Pond Maintenance

[SlowPoke]

We just bought a new house and moved in last weekend. It has a small pond in the backyard with 6 or 7 koi (I think) swimming under the ice. The only thing I know about maintaining this pond is to keep a hole open through the ice.

If anyone has some words of advice or handy links to share, it ould be appreciated!

 

 

In bloom

 

[irishfield]

Shouldnt' take more than a yard.. yard and a half of soil to fill it in...

 

 

 

(cripes.. does it have a heater in it?? That would be frozen solid here tonight!)

Edited January 29, 2010 by irishfield

[Dozer]

Ahhhhh,

 

Well it is winter so things are very slow right now. Hopefully there is a heater in there or an areator keeping a hole open for proper gas exchange.

 

I don't even know where to start, I myself have a pond, built over 15 of them so fire away any questions.

[purekgw]

my buddys got a pond that size all you need is a bubbler to prevent the water from freezing

[musky66]

Should be able to hold the fish in your avatar!

[outllaw]

install 1 musky. that should take care of the koi. i couldnt resist

[trevy727]

http://www.silvercreekponds.com/Pond_Fish.html

[blaque]

i dont know much about these either........not sure if i'd keep it or not. It looks like the perfect shape for a mini putting green.

 

I do LOVE the seperate gated area for doggies and such.

[ChrisK]

Brian,

Don't worry about the fish....Their metabolism will be so slow right now that they won't need any food or much oxygen. How deep is the pond..Usually ponds deeper than 24 inches won't freeze solid and the fish will be safe. Any shallower and you must transfer the fish indoors or like suggested install a pond heater.....Other than that the plants and all else should be fine and your pond will wake up in the spring and return to its normal state.....If you got any other questions just call or come on over and we can talk more over a home made brew or two

[Fish4Eyes]

What zone is that pond in, and will a 6" auger do?

[bigugli]

As ChrisK was saying, tmost of your pond plants are perennial, except for the floaters. Water lettuce and hyacinth need to be purchased each spring. Only need 2/3 of each. They spread like wildfire. A hanful of cabomba or parrot feather strands as well. Pond should have an insulated bubbler. I have seen much larger ponds freeze from top to bottom with the loss of some very expensive large Koi.

[jjcanoe]

I'll come check it out soon and measure it for the ice hut LOL

 

as it is don't worry about it til the spring.

 

jjcanoe

[Mike Pike]

A warm summer eve enjoying a few bevvies on the deck and cruising fish at your feet.

 

Enjoy your little piece of paradise right their, Slowpoke. It's gonna be sweet!

[The Urban Fisherman]

Hey buddy,

 

Like the others said, keep a hole open all winter to allow potentially deadly gases created by rotting feces, food or plant matter to escape. A bubbler is good to for adding oxygen, but cold water will keep their need for oxygen to a minimum, and will retain it longer than warm water. Don't feed them until srping as any food they happen to eat now can rot in their bellies and could kill them.

 

Have fun with it, and like I said before - I've got a good book around here somwhere if you want to borrow it for a while.

 

cheers,

Ryan

[Uncle Buck]

Sweet, i know where i'm coming with my carp gear in the spring...

[SlowPoke]

The wife and kids would kill me if I filled it in! I like the looks of it but it's a little underwhelming; a maintained puddle at best. If it isn't too much trouble to maintain, I might consider expanding it. I think surrounding the deck on two sides would be nice.

I have no use for a dog pen or putting green, the little fence is coming down. The previous owner was kind enough to remove the doggy landmines from the pen when we pulled up on closing day but we'll do a sweep in the spring to be safe.

You don't need a pond to enjoy a few bevvies in the yard!

 

 

Brian,

Don't worry about the fish....Their metabolism will be so slow right now that they won't need any food or much oxygen. How deep is the pond..Usually ponds deeper than 24 inches won't freeze solid and the fish will be safe. Any shallower and you must transfer the fish indoors or like suggested install a pond heater.....Other than that the plants and all else should be fine and your pond will wake up in the spring and return to its normal state.....If you got any other questions just call or come on over and we can talk more over a home made brew or two

 

I'm not sure of the depth. I would guess around 24" at the perimiter and maybe 36" in the middle. There appears to be a few 3 gallon pails in the middle for plants and they are well under the surface. We know not to feed them right now but have to figure out when to start feeding. I'm thinking there's an optimal water temp that triggers them.

 

 

As ChrisK was saying, tmost of your pond plants are perennial, except for the floaters. Water lettuce and hyacinth need to be purchased each spring. Only need 2/3 of each. They spread like wildfire. A hanful of cabomba or parrot feather strands as well. Pond should have an insulated bubbler. I have seen much larger ponds freeze from top to bottom with the loss of some very expensive large Koi.

 

I think the plants will be harder to maintain than the fish! There is no heater that I'm aware of and it does have a bubbler. PowerJet 600 moves 600g/hr.

 

 

Like the others said, keep a hole open all winter to allow potentially deadly gases created by rotting feces, food or plant matter to escape. A bubbler is good to for adding oxygen, but cold water will keep their need for oxygen to a minimum, and will retain it longer than warm water. Don't feed them until srping as any food they happen to eat now can rot in their bellies and could kill them.

 

We leave the bathroom window open for the same reasons.

[IndySKS]

I think you will like the pond it's quiet relaxing sitting around it during the summer enjoying a few drinks, ours always seems to be the conversation piece. Personally i would pitch the koi but that's a personal thing.

Ponds can be relatively maintenance free if they are managed properly, but it's all about the balance in it's ecosystem. If you looking for a pond place near london i use Thorndale nature ponds to get my yearly supply of plants and fish feed. One or two of the biggest key things is to keep enough cover (60%) to keep the sun from turning it green and having the proper balance of all the parts of it's own little ecosystem.

 

Lots of good advice out there and everyone operate their pond slightly different and im sure you will do just fine with yours, the offer is open any time(when it's warm out) if you want to come out for a beer and discuss ponds.

[SlowPoke]

I think you will like the pond it's quiet relaxing sitting around it during the summer enjoying a few drinks, ours always seems to be the conversation piece. Personally i would pitch the koi but that's a personal thing.

Ponds can be relatively maintenance free if they are managed properly, but it's all about the balance in it's ecosystem. If you looking for a pond place near london i use Thorndale nature ponds to get my yearly supply of plants and fish feed. One or two of the biggest key things is to keep enough cover (60%) to keep the sun from turning it green and having the proper balance of all the parts of it's own little ecosystem.

 

Lots of good advice out there and everyone operate their pond slightly different and im sure you will do just fine with yours, the offer is open any time(when it's warm out) if you want to come out for a beer and discuss ponds.

 

I think the koi will stay until I'm able to manage the pond's tendancies. I learned this from keeping an aquarium; don't rush into expensive fish until you have a stable environment. Eventually I'd like to get into spec's and brooks. I say that now but I don't know if it's do-able. That's just what I envision.

I'll check out Thorndale in the spring. Thanks for the info and invitation!

[icedude]

Sweet, i know where i'm coming with my carp gear in the spring...

 

 

Congratulations on your Pond!

 

Fish with a guy at Aquascape Inc. from time-to-time

 

highly recommended

 

if you get the POND Disease and start building bigger--not that there is anything wrong with that

 

the current Gold Standard in reference material is

 

Earth Ponds,by Tim Matson,Second Edition,1982,Countryman's Publishing,Woodstock, Vermont

 

ISBN_ 0-88150--155-7

 

Enjoy your new found hobby

 

Cheers

 

Paul