Winter Pond Prep Thread

[Reddog80p]

So I just finished doing my fall clean out/winter prep in the pond. It was a balmy 51 degrees out and I figured there won't be too many days like this most likely until next spring. I have 2 ponds. An upper pond that flows into a lower pond which is where my pump is. The pump draws water from the lower pond out a hose, and into a external bio-filter. The water is then pumped back into the pond via waterfall. I had fish in both ponds, so I did one pond at a time. I turned off my power source to my pond pump/filter and allowed for my upper pond to drain out enough to where it would not flow into the lower pond. I started by removing a good amount (700-800 gallons) of water using a submersible sump pump that I dedicate to only pond use. Once the water level was about 6" deep I got my pond fish net. It is alot easier to catch the quick fish when they have limited space to swim in. You can also wait until the temperature drops a little cooler and the fish become a little slower more lethargic. I prefer to do it when the temperature in my area is staying consistently in the low 50's to upper 40's. Most sources online recommend to stop feeding cold water pond fish when the water temperature reaches 50 degrees. I usually stop feeding them when my pond water gets in the 52-55 degree range. The fish have not been fed for about 2 and a half weeks. There was 18 comets the biggest being about 6" and pretty fat and the smallest being 1" fry. I netted the fish and placed them in the upper pond. If you have rock around your pond edges I recommend knee pads or some sort of cushion to kneel on. Kneeling down repeatedly on rock or hard ground will leave your knees a bit sore. Once all the fish were moved over to the upper pond I pumped out as much of the remaining water as possible with the submersible sump pump. Next I got out my old wet/dry shop vac to vacuum out all the debris from the pond bottom. There was a thin layer of what I would call "muck" and some pea gravel and aquatic plant soil that my fish had knocked out of plastic plant containers. My pond has EDPM liner. I then got my power washer out. This power washer has never had any type of chemical or cleaner run through it. I would highly recommend not using a power washer or any type of sprayer than has been used with chemicals or cleaners that could possibly hurt your fish,plants and/or beneficial bacteria. I did a quick power washing of the side walls and bottom of the pond to loosen algae and scum. Then I vacuumed the loosened stuff up and began refilling the lower pond. I dechlored with pond Prime as it filled. I repeated the same process as above for the upper pond. I did not clean my filter or it's contents at all so I wouldn't disturb the beneficial bacteria in the bio-filter. The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours,a six pack of brew and a boom box to listen to some jams.

[hankn]

C00l! I'm planning my winter cleanup and pleco catch in about 2-3 weeks. Water temps here are still around 64 at night.

[finsNfur]

I have to do some cleaning up today, not looking forward to it. Leaves have weighed down the netting over my pond to the point that I have to do something about it. And we still have most of the leaves on the nearby trees. Fall clean-up for me, living in the woods, takes weeks. *sigh*

[Reddog80p]

Yeah trees are nice for shade and the shade helps keep algae away, but they sure messy around fall time. Have fun, I know I did!!! :rofl:

[Ganina]

Thanks for the great thread.I started getting my pond ready for the winter today. I unfortunately dug mine too shallow to keep my fish in over the winter here in North Central Illinois. Today I started to try to catch them. The last time I counted I have about 25 goldfish in my pond . I think I caught all but 3 of them today.I think the fish are smarter than me. They know when I am going to try to catch them. I am going to over winter them in a stock tank that I have set up in my basement. Here are a few pics that I took of my pond this past June. This is the first year that I had it set up.When I first started to build it this year it was a nightmare trying to stop the leaks. They were all located at the waterfalls I also found today 3 dragonfly nymphs,I think, and one frog. I am very tempted to keep my 200 GPH pump and Bio-Filter running all winter so that I don't disturb the bacteria in the pond and filter. Is this a good idea? I shut my waterfalls off today

Rick

[hankn]

Took me 4 hours today to prep for winter but the hardest part was finding those **** plecos and getting them out. I ended up draining the entire pond, removing all my fish and finally in the muck and gunk left in the last 5" of water in a corner of the pond, I was able to find my last remaining pleco.

How do you manage to remove your plecos before the winter?

[shepherdchild]

Hello. This is my first year with having an outdoor pond, and it has little shadein the heat of the day. I have tried everything I can possibly think of to keep down the algea and the green color away, but nothing seems to work, could you help me please. The pond is three and a half foot deep, and is 5x7 feet in length and width. I have done this last years cleaning as you did in 50ish degree weather, the fish in late evening still come up, but the water in color is an ugly green. I have two pumps that are by size to big, but figured I need the filterage since it has little shading.

[hankn]

Hello. This is my first year with having an outdoor pond, and it has little shadein the heat of the day. I have tried everything I can possibly think of to keep down the algea and the green color away, but nothing seems to work, could you help me please. The pond is three and a half foot deep, and is 5x7 feet in length and width. I have done this last years cleaning as you did in 50ish degree weather, the fish in late evening still come up, but the water in color is an ugly green. I have two pumps that are by size to big, but figured I need the filterage since it has little shading.

1. You need UV
2. You have shade
3. You need plants
4. If all that doesn't work - my trick is to add standard aquarium micro polyester floss as additional filter media. I change it every 3-4 days. Works amazingly!

[shepherdchild]

Thank you