the water can hold,) comes very close to the minimun reqired to support fish life.

Any surface disturbace will help, such as a waterfall or "pond spitter," but the best way to get additional oxygen into the water is a spray bar. Just a PVC pipe with a cap on one end, the other adapted to a hose attached to a small, submersible pump. You can ether drill a series of small holes in the pipe, or make a number of cuts with a thin saw blade. Just keep the openings in a line so they all shoot water in the same general direction.

Rather than spray into the air, where it might give you a little cooling effect but increase evaporative loss, aim this puppy down to where it makes the most noise. (Fine-tuning.) The more racket it makes, the better job its doing.

Myself, I've not seen tropical waterliles suffer from too much heat, as long as the pond doesn't dry out. But hardies don't all care for so much direct sun down in the South. Most of the time, they will do better in somewhat deeper water. My old mentor used to tell me that "The crown can get sunburn!" Hardies and tropicals. That's why he advised me to make ponds with a 24 inch depth, rather than what was the common 18 inches.

Oh, and Koi absolutely can get sunburn. The answer there would be shade, possibly from plants or a shade cloth pergola, and depth. Very little (if any) UV penitrates 4 feet of water.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

[Zoe]

We run Pondmaster air pumps in each pond.  The air stones are about an inch sqaure all around. They put off a great deal of bubbles. I learned the hard way what happens when it is too hot and there is not enough areation. We had the waterfall and a spitter but it was not enough. This happened about 4 years ago.  I was happy to have the air pumps when hurricane Ike came and we did not have electricity for 14 days. The air pumps did not take too much away from the generator we were running and the fish survived.  Thanks for the informative post Mike! 

[HTH]

If you have koi over a foot long you might want to make sure there is plenty of aeration.   Four years ago I had a very bad experience with a few days of the 100+ temp and a pond that was not deep enough.   

I had tears in my eyes as I removed my dead friends from the pond.

The regenerative blower blowing enough air to toss water about a foot over the pond surface seems to do the job. 

[Mike S.]

Professor Pain is the best teacher. Or as Brett Rowley used to say when asked why he did something a particular way and someone would ask how he knew that, "I've killed enough Koi to know." May sound harsh, but I learned exactly what he meant by that, myself.

I much prefer learning from the mistakes of others. Too bad it doesn't always work out that way. But if you at least share your mistakes, you can help others avoid "Prof. Pain's" class.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL