PUMP & WINTER

[Mmathis]

I understand the concept/controversy regarding running a pump during the cold weather: mixing the deeper, warmer water with the circulating, colder water. And while it may or may not be an issue for me in Louisiana, now that the thought is in my head, I'm gonna think about it none the less. Not worry so much, as just dwell there...

My pump is at the far end, away from the "waterfall-to-be," about 2 feet from the bottom. If I temporarily (cold months) relocated the pump closer to the other end (waterfall end), would that make any difference as far as the overall temperature (ie--less mixing)?

Or do I see another experiment in the making, here?? Hmmm...

 

[callingcolleen1]

Turtle Mommy you don't have cold enough weather to see any difference in temperature with where you put the pump. Come to think about it you really don't have a winter so there is no need to change anything, nothing is going to freeze there and it it does it won't freeze for very long. Have you every had ice on the pond?

 

[Mmathis]

This is my first pond-winter, so no reference. We do get some freezes, but at most, surfaces only stay frozen for a day or so per freeze. I know our bird bath can be frozen solid. But in general, at our coldest we have 20's at night, up to 40's & 50's during the day, with occas. 30's.

Yeah, we get short-changed in the "seasons" department. Our only constant is hot, humid summers!

 

[callingcolleen1]

That's still not going to be cold enough to make much difference where you put your pump, you need to have a very very large deep pond and have a thick cover of ice before you see any difference in temperature. You will be just fine, nothing to really worry about at all. Gold fish and Koi will be just fine with your weather. Don't know much about your turtles, but I suspect they will be fine too.

 

[j.w]

My set up is pretty much the same as yours TM w/ the pump being at the far end and the tube running from there to my falls which splash down all year long. I keep mine in the same spot off the bottom a bit and temps here get to freezing at times but no biggies usually. Once in a while we can get an unusually cold day or 2 in the below zero but hardly ever. Pond gets some freezing but thaws in a couple days. We don't have your hot, humid Summers tho. I think you can just leave your set up as is for all times

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think the pump should never be on the bottom of the pond ever just in case... that way if the hose comes loose off somewhere up stream , or if the water fall Jams up or some other unforseen event, the pump will not pump all the water out of the pond.

It also does not hurt to lower water drops and shut off spitters as they can cool the water more. I run less pumps in the winter to simulate a natural reduced winter flow. Then in the early spring I set the extra pumps back up to simulate a natural increased spring flood flow to sweep the upper ponds clean of excess leaf litter, down threw the big yellow flag and out to the bottom pond.

 

[oldmarine]

Since I put my pond in the fall of 2008, I have run my pond year round with the same pump, water fall, pre-filter, and bio filter. During the winter months my pond is crystal clear, and doing different. I rinse the pre-filter approx. once a week, and less in the winter. One other thing. I do have a submersible heater in my pre-filter seservor that keeps my pond from forming ice during a freeze. Even when the temps drop down into the teens at night.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, spring comes much quicker to the pond when you run it all winter and the plants I leave in all year round start to regrow under the snow in early spring, and I have run my pumps for last 22 years and I never have problems now. I too use a heater to keep the ice open.

 

[sknichols]

I'm in Oklahoma and our winters are just messed up. One day this week we had snow and freezing temps to 70 degrees within three days. My pond is shallow only 2.5 ft at the deepest part. I pulled my pump that circulated water through my stream because I too worried about the lowered water temps. Fish have done well. Got alot of debris in pond and the water is not clear. I am wondering about putting pump back in now? I thought in March I would empty the pond and give it a good cleaning or make it bigger and deeper. But worried cause the water is just not very pretty.

 

[sissy]

I can understand your concern and since you will be going bigger it could be either way .You can put the pump in and filter the water .I so far have run my filters all winter with no problems .A pool net will help you get the big stuff out .If you go to big it is harder to clean it .I would go deeper as my pond is over 4 ft deep

 

[callingcolleen1]

My ponds are three feed deep max, and I run most of my pumps all winter, with a heater when really cold, like when below 15 Fahrenheit or colder.

 

[capewind]

Our pump is running 24/7 here... nothing is changed from warm to cold weather. In the last week, we've had what I'll call two mini blizzards (Nemo & Plato) and our pond(s) havent had a single issue.
Two ponds connected. Only have one filter. Pumping water from the bigger pond (about 6400-6500 gallons) to a Laguna Filterfalls 5000, which feeds back into a smaller pond (about 2500 gallons), and returns to the bigger pond via a gravity waterfall...
Pump is an 8000 gph, external spa pump. A bit too powerful for the Filterfalls 5000, so hubby put a T in that directs water to a small (oramental) water fall... Between the Filterfalls, return waterfall, and oramental waterfall, not an issue with ice either... They all freeze, and water continues to flow through/under the ice.
All the fish look fine. In the main pond, the max depth is 5' but the smaller pond averages closer to 2' (there is a deeper area, but cant remember if it is 2.5 or 3' deep, and is only a 1/3rd of the pond). I have to hunt for the fish in the smaller pond (they hide between the 5 gallon lily pots LOL)...

 

[sknichols]

today I got the air compressor out and blew out all the leaves and acorns that were embedded in the stream, cleaned my pump and new filters and turned her on full speed! So nice to hear the water again. Expecting chance of snow tomorrow night. Today its in the high 50's and sunny. Thanks for the advice and encouragement!!