cleaned the pond bottom!

[koikeepr]

i used the oase pondvac 3. same thing, but never needs to be stopped and emptied...and not cheap. But it does work.

 

[mouseams]

I'm not going to "clean" my pond at all. All I'm going to do is use a fish net on a pole, and net any loose waste laying on the bottom and let nature take it's corse.

I will also leave the whole filter system running all winter. The only thing that I am doing different is turning off the water fall, and partially rinsing the boi-filter. I want to leave a culture of aerobolic bacteria in the filter material.

Hi Old Marine,

You say your going to leave your filter running all winter. Do you use a heater? My pond is about 3.5' at it's deepest and I have a bubble stone presently along with the pumpmaster filter. this is our first winter with fish (just comets, golds and shubunkins- lots of babies!) Does the pump ever freeze up?

THanks for the help!

Mary

 

[oldmarine]

Hi Mary,

Last winter I used a 150 watt submersible aquarium heater in my filter reservor, and it kept the water temp. just above freezing on those few nights when our temps. got down into the teens. I left the filter pump running all winte, with no problems at all. Even with a foot of snow on the ground, I had a hole in the snow where the pond was. The heater didn't freeze because it is a submersible, and stayed the same temp as the water.

The only problem that I had to deal with was evaporation, the water level would drop. Cold air, warm water. Evert day I would fill a five gallon bucket of water from the hot water tap and let it set overnight indoors. The next day I would check the water level and then add the water I needed to.

I hope I answered your question.