JohnHuff
I know nothing.
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2012
- Messages
- 2,257
- Reaction score
- 1,621
- Location
- At my computer
- Hardiness Zone
- 1a
- Country
This is what I've been doing...
1) Towards the end of feeding season I started decreasing feeding and changing the food from a high protein to a lower protein food. For the previous month though, I maximized feeding so the fish could build up some energy storage.
2) Yesterday was the first time I stopped feeding when the water temp dropped from 55F to 51F. I have a cheap temperature gun from Amazon to do this. Air temperature is not the same as water temp.
3) I plan to clean the mechanical filter media one last time this season. The filters don't usually clog up during the cold season so I leave them alone after that.
4) I continue to run the pump until I see snow or ice. I've read that running the pump when it's very cold will decrease the pond temperature because the water is cooled when it comes in contact with the cold air. So it's a balance of keeping water flow in the pond vs. cooling it too much.
5) I keep the pond at its maximum volume because I have a very shallow pond (about 2.5ft) and the deeper the pond is, the warmer it is at the bottom. I've also put styrofoam on part of the surface before to retain heat but I haven't done that for awhile.
6) It doesn't get too cold where I am (Seattle area) so so far I have not had to use an air pump or heater for my pond. It does ice over some years but it's usually just a thin layer and I break it up a little.
7) Make sure you bring plastic stuff inside. Sometimes buckets can get brittle and break. And definitely garden hose nozzles, they always break if I leave them out in the cold.
8) For some reason my fish seem to get bigger when they appear again during the Spring even though I don't feed them during the winter.
1) Towards the end of feeding season I started decreasing feeding and changing the food from a high protein to a lower protein food. For the previous month though, I maximized feeding so the fish could build up some energy storage.
2) Yesterday was the first time I stopped feeding when the water temp dropped from 55F to 51F. I have a cheap temperature gun from Amazon to do this. Air temperature is not the same as water temp.
3) I plan to clean the mechanical filter media one last time this season. The filters don't usually clog up during the cold season so I leave them alone after that.
4) I continue to run the pump until I see snow or ice. I've read that running the pump when it's very cold will decrease the pond temperature because the water is cooled when it comes in contact with the cold air. So it's a balance of keeping water flow in the pond vs. cooling it too much.
5) I keep the pond at its maximum volume because I have a very shallow pond (about 2.5ft) and the deeper the pond is, the warmer it is at the bottom. I've also put styrofoam on part of the surface before to retain heat but I haven't done that for awhile.
6) It doesn't get too cold where I am (Seattle area) so so far I have not had to use an air pump or heater for my pond. It does ice over some years but it's usually just a thin layer and I break it up a little.
7) Make sure you bring plastic stuff inside. Sometimes buckets can get brittle and break. And definitely garden hose nozzles, they always break if I leave them out in the cold.
8) For some reason my fish seem to get bigger when they appear again during the Spring even though I don't feed them during the winter.