My pond runs all winter, zone 2/3

[addy1]

Some of us love being hijacked!

 

[callingcolleen1]

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Ha Ha !! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! ! Happy today cause it is nice, warm, and I don't have to go into work till later this afternoon.
I finally did the password reset to get me more mobile and now connected to new Sam Sung Galaxy 5 so I can take pictures quicker and upload right off cell phone!!
Should have done that long time ago!

 

[MitchM]

Happy Thanksgiving, Colleen.
We're all going over to my mom's in Cochrane. I'm cooking the turkey.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Just want to remind everyone that winter could come any day now for some of us and you may be caught off guard. If you have a pond net covering the pond, get the leaves cleaned up around pond as soon as possible and be ready to take down leaf net before it snows, before the leaf net freezes to the ground, otherwise you may end up with leaf net stuck to griund all winter long!

Check weather forcasts regular now, make sure you are comfortable with the winter system you may be using, before the deep cold gets here. CHECK PUMPS and CLEAN Filters if you plan on running them all winter like I do. Switch pumps around to slow the flow for winter. But NOT Too slow, or water can freeze in hose if the flow appears too slow. If need be switch hose to smaller hose as this will increase the water flow threw the smaller hose and prevent freezing. Lots to consider...

Get your heater ready and any extra hose on standby, in case the power goes out, then you will have to break the ice and get to pumps, switch hose or defrost hose if need be. Lots can go wrong in winter, so be ready and ask lots of questions if you are unsure, as I will be here ready to help where I can.

 

[MitchM]

Good reminder, Colleen. I have some ice on my pond today and the minnows are still active at the surface. I shut off all circulation a few weeks ago though. There's lots of oxygen with the current water temperature at 4C/39F.
Happy belated birthday, btw.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Mitch your minnows should be just fine under all that ice, you know your going to end up with a million of those little things next year, and they should look really good in big schools!!

 

[addy1]

I leave my anti heron net up all winter. I have seen them down at the pond in January, it was a milder than normal winter that year.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I accidently left the one net up over bottom pond last year and the snow came quick and froze it to the ground, and I was stuck looking at it till spring, till I finally ripped it off the ice. The nets over the pond in winter can be a real hassle if you have to access a pumps or adjust pumps or hose or something. My nets are just meant to keep the massive amount of leaves out of pond. With a net stuck to the ground all winter it looks untidy and makes it harder for me to shovel the path around pond.
Snow is coming soon, maybe monday, so I have to get working on getting things out away soon. I will also have to take my beloved Gazebo down too if it looks like the cold and snow are going to stay.

 

[addy1]

I have nothing running I worry about, the pond breathers are near the edge of the pond easy to reach if something goes wrong. It appears you don't do much to them over the winter. I would rather have the net over the pond then fight the heron over the winter. Part of it froze into the ice last winter, but it did not bother me.

Here unless it is a really cold winter, we ice up, melt ice up melt .

 

[callingcolleen1]

When the ground freezes here it stays froze till May and then that really sucks. NO Heron here then cause they all flee our harsh winter and head over to your location! He he he

 

[addy1]

We are in a weird area, can have a cold frozen spell then warm enough for seeds to sprout, then hard freezing again. Sometimes we have an entire winter of freezing cold weather, sometimes. This winter who knows.

We are heading south, in 6 days, so have to shut down everything. I don't want our house sitters to have to take care of shutting things off. 79 here on tuesday. Pond a toasty 55

 

[callingcolleen1]

You sure are lucky, your pond does good in winter that way Addy, but for my monster bg Koi I have to keep careful watch over them. I am soooooo VERY Thankful that I have not even had to look at the heater yet! I remember many winters when I had to heat pond from October to April! Last year was so very cold, the ground was frozen very deep, some people had their pipes freeze that were almost six feet down, and not too far from here!!
Nice warm weather please stay just this once for Hallowween!! I am going to dress as myself (witch) and give out candy to childen. think sweet baby Rio might dress as a bat, just add a pair Of wings and she will be ready to go! he he he

 

[addy1]

Pond life is a little easier when you have simple goldfish, shubunkins.

 

[callingcolleen1]

This is very true, and I always loved goldfish cause they really come in some very cute shapes and sizes. I have had goldfish since I was a very young girl, and my oldest lived to over twenty years, but that was a long time ago when I was a kid. I bought her from the "House of Pets" downtown, no longer there, when I was about 12 years old, and at that time she was all gold. Then in my early twenties I build my first little pond and put her in there, along with the two other I had that were all gold. Then she suddenly turned all white and grew really big! One year a snake tried to eat her but she got away, and I seen the two small wound holes as a result of that attack. She survived that and lived to an old age, and slowly got old and died one spring.

 

[j.w]

Sure glad we don't get that cold here. We may get lots of miserable rain but our temps are pretty mild compared to a lot of people here. It is a good pond weather area and fish don't even mind the rain.

Neat you had that one fish for so long and she got to be the first member of your pond addiction Colleen
I've had some of mine for about 13 yrs now. They still never got that big after all those yrs in the pond. Maybe cuz I let them fend for themselves for several yrs. They stayed smaller which is fine cuz my pond isn't huge. I feed them now and the smaller newer ones I think will outgrow the older ones soon cuz they are really pigging down that food!