water under liner

[poconojoe]

I turn off my waterfall for the winter. I don't want water flowing onto the ice and spilling out of the pond. I use a pool net with it's telescoping pole to slowly clean up any leaves, acorns, sticks etc. off the bottom. I do that in the fall and the spring. I put out my 250 watt deicer for the winter to keep a small hole in the ice for gas exchange. In the fall I erect a frame with PVC pipe shaped like bows over the pond and fasten a net to it to keep the leaves out.

 

[woodturner with koi]

that's a great idea, will certainly start doing that in the spring and winter, could you sent a picture of your set up with the pvc pipes etc, we have lots of trees in our area

 

[poconojoe]

Yeah, leaves and other such debris are bad for your water quality as they break down.
Check out this thread for ideas on leaf protection for the Fall season. There are some pictures on page two.

Best way to keep leaves out of the pond?

Got a small to medium sized lined pond and the previous owner of my house planted a lilac tree behind the pond which overhangs it. It looks lovely and we don’t want to take it out but obviously the leaves drop straight into the pond at this time of year. Should we fashion some sort of raised...

www.gardenpondforum.com

I use reflective fiberglass driveway sticks that I got from Lowe's home center. Home depot must have them too. I hammer them into the ground on an angle and force the PVC pipe over them creating a bow shape. I have three bows for the width of the pond and one long one for the length. I use three PVC 4 way cross fittings to connect each of them together on top where they cross. I use self tapping zippie screws at each joint so it doesn't come apart. I number each connection so that when I dismantle it, I know which piece goes where. I use ty-wraps (zip ties) to attach nylon pond netting to the pvc. Previously I used 1/2" pvc, but that was too flexible and snow would collapse it. Funny thing is that when the snow melted, it would always bounce back up! This year I'm going to up it to 3/4" or maybe 1".

 

[poconojoe]

Some people build structures over their ponds. Greenhouses sort of. And their ponds don't even freeze.