some questions....

[modri rogatec]

Hi!

We decided to build a pond in spring and I have some questions...

- I want to have some plants in there so I was thinking of putting aquarium substrate for plants on the bottom of the pond. since it is going to be a pond, I am not planning on putting anything on top of that substrate (like gravel or sand that I have in aquariums) - would that be OK, or not?

- was thinking of cleaning the pond by totally draining it before the frosts come (I have a few 1000 liter containers where I would put fish along with some plants and of course the pond filter). I am planning to use a pond foil - is it better for it to be covered with water during the winter, when there is no fish in there or not? (I don't want it tearing or anything like that)

- alternatively if I decide to leave the fish overwinter in the pond - what should I do with the filter to preserve beneficial bacteria? How deep should a pond be - the place where the pond will be is quite cold in the winters (-20C)?

-If I overwinter the fish in the pond should I do the drainage cleaning in the spring? I plan on leaving the plant substrate in the pond, just taking out all the water to remove any other debries that fall in the pond.

-Of course I will do regular maintenance on that pond as I do in aquariums. It is just that in aquariums you don't get leaved, dead bugs and stuff like that falling in

- what filter would you recommend - I still don't know how big the pond is going to be, I just want to knw what brand you recomend. I have eheims for aquariums

Thanks!

 

[dbosman]

Where you live will alter the answers to some of your questions.
The people I know with ponds use baskets for their plants so they can over Winter them in side. It tends to get cold in a Michigan Winter.

 

[modri rogatec]

Hi!

I live in Slovenia on some hills so the winter temperatures are around -20C...

 

[rainbowcharmer]

1). Your pump is probably going to suck up the substrate and push it through your filter since the pump typically sits at the bottom of the pond.

2). The ground will heave and shift when it freezes if there is no water in the pond to push back against it. I think draining it would be a really big no...

3).You can take some of the filter media indoors and put it in an existing tank to keep it alive, or you can keep a few of the fish indoors in one of the containers you mentioned and keep them filtered using that media.

4). You should be able to just vacuum the pond like you would a tank without draining the whole thing. What size pond are you looking to build? I don't intend on ever fully draining my pond unless something goes terribly wrong... but maybe others do.

5). I would do a DIY filter. Look up "Skippy's Filter" online. Those are easy, inexpensive, and they do a good job for a large volume of water. Again - depends on what size pond you want, but that would be my recommendation. When I was hunting for pond filters, I really didn't find anything that I liked pre-made. Plus the costs were ridiculous on what I looked at.

Good luck.