Waterfall spillway in winter

[Sage23]

Is it ok to leave it on during winter? I live in zone 7 if that helps. The waterfall doubles as a filter with sponges and biomedia. I don’t think the water will freeze, but expect it to get pretty cold. If I turn it off then I’ll lose my nitrogen cycle and have to start over in spring? Any insight is appreciated

 

[Hound Heaven]

I don't know what sort of water feature you have, but I live in 7 and I keep my pond/bog pump running all year. Perhaps you could include a photo?

 

[Laaf]

I leave mine running all year. Sometimes there is thick ice. But the waterfall is always flowing, even if under ice. And I have an aerator running that almost always has an opening above it in the ice.

I am in zone 7 too. My fish are outside all year. These pics were the past few winters at different times, and all fish survived under the ice.

 

[Mmathis]

I’m in zone 8. I leave mine going year round. The few times that we did get a freeze, it was mainly just the waterfall column that froze, but water was still getting around, under, and through. And our freezes only last a day or 2.

If you do leave it running, be sure to check water levels to be sure there isn’t a backup which can drain the pond.

 

[Sage23]

Looks like this.

 

[addy1]

Mine gets shut off, love the running water break. And we MIGHT have a cold winter. Too much surface area in the bog, really cools the water in the winter.

 

[Sage23]

If I shut it off what happens to the biological filter? Will I need to cycle to pond again? Can I take the biomedia out of the waterfall box and place it down in the pond?

 

[BKHpondcritters]

If I shut it off what happens to the biological filter? Will I need to cycle to pond again? Can I take the biomedia out of the waterfall box and place it down in the pond?

Even if you keep the waterfall running, once the water temp drops to a certain level, the biological action pretty much goes dormant. Once the weather - pond water temp - warms up again in the spring, all the dormant bacteria get going once again. They live on all the surfaces in your pond, not just the bio media This is why it's not recommended to do a full "Spring cleaning" that consists of draining, power washing, scrubbing, & refilling - **that's** what interrupts the bacteria & might cause you to have to start the nitrogen cycle over again.

I'm in western NC (zone 7) and what we do is wait for the pond temp to drop (and stay) below 50 degrees or so, then we remove all the filter mats & biomedia from the waterfall boxes, clean it & store it until things warm up again in the Spring. (Usually late November, early December is when we get around to this chore)

 

[Sage23]

Thank you everyone for your input! It helps a lot I’ve had fish tanks for years, but this is all new to me in way.

 

[j.w]

Zone 8 here and I keep mine running all year, submersible pump. External might freeze.

 

[addy1]

Zone 8 here and I keep mine running all year, submersible pump. External might freeze.

My pump is external, it gets turned off drained, stored down by the pond.