Pond Planner - Section 3 Part 2
|
 |
Over-wintering the Water Garden.
Are your fish and plants ready for cold weather
Throughout the summer, debris builds up in your pond from falling leaves, fish waste, decaying plants, and algae. Excess organic matter will reduce water quality and stress fish and plants during the winter months. It is important to properly prepare your pond for winter. The following proven techniques will keep your fish and plants healthy during the long winter months.
Why can't I just let nature take care of my pond?
All summer long, you've enjoyed the tranquility of the water garden's - beautiful foliage, sounds of trickling water and colorful fish eagerly awaiting a handful of food. The water garden didn't get that way by itself. You added the right kinds of plants and fish to create a balanced ecosystem. The water gardens we create look beautiful and sustain life because we follow nature's rules. During the winter months, despite all outward appearances, the pond is active even when the water is cold or even frozen. Dead leaves, algae, insects and solid fish waste that have accumulated over the summer slowly break down during the winter months. This natural decomposition uses oxygen and produces small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that normally never reaches a harmful level. Few water gardeners realize that the pond must be balanced in winter too. Fish, frogs and other aquatic life are especially sensitive to poor water quality in winter.
A build-up of leaves and other organic matter can cause an imbalance, reducing oxygen to dangerously low levels and releasing poisonous hydrogen sulfide. Use a PondCare Pond Skim Net to remove dead leaves. Then use a PondCare Algae & Silt Strainer to remove excess sludge from the bottom. You can reduce sludge build-up with bacterial "cleaning" products for water gardens, such as PondCare® Pond Zyme® Plus or EcoFixT. These products contain bacteria that digest dead algae, plants and sludge that accumulate in filters and at the bottom of the pond. Pond Zyme Plus and EcoFix are all-natural bacterial products and are completely safe and they help keep water gardens clean and clear.
While you're stirring things up, you should change some of the water. Algae-promoting nutrients, dissolved organic matter and natural acids build up in all water gardens. These substances can stress pond life and lower oxygen and pH levels. Partial water changes flush out these substances and improve water quality. Change 50 % of the water in your ponds in autumn. If a pond has a lot of suspended matter or the water is tinted yellow from dissolved organics, make two water changes a day apart. While pumping out the water, you will stir up the sludge. Pump out the sludge and old water at the same time! Remember to add Stress Coat to the pond before refilling it with tap water. Stress Coat will condition the water and add a protective slime coat for the fish. If your tap water is treated with chloramine then add PondCare Ammo-Lock 2.
Many pond enthusiasts add PondCare Pond Salt to replenish important electrolytes to aid the fish during the stressful winter months. Check the salt level with a PondCare Salt Level Test Kit. If any of your pond fish have been inadvertently wounded while cleaning the pond, use PondCare MelaFix to help heal these wounds.
Too much of a good thing
This may seem contradictory, but you want to leave a little bit of debris in the pond when preparing it for winter. Some water gardeners net out the fish, completely drain the water and scrub out the pond, refilling it with fresh water. Frogs, tadpoles, snails and microscopic pond life need to burrow down into mud and leaves to survive the winter. Fish also hibernate on the bottom, settling in around a bed of leaves and mud. Remove about 90% of the leaves and silt that have accumulated over the summer. Leave the rest as "bedding material."
You'll be amazed at the diversity of pond life that emerges in spring. Keep in mind that tree leaves will continually fall into the pond as long as the water isn't frozen. Cover your pond with bird netting. This black plastic netting is almost invisible and prevents tree leaves and debris from getting into the pond. Entering the winter with a clean pond will help keep your pond, its plants and fish safe over the winter and give them a strong start in the spring.
Pumps and filters
You won't need to filter the water but it's a good idea to keep it moving at the pond's surface. Pond life needs oxygen even during hibernation. If ice covers the surface of the pond, oxygen can't get in and toxic gasses can't get out. Submerged pumps with fountains or waterfalls will oxygenate the water and keep a portion of the pond from freezing. If you live in an area where the pond surface freezes solid occasionally, use a pump and fountain to aerate the water. Set the pump on bricks about one foot below the water surface. This will prevent the pump from getting clogged with leaves.
One thing to remember, even when there is ice on the surface the pond water is warmer deeper in the pond. You don't want to stir up this warmer water or run waterfalls in the winter, as this will lower (ever so slightly) the temperature of the "warm" layer of water where your fish will be over-wintering. Floating pond heaters are available to keep a small area free of ice. You can also use an aquarium air pump and diffuser stone to oxygenate water and prevent ice formation. Even if the pond should completely freeze over, the air pump keeps pumping oxygen into the water. However, if you expect ice for long periods of time, a hole should be kept open.