Carp4U
Fish Crazy
Should i be cutting back all plants, stopping feeding, turning off filters etc? In there is some koi carp and assorted shubunkins (quite small 2-3 inch)
I live in the UK by the way
I live in the UK by the way
What Should I Do To Prepare My Pond For Winter?
- Thread starter Carp4U
- Start date
not sure with the plants but keep the filters/uv turned on. the fish will still give of ammonia in the colder weather.
most koi keeps cover there pond to stop the wind chilling it to much. if you choose to do this make su you let the gas out as you will get a build up in there (apparently).
if you have any air pumps leave them on aswell. i have a 60 ltr per min of air going to the bottom drain and have 60 ltr's of air per min in the filter aswell and it will all be left on this winter.
edit: yes you should stop feeding. this time in the year you should be feeding wheatgerm. when the water gets to 5 degree's stop feeding all together
most koi keeps cover there pond to stop the wind chilling it to much. if you choose to do this make su you let the gas out as you will get a build up in there (apparently).
if you have any air pumps leave them on aswell. i have a 60 ltr per min of air going to the bottom drain and have 60 ltr's of air per min in the filter aswell and it will all be left on this winter.
edit: yes you should stop feeding. this time in the year you should be feeding wheatgerm. when the water gets to 5 degree's stop feeding all together
its my first winter with a pond, I'm not far from chester myself.
I stopped feeding about 3 weeks ago but I also turned my UV and filer/ pump off. there seems to be 2 camps some saying leave on some saying leave off. I've read loads of posts on a pond forum and decided to leave mine off. I'll soon find out if the wrong decision!!!
I stopped feeding about 3 weeks ago but I also turned my UV and filer/ pump off. there seems to be 2 camps some saying leave on some saying leave off. I've read loads of posts on a pond forum and decided to leave mine off. I'll soon find out if the wrong decision!!!
Truck
UKAPS
put a football in there so it doesnt freeze over
please turn at least the pump/filter on. uv doesn't matter as much but imo still helps killing bad bacteria.
as i said in my first post fish still give of ammonia if there eating or not. its like turning your fish tanks filter off because your not feeding them for the next week or so.
i get all my info of a koi dealer (probably one of the best in the uk) and you wont find 1 pond on there forum with the filter/pump turned off. ive had a goldfish pond for 10+ years and a koi pond for 6+ years now. since keeping koi my pump/filter has never been turned off
last thing.
when you turn you filter off and start feeding your fish you will be restarting the pond again meaning it will have to cycle again but with more fish. so you will probably take a few years of the fish's life due to the stress and bad water condition's
as long as the filter/pump is running you wont need to as there will be water movment.
cheers Chris
as I say I don;t have the experience of keeping ponds to use so I've relied on information from other ponds users.
my pond is a raised pond and as a result is supposed to be colder in winter? would this alter your advice. the reason I swithced my pump off is due to some people saying I would be circulating the freezing water to the bottom where the fish shelter in some slightly warmer water?
if its worked for you I'll stick the pump/ filter back on. forgot to look at your sig are you from UK?
as I say I don;t have the experience of keeping ponds to use so I've relied on information from other ponds users.
my pond is a raised pond and as a result is supposed to be colder in winter? would this alter your advice. the reason I swithced my pump off is due to some people saying I would be circulating the freezing water to the bottom where the fish shelter in some slightly warmer water?
if its worked for you I'll stick the pump/ filter back on. forgot to look at your sig are you from UK?
i didnt quite mean to come across how i may have in my post above but i was just putting my points across.
a raised pond wont chane my advice. both my ponds are raised and the temp difference between the top and the bottam would be unnoticable. as i said before i have 60 ltr's of air going to the bottam of the pond which will be left on over winter as well.
i havent lost a koi yet (touches wood) since having a proper koi pnd (except from the heron) and i havent found a dead goldfish for about the last 5 years.
and yes im from england just outside london
there was nowt wrong with the tone of your post as a pond newbie I'm interested in ytour advice and its got me thinking again about what to do. I'd spent a fair while on a pond forum canvassing what to do on their.
