The pond is new as of this Spring and doing well. I have about a million minnows and 8 goldfish. The deer keep eating the plants in the pond and the bog but everything is doing well. I am near Atlanta, so although we will have times when the temp goes below freezing, it is never long-term. I am planning to keep the bog running year round. I expect the biological filter will slow down but not really stop. The water is currently great. Clear and all parameters fantastic. I do have quite a bit of "mulm" build-up. (That cloud-like, green layer of insubstantial particles at the bottom.). The intake bay is doing a good job of pulling in leaves but it could be better. There are some that have sunk to the bottom.
Here is my dilemma: Do I try to do a good "clean" before winter? (Not a real clean - but more of a tidy up.) Or - since the pond is new - will that mulm and some leaves provide habitat for creatures that could be a food source through the winter?
I will do the little clean up if the debris could foul the water. But I will leave it if it could be beneficial.
I am not netting the pond. It is too big to do that easily. But I know it will get TONS of leaves before autumn is over. I plan to net those out several times a day, to try to keep up with it.
I could also put on my waders and walk around in the pond, netting leaves and disturbing the mulm, allowing it to get pulled up into the water. If I put a layer of quilt batting in the intake bay when I do this, it could pull some of that excess out of the pond as I go.
Good idea? Bad idea?
My thinking is that a moderate tidy up probably wouldn't hurt and could possibly help.
Here is my dilemma: Do I try to do a good "clean" before winter? (Not a real clean - but more of a tidy up.) Or - since the pond is new - will that mulm and some leaves provide habitat for creatures that could be a food source through the winter?
I will do the little clean up if the debris could foul the water. But I will leave it if it could be beneficial.
I am not netting the pond. It is too big to do that easily. But I know it will get TONS of leaves before autumn is over. I plan to net those out several times a day, to try to keep up with it.
I could also put on my waders and walk around in the pond, netting leaves and disturbing the mulm, allowing it to get pulled up into the water. If I put a layer of quilt batting in the intake bay when I do this, it could pull some of that excess out of the pond as I go.
Good idea? Bad idea?
My thinking is that a moderate tidy up probably wouldn't hurt and could possibly help.
