Pond is ready for the winter

[Nepen]

Good for you! I cant do anything until all the leaves fall off and I'll do one big swoop and also do some water change then too. the weather here has been very weird...

 

[bettasngoldfish]

The ceramic rings are a great idea for those who are having trouble with their air stones floating.

The air stones in my pond are fairly large and heavy so maybe thats why they don't float? The ones in my aquariums are held in place by suction cups so maybe that's why I never noticed them floating.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Good for you! I cant do anything until all the leaves fall off and I'll do one big swoop and also do some water change then too. the weather here has been very weird...

Yea, We have had some odd weather here too. We are supposed to have lake effect snow wednesday night into thursday and friday with much colder temperatures. Ready or not here it comes!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Sounds like you did everything right for another winter in Ohio. My Chicago pond is also winterized by shutting down the falls pump and replacing it with a small 300-500 gph pump I put in my skimmer. I discharge the pump right back into the pond but right in front of the skimmer. I also use a 300 Watt stainless steel heater. It has a light that shows it has power (blue) and when the heater is on it turns red. Great feature as you know all's well with the heater. I also add Aquascapes coldwater bacteria. it's good down to 35F which means all winter. I feel it's impossible to clean out a pond leaving no debris or fish waste so this winter bacteria really helps keep the water safe for the fish when I'm no longer running any filtration. I add the bacteria every two weeks. Hope your pond comes out in the spring with every fish healthy!

thank you and same to you!

P.S. Have you started a thread to introduce yourself? We would love to hear about your fish and pond, maybe even see a picture or two

 

[addy1]

I wondered why they don't make the tubing itself weighted

They do it is expensive

http://www.123ponds.com/air-pumps---aeration-aeration-accessories-weighted-airline.html

 

[Tula]

I'd never had weighted tubing till I got some with my new aerator last summer. Wow, I really love it, and mine is black, which you don't notice very much.

 

[j.w]

I have some pretty heavy stones but my airline on some of the valves is super long and the longer the tubing the more it will float. Gonna add some ceramic deals to my stainless nuts to make it even float less.

 

[morewater]

JW, why not splurge and get weighted air-line? Toss it in, and it sinks.

 

[Lisaebetten]

I use black tubing from the hardware store that is meant for something in the car. Maybe wind shield washer fluid, just can 't remember. My stone is very large and round like a golf ball size so my line doesn't float.

 

[j.w]

I already have the ceramic pieces so I'll use them.

 

[rebelangel_3733]

From warm fall days to....first snow of about 1/2 " and the pond ready for winter...darn it. Yes that is two weeks difference in these two pictures and there is ice almost 3/4 around the pond already in 3 days. Shut down the bog and took all the plants in for the winter, did a water change last week and put in the deicer (which will probably be plugged in here in the next couple days, as we are not going to get above freezing for the next week at least). And we have soooo many trees still full of leaves yet to boot. I gave away about 20 babies and my daughter took another 15, but I still have plenty in with the elders, and hopefully I've kept the water clean enough from leaves that the water will be ok for them! The skimmer did a great job of getting out the small leaves.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Big difference between the two pictures for sure. We also have snow on the ground (good old lake-effect working it's magic) the temperature is supposed to stay in the 30s during the day and in the 20s at night so I'm guessing it will stay for a little while anyway. The trees here are still hanging on to the last of the leaves. Lot's more came down in the last few days.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

so here is a picture of the new air stones I got