Winter water change?

[Snodac2006]

Hello,
Couple of days ago the ice had melted off my 6,000 liter pond and I could see all the gold fish swimming around. It made me ponder if this is natural and if people conduct any type of water changes during the winter? The fish all seem healthy, not surfacing for oxygen or anything out of the ordinary? It got me wondering as only five kilometers away I noticed that my father-in-law fish stay on the bottom of his pond.

 

[Dave 54]

We do regular winter time water changes here in the UK but we use a dechrorination unit to deliver it to the pond :-

http://www.vyair.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=68

This allows us over a period of several hours to trickle water back into the pond.
Doing it this way you are allowing the ambient temperature of the pond to warm up the colder water as it enters the pond .
If done correctly (and it takes a bit of practice ) you will loose at the least ,2 of a degree to .4 of a degree celcius .
The filter itself negates the use totally of chlorine and will treat 1,000's of gallons imperial without the filters needing a change , if you shop around a bit you'll find them in the US


Dave

 

[addy1]

I just let rain do any changes, ow I leave it be until spring. Our well water is very low ph, I prefer to not add significant amounts well water, without the pump running. (ph of around 5.4)

 

[Snodac2006]

Thanks Dave & Addy for your replies and advice.

 

[sissy]

I don't do water changes I just let mother nature handle that for free like addy .I never really did water changes .I would flush the dirt out of the filters and use fresh water but that was about all I did .I only feed my fish 3 or 4 times a week so nothing really builds up .Now with the new better food I am hoping that will help also .Plus I grow plants in my filters .I do have to trim there roots every week because of how fast they grow .Warm water temps and they swim more .My pond is near my septic tank so gets heat from that .I haad a video on here that showed clear ice on my pond and my fish could see me through the ice and they came up to eat I guess .I showed pics on face book of fish under ice and my great nephew thought the fish had frozen to death so I made the video for him .Never thought about scaring people with the pics

 

[addy1]

I add water when needed, but don't do a water change. Haven't since pond inception. Don't tell anybody but I do send some gutter water into the pond...........shhhhhh! only in the summer, I pull the feeds for the winter, that water is cold, melted snow and ice.

 

[sissy]

So much rain last year that I had to empty some of the water out of my underground tanks that only 2 of my gutters lead to so they would have room to expand in the cold .I used a lot of it on my lawn but did not realize how full they were again in December .I don't lower the pump all the way to the bottom because I am not sure how much roof grit is down there .I get over flow from the one gutter that is near the pond that in heavy storms goes into the pond but it never seems to cause a problem with water quality .When you have a well every ounce of water is gold and you never want to waste it .When I rebuilt my pond I even shoveled the snow off the top of my lawn around the pond to help fill it .Tested water and no problems and even tested a glass of melted snow .Only problem I have had is the cutting of all the trees around here .

 

[addy1]

I use the gutters to keep the pond filled in the summer. We protect our well.

 

[rebelangel_3733]

I dont do water changes per say, I just add water in the spring/summer/fall months when the water evaporates resulting in the pond being a few inches lower than I want.