Winterizing Ponds

[jarch]

I am new to ponding and have a new 5000 gal pond with skimmer and bio falls. I live in Northern NJ.
I am wondering if the filteration should run throught the winter, or do I shut it down and install a heater or aerator to prevent solid ice buid up?
I do not have a bottom drain , so if you let it run all winter , how do you make sure the water will always flow into the skimmer, and not freeze.
Should I have installed a bottom drain? What about cleaning the pond, should i wash out the bottom of muck before the winter, or leave it alone?
Thanks for any input

[krandy21784]

Hi Jarch,

I leave the pumps run all winter, I put a stock pond de-icer ($45.) and run it and definitely clean as much muck as you can get as it will deplete oxygen.

[hnladue]

I shutdown my waterfall, but leave the filter running that runs the fountain since it's an inpond filter. I don't have to touch it all winter, the filter stays clean. I pull the fountain head off so it's bubbles just below the surface. And I also place a deicer in the pond (becketts $35) nex to the filter.

[barb]

I am so happy to see this thread, I am in southwestern Connecticut and had the same questions.  My pond is new, too.  Just yesterday I cleaned out much of the pond as best I could (I don't have a pond/pool vac), replaced 2/3 of the water and refilled it. I also took off the head of my fountain the way hnladue suggested, glad to see I'm on the right track.  A pond de-icer was my next step.  Can I also ask a question here?  (I don't want to hijack the thread!)  How much is everyone still feeding their fish? 

[Kristin F.]

Hi all, here are a few links that might help you.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?acatid=304&aid=122
http://www.skippysstuff.com/wintrtip.htm
http://www.bestfish.com/wntrpond.html
http://agebb.missouri.edu/hort/meg/archives/v7n15/meg3.htm

Just a hint; Google-search for "pond winterizing"..

Good luck!

[milliemax]

  Barb, I'm also a new ponder with many questions!
  As for the pond vac, I found one that you just hook up to a garden hose for about $20 at Target.
  We were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked! Our new pond (about 4x7) gets alot of chinese elm leaves and junk. We skim it, but alot sinks.
  This little handy dandy vac pulled up about 2 cups of gunk and leaves. It went right into the compost heap, already partially composted AND with fish poop! Guess what my other fun is?
  Just a hint, putting a croc pot dinner together with mostly all my own veges!  

[small fish]

Well, just my 2 cents.... I don't belieive ya'll have a pond unless you post the pics... I need to see the pics.... please...   

Myra

[jarch]

Thank you for your input, I think I will remove my pumps when the water gets cooler, in the meantime , I wll clean the pond out, sounds like this time of year is better than the spring, so beneficial bacteria develop in the spring.

The links were very helpful Kristin

Having problems attaching photo, file too large, I will keep trying

[jarch]

My Pond

[Daisy]

Wow thats gorgeous Jarch! 
I love the waterfall. 

[LeeAnne151]

How much "Winterizing" you have to do depends on your climate.

Every year we have people in warm climates winterizing too early and too much for their climates. Because they read posts by those in very cold climates and think they need to do it too. 

For example: here in Portland OR I remove tropical plants that will freeze and cut back the hardy plants.

My pump/waterfall run 24/7/365 and I don't need a de-icer of any kind. The waterfall keeps a hole open if there is an ice cover which doesn't happen very often.

IF I feel like it I try to get some of the organic debris from the neighbor's trees out of the pond as it is yucky looking. This year I did this and I burnt up my Shop Vac. Must find another solution. We are talking pine needles and pine cones by the pound here. The amount I removed would fit in two 5 gallon buckets. The fish don't seem to care one way or another (this pond is almost ten years old) but I hate looking at the stuff on the bottom.

Jarch, that is a very nice pond!

Barb, I am feeding a fall/spring food daily and will continue as long as it is sunny here. Mostly, I want to see the fish, I added some new ones and we've had raccoons several times recently. (we didn't realize ground wire to electric fence was broken)

[Cindi]

Jarch what a beautiful pond!  It's always nice when you have a hill to work with as far as the waterfall goes, I'm jealous! 

[jarch]

Thank You for your nice, comments, I am new to ponding, and loving it,  :

Wish I didn't have to worry about those darn herons, who already have snacked on one of my Koi. :

[LeeAnne151]

There are precautions you can take to protect your fish.

Provide something they can hide under, a floating planter, cave of some kind, anything that gives them shelter, they will learn to hide under it when predators come. You can use cinder blocks and put a pot on top etc.

Having a lot of plants helps provide shelter too.

If you have to you can resort to an electric fence, fish line fence or a water cannon.
Johns has directions on his site to build one cheaper than you can buy one.

[frloplady]

I am new to ponding and have a new 5000 gal pond with skimmer and bio falls. I live in Northern NJ.
I am wondering if the filteration should run throught the winter, or do I shut it down and install a heater or aerator to prevent solid ice buid up?
I do not have a bottom drain , so if you let it run all winter , how do you make sure the water will always flow into the skimmer, and not freeze.
Should I have installed a bottom drain? What about cleaning the pond, should i wash out the bottom of muck before the winter, or leave it alone?
Thanks for any input

This year I will try and run my filtration all winter, but I am also going to cover the whole works, pond and filter area, under a greenhouse cover.

Yes a bottom drain even if just for cleaning periodically would have been a good idea.  Clean out as much as you can.  If you don't do regular water changes do a few spaced every few days, or if you do regular changes a good 25%.

Last year I had to drain my pond below my skimmer and drain it.  I've also heard of stuffing them with styrofoam of some kind, packing peanuts in a bag or swimming noodles.  I had 8-10" of ice on the pond with a DIY de-icer to keep a hole open in the ice.  All filtration was shut down and pumps/tanks and filters drained.