pond pump on for next winter?

[sissy]

still say quilt batting works the best and in the spring is the time to catch all the fine stuff .I have neglected my pond for over a month now and water is still clear .

 

[callingcolleen1]

That big plant with the yellow blooms on top is my Yellow flag water iris. I just leave it in the pond every winter and it grows back nice every year. Yes it is perennial plant.

 

[Shawn]

We live in Franklin Ohio, we also kept our waterfall and skimmer running all winter. The pond mostly froze over except for a small place in front of the waterfall. My husband did have to go out a couple of times and knock off some ice on the waterfall with a mallet and the skimmer too. No problems with algae so far.

I also live in the Philadelphia area and built my pond last spring. I kept my skimmer and waterfall running all winter. The pond and falls froze completely over twice for a total of maybe ten days. We have a small upper pond that the filter box empties into with about an 8" falls, and then about a 5' stream to about a 1' fall into the lower, main pond. I had no problems with the pump in the skimmer box or with losing water to ice dams and although frozen over you could see and hear the water running under the ice. The water in the skimmer box never froze. I too have the string algae but my water is crystal clear and yesterday for the first time since before the first of the year I saw some of my adult fish. I was a little concerned about leaving the pump on all winter but I had no problems.