First winter with new pond, help

[Soonermagik]

Sorry, I read through several posts and still not sure what to do. I inherited a pond with my new home and finally have things going decent from 0 knowledge 3 months ago! I have 3 koi and 4 goldfish currently that seem to be thriving. Now, I’ve started worrying about winterizing. My concerns are the fish as well as the pumps over the winter. Please help! The size of the pond is in the pic below. My location is OKC, OK which looks like zone 7a? The pond has a waterfall and 2 pumps housed in a skimmer with a aerator. I need recommendations on what to do and at what temps to do it.

Thanks guys and gals!

Winterize

• Soonermagik
• Sep 25, 2018
• 1

Winterize

• Soonermagik
• Sep 25, 2018

Winterize

• Soonermagik
• Sep 25, 2018

Winterize

• Soonermagik
• Sep 25, 2018

 

[bagsmom]

I'm in 7b. I'm sure others will chime in here. I think the zone number is a general guideline that takes into account normal seasonal temperatures. Where I am, the winters don't typically get too cold. It does dip below freezing -- sometimes into the teens -- but that is never for an extended period of time. My pump is in the skimmer, down pretty low. My water lines are all buried. Last year, we had 8" of snow - which was CRAZY for here! (suburb of Atlanta). I had some interesting ice sculptures around the waterfall, but I was able to keep everything running 24/7 with no problem. My pond is deep enough that the fish and plants were all fine - even without me sinking them in the very bottom. I just went with the "survival of the fittest" philosophy, and everything survived. Good luck! As I said, I'm sure others will add their expert opinions on here, but this is just what I did and how it worked.

 

[RichardSJPonds]

You should be fine to just run it like normal all year. Maybe put up a net to keep out falling leaves if you have trees near it. Watch the water temp, if it goes below 60° you should stop feeding. In zone 5a we have ~5-15 days where a de-icer is needed to keep the ice open, the rest of the time the waterfall does a fine job. You'll probably not need a de-icer at all. An aerator is always a good idea, we add one in the fall-spring just to give the fish some extra oxygen. That's it, a bit easier than a swimming pool.