When to start?

[baeya]

We started off using aquarium pumps that were housed in a container. But, they didn't last very long and after going through about 10 different 20 to 30 dollar ones, I bought one online last year, I think it was around $200....don't remember. It has been running since last December. We do use a de-icer as well.

 

[j.w]

When I turned my waterfall pump off last year I just left a couple small fountain pumps running to bubble water up through a pipe to the surface so as to keep a hole in the ice if we got any. And I had an airstone hooked to a small aquarium pump too and it kept a hole in the ice too. Those all added some oxygen to the water too.

 

[taherrmann4]

Could you just take your current pump and drop it in the pond and run a new hose up to the surface creating a bubbling effect? Or you could just get an aerator which is what i use when the pump is not running.

 

[blessedfamily]

Yeah I think that is what I will need to do is buy another pump and get an airstone..I have never shut my pond down for the winter but after last year I think I need to..too cold to be out there adding water when it's snowing

 

[blessedfamily]

I thought about using my pump I already have but it is 3,000GPH and my pond is only 1,000 gallons..would be a big bubble effect lol

 

[baeya]

Yeah, personally I think that would be too much.......but I'm by no means an expert! I'm learning a lot though! My pond was originally put in by a hippy kind of guy that owns an aquarium store where I live. He set me up with the aquarium pumps in the container thing. I don't know anything about air pumps but they were not the little 3" x 4" kind. They were more like 8" x 6". He set up two of them.

 

[j.w]

Yeah the pumps I use are really small pumps and they still do a good job of keeping a hole in the ice and don't create a big whopping amount of bubbling like my waterfall pump would.

 

[lorraine]

why can't you leave and pump and filter running during the winter? sorry first time pond owner !

 

[sissy]

Ummmmmm I think I will just keep quiet Sissy....

hmmm thank god tmann

 

[sissy]

The pump can keep running if you want but the filter will freeze up and be useless anyway .I keep my pump going to keep an air hole in the ice so gasses can exchange and this way the fish will get air .Without fresh oxygen they can die .My waterfall even froze up last year and I had to shut that down .

 

[Sunshine]

why can't you leave and pump and filter running during the winter? sorry first time pond owner !

I leave mine running all winter.

 

[sissy]

I had my waterfall freeze up and the pond only had a foot of water in it by morning because of leaving the pump running out of the pond ,once the waterflow started to freeze it just kept running over the top adding ice to ice and 4 o'clock in the morning I was out there trying to get water into the pond .I will never do that again

 

[Sunshine]

I have been lucky in not having it freeze. My pond is not out in the open either, that might have something to do with it. It's right off my deck. It gets ice hanging from the weir to the water, but water still flows under it.

 

[taherrmann4]

I am not sure what would happen if I left mine going all winter, would be concerned that what happened to Sissy would happen to me plus my 25 ft creek would surely freeze over and cause problems.

Sunshine do you have any pics of your pond and falls?

 

[Sunshine]

Yeah, maybe not a good idea to leave yours running all winter. The creek would probably cause problems. Here is a pic from last Winter. I put a treble light over the barrel bog, the pump is smaller than on the Bio. But, the light bulb busted, so I took it off. I was worried about water diversion, but it did fine without it. I did check it constantly though. The Bio filter is on the left.