New ponds and first winter experience

[Joejoe80]

So yesterday The weather was 50°. So I didn’t think nothing much of that. Well overnight it decided to drop in to the upper 20s. I woke up to a frozen pond. I never checked the weather and never turned on my bubbler.
So from my first winter one thing I would say is to watch the weather.

 

[j.w]

So did you turn on the bubbler and did it open the ice? Looks like you have your falls on so that will keep a spot open. Is your pump a submersible or external?

 

[Joejoe80]

My waterfall don’t spill directly into the pond. But it keeps the stream open which flows through pea gravel. down the side of the pond. Under the ice into the pond. Right into the skimmer end of the pond. I have a 3000gph skimmer. With a 3100gph submersible pump running at about 2100gph.
I had to open the ice around the bubbler which is now running.

 

[Jhn]

A few years ago when I first set up a smaller pond dedicated to turtles, I forgot to shut off the pump to the separate bog containers for the winter. It ice dammed and overflowed the bog tub, of course pump fell off shelf into deep end of pond and almost emptied the pond before I caught it. Fortunately, there where just native fish in there at the time, and they came through it fine. Definitely learned to shut the bog down earlier, before I forget about it.

My main pond for the winter, I just shut the bog down and leave the main pump ( feeds a water fall) and air pumps running albeit in shallower water.