I've just been to look at my pond its feckin freezin in their poor fish!!! lolI'll stick the pump nback in later... I miss the sound of the water running anyway!!
now you mention a waterfall is there anyway of diverting it so the water drops straight into the pond rather than down a waterfall as this will really chill the water alot more.
the best way is so it running directly into the pond with minimal splashing. mine runs about 2 inch below the surface on the koi pond and a water level in the goldfish pond
the best way is so it running directly into the pond with minimal splashing. mine runs about 2 inch below the surface on the koi pond and a water level in the goldfish pond
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
A lot of pond plants naturally die off in the winter, so if any of your plants start to die back then these are the ones you should cut back, as so to help prevent all the dead leaves filling up the pond (being pruned back now will also encourage lots of new growth in the plants in springtime)- you should also remove any leaves that have fallen into the pond from trees etc 
.
You should change the feeding regime of the fish too when the ponds temp drops to 10 degrees C or colder, as fish find it difficult to digest normal fish food at these cold temps- wheatgerm pellets are the best to feed when the pond temp is this cold as it is easily digestible at cold temperatures for goldfish etc. Overall you should cut back on feeding the fish in general when the pond gets this cold. You don't have to feed the fish when the temperature drops to 10 degree's C or colder (since the fish will have naturally built up body fat reserves to live off for these cold times) , however if you do decide to do so then wheatgerm pellets are the way .
When it comes to the filtration, personally i would leave it on, but i would advise putting a polystyrene board (or something similar) under the waterfall to create a slope for the water to gently go down so that the water doesn't splosh so deep into the bottom of the pond etc.
. You should change the feeding regime of the fish too when the ponds temp drops to 10 degrees C or colder, as fish find it difficult to digest normal fish food at these cold temps- wheatgerm pellets are the best to feed when the pond temp is this cold as it is easily digestible at cold temperatures for goldfish etc. Overall you should cut back on feeding the fish in general when the pond gets this cold. You don't have to feed the fish when the temperature drops to 10 degree's C or colder (since the fish will have naturally built up body fat reserves to live off for these cold times) , however if you do decide to do so then wheatgerm pellets are the way
.When it comes to the filtration, personally i would leave it on, but i would advise putting a polystyrene board (or something similar) under the waterfall to create a slope for the water to gently go down so that the water doesn't splosh so deep into the bottom of the pond etc.
I used to run a pond, (albeit an 'in-ground' one), with fountain & waterfall.
The winter regime for that used to be;
- Make sure you have removed any dead plant life
- Switch off the UV lamp, (they have a limited life and don't do much over winter anyway).
- Switch off the fountain, (passing water through the cold air will only serve to chill it)
- Divert past the waterfall (again to avoid passing the water through the air).
- Raise the pump inlet off of the base of the pond, (this is due to the whole 'keeping a warm pocket of water at the base of the pond' argument. However I never had the ability to measure the surface and 'deep' temperature of the pond, I would think that there couldn't be much difference though as normal convection currents would bring the warm water to the surface?? )
The winter regime for that used to be;
- Make sure you have removed any dead plant life
- Switch off the UV lamp, (they have a limited life and don't do much over winter anyway).
- Switch off the fountain, (passing water through the cold air will only serve to chill it)
- Divert past the waterfall (again to avoid passing the water through the air).
- Raise the pump inlet off of the base of the pond, (this is due to the whole 'keeping a warm pocket of water at the base of the pond' argument. However I never had the ability to measure the surface and 'deep' temperature of the pond, I would think that there couldn't be much difference though as normal convection currents would bring the warm water to the surface?? )
Neon.Tetra
Fish Fanatic
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Keep the water surface moving.
mines totally frozen at the moment bar a circle where a football has been. its obviosly been colder than I realised. The fish all seem ok though. I'm looking forward to the spring now so I can see them again and finish the pond off!!
if yu have kept the filter/pump running it shouldn't of frozen over at all.
all the time ive had a koi pond it has never frozen over as the water is flowing it takes a lot more to freeze
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