Winterizing the pond

[gardenlady]

I haven't been here in a few months but met some wonderful women who gave me terrific advice with my pond and hopefully they will come forward again. Because I was having trouble keeping the pond clear, it was suggested to me that I put quilt patting into a container and have the spitter flow through and boy does that work. She also told me that she only has to do this once a week, but I'm still doing this everyday as the batting still gets quite dirty. I'm hoping that during the winter it wont be so bad but wondering why I'm still at any every day cleaning cycle. Also..I had told this great ladies that we had a "shark" in our pond and I finally got around to capturing a photo of him for them *and others* to see. Pond is terrrific and wonderfully clear thanks to the advice I got the last time I was here so many thanks! Also..what do you do specifically to winterize your pond? I have never done anything but I live in Houston, Texas. Any advice regarding this is appreciated as well.

 

[addy1]

Nice fish.

If you don't freeze up you can leave it running all winter. Houston is zone 9a(per the net), you don't need to shut down anything.

 

[gardenlady]

Hey Addy! Well I never do anything but I know in the past the pond wasn't really clear in the spring, so maybe the batting will make the difference with that. Hoping I don't have to rinse the batting everyday during the winter but thinking it will be less since I won't be feeding the fish.

 

[HARO]

Gardenlady; Your 'shark' ia a variety of plecostomus (a catfish).
John

 

[gardengimp]

Which side of Houston are you on? If not the NW side, I would never worry about doing any sort of winter protection. Even on the NW side, with the fish you have, you would probably be fine. Running water won't freeze like still water in a birdbath would.

I really don't think you need to rinse the quilt batting everyday. Every pond (I think) will always have stuff in the water. Some of that stuff isn't so bad to have around. It's when the visibility gets bad that we want to clean it up. I've got batting in my filter box right now because our fall leaves just mostly finished falling. I'll leave it in for a week or so, then I'll take it out and rinse it, dry it and store it away until next time. The rest of the time, I've got a laundry bag filled with scrunchies in the filter box. I'll pull the bag out every few weeks or so and rinse it out. More often if there is pollen, leaves or acorns falling.

Your plecostomus however, is a more tropical fish. We have a bad problem with them here in Central Florida in the waterways. They froze during the cold winter of 2010. This was in zone 9A and 9B. Was a temporary help for the native ecology.

 

[sissy]

Houston should not really get that cold and i turn off my filters in the winter and just put a tote of batting in a crate with the pump going up into it and use a piece of filter material on the top to catch all the big stuff

 

[gardenlady]

Gardenlady; Your 'shark' ia a variety of plecostomus (a catfish).
John

Why on earth do they call it a "shark" then? He's still cool to see swimming around. :razz: Thanks for the info!

 

[gardenlady]

Which side of Houston are you on? If not the NW side, I would never worry about doing any sort of winter protection. Even on the NW side, with the fish you have, you would probably be fine. Running water won't freeze like still water in a birdbath would.

I really don't think you need to rinse the quilt batting everyday. Every pond (I think) will always have stuff in the water. Some of that stuff isn't so bad to have around. It's when the visibility gets bad that we want to clean it up. I've got batting in my filter box right now because our fall leaves just mostly finished falling. I'll leave it in for a week or so, then I'll take it out and rinse it, dry it and store it away until next time. The rest of the time, I've got a laundry bag filled with scrunchies in the filter box. I'll pull the bag out every few weeks or so and rinse it out. More often if there is pollen, leaves or acorns falling.

Your plecostomus however, is a more tropical fish. We have a bad problem with them here in Central Florida in the waterways. They froze during the cold winter of 2010. This was in zone 9A and 9B. Was a temporary help for the native ecology.

You know...the catfish made it through last year so I'm hoping it survives every year. He's gotten pretty big! I'm in zone 8B and on the NW side of Houston.

I tend to clean it everyday since I can see all the gunk, but I'm happy to do so less frequently. The pond is crystal clear so I'm sure you are correct and I'm hoping over the winter it's much less since I won't be feeding the fish.

 

[gardengimp]

I'm in zone 8B and on the NW side of Houston.

then you do get snow that sticks once in a blue moon then don't you? If so, and you are having one of those colder than usual winters, or with snow and ice in the forecast, then there are probably things you need to do. Last winter was milder than normal, so I'm not using last winter as the guideline for my water pond. That said, so far as recorded history, there has never been sticking snow in Orlando, so I'm all out of ideas for you.

 

[gardenlady]

then you do get snow that sticks once in a blue moon then don't you? If so, and you are having one of those colder than usual winters, or with snow and ice in the forecast, then there are probably things you need to do. Last winter was milder than normal, so I'm not using last winter as the guideline for my water pond. That said, so far as recorded history, there has never been sticking snow in Orlando, so I'm all out of ideas for you.

Yep..once in a blue moon and not too long ago they were certain we were going to get quite a bit and totally missed out on it. I appreciate the information you've give me!