What steps do you take to winterize your pond in zones 7 and down?

[HomerJay]

Do you shut off your main pump and what size is the small pump I read somewhere that a 300gph pump prevents the water from freezing better than a 2500gph?

Yes, main pump is shut off. I leave it in the pond because I have heard that taking it out every year will dry the seals. I then use, I think 500GPH pump through the winter. I put it on my plant shelf and it keeps an opening all winter. I have no attachments on it, I just let it break the surface.

 

[jschult2]

I also live in Zone 6b (Haymarket VA). I leave the stretchy fabric hose out in laundry room for winter pond fill up. The outside hose bib sits under the outside dryer vent outlet, so not a problem re freezing and I time my fill ups when weather is above freezing during the day. I keep my waterfall on during winter. I have a heater which switches on at a certain temperature. I use a commercial Fall Pond maintenance product when weather turns colder.

However, I do not muck out the leaves that escape the leaf net. One early spring I scooped up the remaining leaves and woke up by hand sized bullfrog, so now I leave it in but then I'm usually late in the early spring and I end up with fish egg jelly in the muck if I wait to long. Should I be clearing out the bottom totally? some of the posts sounded like that would be better.

 

[Telion]

I also live in Zone 6b (Haymarket VA). I leave the stretchy fabric hose out in laundry room for winter pond fill up. The outside hose bib sits under the outside dryer vent outlet, so not a problem re freezing and I time my fill ups when weather is above freezing during the day. I keep my waterfall on during winter. I have a heater which switches on at a certain temperature. I use a commercial Fall Pond maintenance product when weather turns colder.

However, I do not muck out the leaves that escape the leaf net. One early spring I scooped up the remaining leaves and woke up by hand sized bullfrog, so now I leave it in but then I'm usually late in the early spring and I end up with fish egg jelly in the muck if I wait to long. Should I be clearing out the bottom totally? some of the posts sounded like that would be better.

Thank you quick question about your question should you be clearing out the bottom or cleaning out the bottom? The one letter makes a lot of difference if it is a typo. I plan to vacuum the bottom and clean everything as much as possible to prevent any toxins from building up. But I would not remove (non plant) items.

 

[Telion]

Great thread, I will likely try a few things and see what works best. I don't want to get caught by surprise and more so I don't want to suffer preventable fish loss. I had been wanting an aerator so I picked up a Pondmaster AP60 got a great deal on it and a 750 watt K&H Thermo-pond de-icer. I will likely use the aerator on one shelf and run a 300gph pump on another side and put the de-icer somewhere. I want to treat it kind of like a test for the first year and see which works best with my pond. I really want to put a heater in the skimmer and run the bog year round but I am not sure that will work. I do have an extra heater so I might give that a shot and keep the de-icer pressure the aerator near the entrance to the skimmer.

Found this and liked it I will likely do something similar with what I have.

https://www.thepondguy.com/product/...-KDTZInMrvwNx2ShlNwAm9AGwarGTN4aAl82EALw_wcB#

 

[bettasngoldfish]

We just bought a new aerator this year. It's an Aquascape ProAir 20. A real bubbling fool. But we don't generally run it

@Lisak1 does the proair 20 pump sit inside the pond?

 

[Jhn]

@jschult2 I would clean muck/leaves out of pond bottom from the summer/early fall before the fish start to slow down. Then wait until mid/late spring to clean the late fall/winter buildup of leaves(depends on amount of mulm built up on bottom). If a lot of silt/mulm, reason being it lets the fish come completely out of their winter torpor, during this early spring period they are weakest and more prone to getting sick if water quality is changed. If minor amount of leaves, I would just scoop out whenever.

 

[sissy]

I guess now the question will be what do we do to protect our ponds from hurricanes .High winds and lots of rain and power outages are a factor that need to be addressed now .I know I am worried more about my pond and fish than my house .I have insurance on my house but the pond is a whole different thing .it scares me what could happen

 

[Lisak1]

@Lisak1 does the proair 20 pump sit inside the pond?

No. But it's supposed to be built to sit outdoors year round. Our previous pump was technically supposed to be inside (difficult to accomplish) or under cover. We had it under a plastic tote for about the first year - then the tote deteriorated in the sun, and it was MOSTLY under cover, then sort of under cover, then not under cover at all! But it worked great the whole time. We just decided we wanted something with a little more OOOMPH!

 

[MitchM]

I guess now the question will be what do we do to protect our ponds from hurricanes .High winds and lots of rain and power outages are a factor that need to be addressed now .I know I am worried more about my pond and fish than my house .I have insurance on my house but the pond is a whole different thing .it scares me what could happen

Can you put a screen or lattice over top of your pond to keep the fish from being washed out?

 

[addy1]

Can you put a screen or lattice over top of your pond to keep the fish from being washed out?

A friend of mine in Louisiana did that for a hurricane years back. She put tight net/deer fencing over the pond. If I recall right she put wood, cinder blocks etc to hold it in place. If she had not done that all of her fish would have been gone. The flood waters were 2 feet over her normal pond level.

 

[sissy]

I just emptied out some of the water in my pond to lower the water level it was all the way at the top and the overflow could not handle the heavy rain and getting more now .I am going to empty more again when it stops raining ..My yard is really soft to walk on .Most of my neighbors got water in their basements but so far none in mine

 

[addy1]

I never empty mine, but I have a nice overflow, it just runs down the hill from the pond.. Got rocks stacked up to keep the fish in the pond.

 

[Telion]

Picked up a low tech thermometer for the pond.

A couple pics of the finnedn kids before they settle in for the winter.

Pic of the aerator lit up

 

[callingcolleen1]

I just covered the ponds now with cattle panel cold frames with fine nets to stop the leaves. Then I will be covering them with heavy plastic as well and hold that down with rocks. Snow will soon fall and further cover the ponds to help insulate. I use one red 1500 watt cattle trough heater, place in the middle of four connecting ponds that will flow all winter together. The one heater will keep ice down and the cold frames will further insulate and prevent them from freezing too hard. Canadian Prairie provinces are supposed to get really cold this winter...

 

[sissy]

if colleen can do it anyone can