Protect your Pond with Wintertime Maintenance

Although your pond is dormant during the winter months, it’s still important to keep up with routine maintenance. Try these simple pond winterization maintenance activities to save yourself time and money come springtime.

Let Light In

After you shovel your driveway to clear the snow away, get started on the pond. Keeping snow off of the ponds surface can be an important part of winter maintenance. Although your pond is dormant during the winter, there are microscopic aquatic plants that will continue producing oxygen as long as light penetrates the ice. Removing snow to allow light shine onto the pond can be an important step in keeping fish alive during the winter months.

Prepare for the Worst

Winter storms can sometimes result in power outages. Make sure you are prepared to keep de-icers and aerators powered if there is no electricity. If you’ve invested a lot in your pond, and are concerned for the safety of your fish, you may want to invest in a generator for your pond.

If you can, turn off pond pumps and filters in the winter. If a power outage does occur and you are not able to remove water from the filter and pumps, it may freeze, causing major damage.

Minimize Circulation 

If you decide to keep your pump running during the winter months, you will want to minimize the water circulation. During the cold season, even if the top of your pond is frozen, the bottom likely won’t be frozen and will remain around 39 degrees. If you keep the pump running at high circulation, you may actually circulate the frozen water, creating super chilled water.

Some ways to reduce circulation are:

• Turn off bottom drains, if possible
• Place intakes to pumps and filters at mid-water
• Place intakes closer to waterfalls or fountains
• Turn off Surface Skimmers
• Turn your pump down to a lower speed

 If you run into trouble this winter with your pond, or have questions about winter maintenance, contact us for answers. 

Making the Transition to Pond Filtering

You know you should have installed a pond filter long ago, but you just never got around to it. Now you’ve realized your pond life can’t stay healthy without one. So how should you go about installing a pond filter when you’ve been going without one? Here are some important steps you should take to safely install your filter.

Clean, Clean, Clean! 

Pond filters can be delicate, so it’s important to manually clean your pond before you start filtering. You might need to invest in some pond supplies to effectively clean your water feature. If your pond liner is too dirty to clean manually, consider draining your pond and purchasing a new filter. However, if you think you can clean your pond without making any replacements, you can treat the water with algaecide and chemicals that clean up bacteria. If there are fish living in your pond, be careful not to over-use these chemical treatments. Consider purchasing a non-toxic algaecide.

In addition to chemical treatments, you can also scrub your pond liner. Simply use a non-toxic cleaning chemical and scrub dirty areas with a hard-bristled brush. When you’ve finished with chemicals and are nearly ready to install your filter, skim the water surface with a net or skimmer to remove any excess plants.

Monitor Your Filter 

It’s always good to keep a close eye on your filter so you notice when it’s time to change it. This is especially important to do when you first install a filter. You will quickly learn what your pond filter looks like when it’s working properly so you can notice any future malfunctions. You will also be able to make sure your filter doesn’t experience overuse due to the extra cleaning it does at first. Your pond might look clean to you, but it could still have a lot of bacteria that the filter catches, so be sure to monitor it after installation.

As long as your pond isn’t too dirty, you should be able to transition to filtering without much trouble. Simply remember to keep your pond clean, even after your install your new filter.

If you’re looking for more pond filter suggestions or supplies, Pondliner.com can help you. Contact us today to take advantage of our expert solutions and quality products.