Caring For Your Garden Pond During Winter

Depending on the construction of your garden pond fishes can be wintered outdoors quite successfully. This short article will focus on things that you can do to properly protect and care for your fishes during the wintertime.

If you’re living in an area country where winter is the most prominent season for most of the year, it's better to build a garden fish pond where part of it is about 30-45 inches deep.

This will help protect your fishes from long periods of cold spells. Even more drastic than cold water is the building up of gasses which are toxic in a pond that is iced over completely for a certain amount of time.

Therefore, it is mandatory that a part of the pond’s surface is kept open to enable the pond to circulate air that results to the disposal of deadly gasses and adds oxygen.

Aerator...

This is a large air stone that is operated by an air pump which can constantly create a small opening inside the ice. Unfortunately, placement is quite critical and hard to be arranged precisely.

Ideally, the aerator should be placed halfway measuring from the deepest part of the entire pond and should be monitored frequently. Chances are, if the aerator is placed too near from the surface, it has a tendency to freeze, if placed deeper, it can chill the entire pond

Pond Heater...

There are different kinds of pond heaters that can be safely used for garden ponds that are constructed from a liner or even concrete. A breathing hole is requires at all times to prevent the build up of deadly toxins. In many instances, the most efficient de-icers or heaters can produce an ice-free pond even if the most sever winter weather.

The 8175 Perfect Climate 750 watt garden pond heater from K&H Manufacturing is part of a new generation of heaters that keeps water ice free during the winter.

Every K&H de-icer is reportedly safe in all ponds, unlike many other de-icers that are offered in the market today. Each one of these de-icers can be used as a floating de-icer right out of the box, or in mere seconds converts to a submersible de-icer with the click of a button.

Up until recently, all that was readily available were energy gulping 1000 watt to 1500 watt de-icers; pond owners had little choice but to purchase expensive to run de-icers, even when they didn't need it.

K&H Manufacturing have solved this dilemma by developing an entire range of de-icers, in addition to a handy zone chart for consumers to select the appropriate de-icer, each and every time.

Pond Water Pump...

This has broadly the same limitations as an aerator. A water pump can provide an opening on the surface of the pond but with several considerations.

The primary one is that the pump should be mounted on the deepest part of the pond yet far enough from the bottom to avoid water circulation, and far enough from the surface so that it will not freeze. The pump should be inspected regularly, as it can freeze solid or run dry, which can destroy the integrity of the pump.

The water pump shown is an example of one that can used in both waterfall and stream applications. This powerful direct-drive pump features a unique dual discharge design for operation of two water features simultaneously.

It is extremely versatile and can be used vertically or horizontally. The powerful direct-drive pump produces greater starting torque and flow pressure than comparable magnetic drive submersible pumps.

It also has a corrosion resistant body that has been designed for non potable submersible use.

Pond Cover...

Covering your garden pond can be beneficial for your fishes, and keep out a lot of falling debris such as twigs and leaves as well as acting as a deterrent to would be predators.

It can protect the pond from extreme cold, and will reduce the amount of electricity that your heater needs, although the cover must always be raised to enable gas exchange and prevent toxic substances from building up in the pond.

An alternative would be to use a strong pond netting, these are available in a range of sizes to fit the majority of ponds.

Feeding...

The final consideration is feeding your fish. Actually you don't have to worry about this too much, for even if your fish seem to be quite interested, they will generally just ignore the food.

This is because during cold days, their metabolism can be quite sluggish, although you can supplement them with food that can easily be digested, such as the ones made from wheat germ.