Prepping your pond for the winter

[Dave 54]

Spent the much of yesterday afternoon, starting to prep the pond ready for winter which is fast approaching .
After cleaning the vortex (usual Saturday job), I emptied and cleaned out our second filter of any muck which gathers in the bottom of the filters during the summer.
I made sure to renew my airstones cleaned the latacework of jap matting replaced our zeolite rocks with a charged bag of them clean the sponges and last but not least the brushes before completing the usual water change .
Next week I will be cleaning the 3rd filter doing the same again to it but replacing the lithaqua and filterwool (batting) the pond will then be ready for winter.
Those with ponds that arent netted it'd be a good idea if you do in future, remember to give your filter/filters a good going over before winter, clean out the bottom of the pond of any dead leaves or mulch be ready to rig your heater as the temperture starts to dip.
We use Policarbonate sheets to protect the pond from worst of the weather cold air etc but xontinue to do waterchanges throughout the winter using the trickle method using the ambient temperature of the water to warm the colder water as it trickles into the pond.
Giving your pond a good clean prior to the winter gives your fish the optimum conditions in which to survive the riggours our winter months.
There is less in the way of infections in the spring which is a very difficult time for your fish.
Remember as the temperature dips, to stop feeding stop feeding your fish at the 10c mark , I know some foods say 5c but I have yet to meet a koi keeper who pays attention to that prefaring to stop at the 10c mark.
If all is done in time for the winter you shouldn't have much in the way of problems the othr end of it.
Make sure your feeding your fish wheatgerm in the run up to winter, we swop over after feeding our koi a mix from the start of September a tip in the spring is to add a little garlic to the wheatgerm ({parasites appear not to like the taste..
Some koi keepers I know in Canada acctually bring their fish indoors because of the horrific temperatutes they get outdoors -24c with a windchill of -54c ( and we thought -10c was nippy ).
We wish you luck in your preporations .

rgrds

Dave

 

[Sunshine]

Oh no .... it's coming too fast, we haven't even had a decent summer. Our spring was wet and cold, our summer was chilly, now I have to prepare the pond for winter. Wonder what our winter will be like this year. I have to clean the bio, cut the lilies back, and do a last water change. The floor looks clean, the lily pads kind of helped with that. But, I know there are dead blooms I need to get out. What little they did bloom. I stop feeding when the temps get to 55*. My food has garlic in it. Great post Dave !!

 

[sissy]

Thing is to stop feeding you go by water temps .Last winter we were really mild and did not see many days in December below 50 degrees and I mowed 4 days before Christmas because grass was just to high .With thes weather changes you don't know what to expect .

 

[Dave 54]

Thing is to stop feeding you go by water temps .Last winter we were really mild and did not see many days in December below 50 degrees and I mowed 4 days before Christmas because grass was just to high .With thes weather changes you don't know what to expect .

The thing is sissy is not to get tempted to feed and then have the temperature drop out right from under you , we had this happen the first year outside one day we were above 10c the next we had -10c and it stayed under for the rest of the winter at 7c . However heating the pond we now keep it above 10c on a good day 12-14c , having fed hem up prior to winter we drop the feed ratio from 4 meals a day down to just the one to keep them ticking over so to speak .
Sunshine lol what you are describing there is typical of the UK weather however this year we had someone elses summer which was great, we spent our afternoons soaking up the sun by the pond getting a much needed tan at a balmy 26c the koi loved it and responded like wise .
There is somehing tranquil watching them swim slowly by, whilst we chilled to planet rock with ice cold pepsi or orange .
Sissy know where your at as it wont be the first christmas that we too have mowed the law, at the moment we are waiting for our apples to mature enough to be picked, of which we take some for ourselves, give some to our friend Brian to make scrumpy with and the rest to my best friend Robs wife Jennys horses which they just love.
We are thinking warm summer wickedly freezing winter this year looking at all the berries that abound .

rgrds

Dave

 

