Just thought I'd do a quick update. All is well in the pond. We winterized it yesterday - took all the potted plants out, trimmed them down, and put back the ones that will be OK over the winter. I have a few irises that the nursery I bought from said to remove from the pond altogether for the winter, so those 4 are out of the pond. I also removed all the lettuce and celery floating plants as a lot of it had frost burn. Didn't want that sinking when it died and making a mess of my pump and filter. So the pond is looking pretty naked right now. So far I still have a kazillion minnows (yes, I counted), and 4 goldies (2 shubunkin, 1 common, 1 sarassas), all at about 5-6" long. They're not growing nearly as fast as I anticipated. Some of them I believe were stunted though as they came from a 75 gal tank (there were at least a dozen 5"+ goldies in there with a turtle). I haven't had the luck I'd have liked with goldies. Beyond something scarfing down a bunch initially, I lost most of the rest when I had the filter failure that pumped most of my water out of the pond. So in the spring I may add a few new goldies to the mix. But for now I'll leave things as they are. Still have some frogs that I see on occasion, although they may abandon me now that I've eliminated their cover.
Just wondering, does anyone know at what temperature (overnight, not extended for days) should I worry about my filtration pipes freezing? These are 2" PVC with a pretty fast water-flow, and the water is coming from 4' down, which I know will never freeze solid here in GA. Last year we had ice (maybe 1/2" thick) on the pond for about a week after a snow/ice storm, but beyond that the pond stayed ice free. Since my filter is above-ground (i.e. above frost level), should I worry about it freezing at some point? With the moving water, I'm wondering if that will be an issue or if it will be OK since it is so fast moving. At night we MIGHT hit teens on occasion, but that's not common. Days are typically well above freezing.
Thanks for any input there.