[sissy]

yeh true .I know here with the 2010 winter it was 70 degrees during the day and that night temps dropped and we got a blizzard and really ice cold winds .That was the night the ice formed on my pond really fast and pump that was in the pond to just keep an opening incase of cold weather got knocked side ways and was pumping the water out of the pond .Lucky we caught it in time but terrible to be out there in you jammies and bare feet trying to refill the pond .I was so worried about the fish I did not feel it it until after I got the hoses in the pond to refill .After that I did away with the pump tied to a crate and started using a bucket with the pump in the bottom and bags of lava rock on top .Safer that way .Not sure if the fish had knocked the pump over or something else .

 

[Dave 54]

I'm supprised that you didnt get frost bite on your feet sissy brrrr we live at the top end of a valley and when that north wind blows in winter you really feel it cutting through your clothes jammies are only thin but I suppose in the direst emergancies you dont feel the cold .

rgrds

Dave

 

[sissy]

oh believe me when I got the hoses in and came in the house to put on shoes my feet and body felt like they were on fire they were so cold .Took me 15 minutes trying to put shoes on .I was lucky I had the basement contractor put water spigots in the basement .I also had the slab and walls insulated .Never ever want that to happen again .If any one saw me they must have been shocked .Now I am preparred for the worst .I keep the hoses in the basement hooked up instead of storing them in the shed also .

 

[Nepen]

Thank you Dave.

So since I normally have a warm winter, meaning hardly freezing temperature, should I stop my waterfall and just run the pump as a fountain?

If I stop my waterfall, will all of my bacteria colony in my waterfall (where I have all my media) die?

Will the bacteria die in cold winter and I have to start up the cycle again next year?

I tried finding the answer but it's not so clear to me if the bacteria will die in cold weather or not, just know it's stop being active. But if I stop my waterfall, then the media with the bacteria will not get water and then it'd deffinately die.

Thanks.

 

[dieselplower]

Dave54 what do you think about fattening up fish before winter?

 

[sissy]

bacteria does not live below certain temps and I use extra to start it in spring if I have too .

 

[Nepen]

hmm, may be I could put at least one bag of my media in my guppies tank to keep the bacteria alive duing winter and use the bacg to start up my colony again in spring? If I do this, Can I just it in the tank or do I need to put it where water run through it?

What temp is warm enough to start the colony back up in spring?

ahh, my first winter is coming!!!!!!

 

[dieselplower]

I dont worry about the bacteria. nature takes its course. as the water and the fish warm up, so do the bacteria.

 

[Dave 54]

deselblower I dont know if you realise that koi are dfferent from their cousin the goldfish, in that they dont have a stomach as such they take in all thier nutiannts vitamins etcvia the intestinal tract.
Wheatgerm is often used to bulk up our koi prior to the winter period to get them through the lean times as many other creatures do.
Many of the richer koi keepers dont bother with this as for one they are already fattened up (jumbo koi)simply because they heat their ponds throughout the winter with anything from a 1kw-upwards heater us poorer koi owners either dont bother heating he pond and as such bulk up their koi prior to the winter as we ourselves do. But we are to say the least, a very inventive pair and simply popped a 800 watt oil heated radiator in the filter housing and with all the lagging of the pond and filter housing this allows us to meet the koi half way and simply reduce the feeding ratio down to just one meal a day.
They sail through the winter this way quite well thus heating the air in the filter housing which in turns heats the water from 10c up to between 12-14c on a good winters day at a fraction of the cost it would cost to heat a pond.
So yes my answer is we swear by bulking up our koi prior to the winter months.
Sissy thanx for answering my question I agree.

rgrds

Dave

 

[sissy]

I know you can add that microbe-lift product in the fall and then in the spring it smells like rotten eggs but it sure works .I used it a couple of times in my pond just to see the difference .

 

[Dave 54]

Are yiu talking sludge remover there sissy ?
or the PL filterpad innoculant gell ?

rgrds

Dave