Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
- Pond
- Empty milk jugs
- Vinegar
- PVC (optional)
- Heavy plastic (optional)
Overwintering Pond Equipment
Step1
Disconnect your filter and UV light if you have them. Algae growth has stopped until spring.
Step2
Turn off all pumps and fountains as the temperatures drop to 39º F. Fish like to stay in the bottom of the pond where the water is warmer, so don't stir up the water and lose the bottom layer of warmer water.
Step3
Remove your pumps when the freezes hit and check the hoses for leaks. Clean your pump, clean and wipe down your filters and UV lights. To clean tubes and remove lime scale, you can wipe them with vinegar.
Step4
De ice the pond after ice forms. When the pond freezes over, you must create an ice free opening in the ice so gases can be exchanged and the fish can breathe. You can buy deicers, but if you do, buy the ones that are used to keep horse trough water from freezing. Another way to keep a hole open is with a plastic jug that milk or water came in. Put a couple of cups of water in the jug, tie a string on it and float it in the water, tying the string to something you can reach easily. If the pond is still iced over in the morning, pull the jug out and you will have a hole in the ice. You must be vigilant if the temperatures continue below freezing because ammonia and carbon dioxide build up from fish breathing. Ammonia is also generated from decomposing plant material and fish waste. If these gases can't escape, your fish can die, plus they need oxygen to breathe.
Step5
Do NOT whack the pond ice with a hammer if it stays iced over for more than a day. The shock can kill your fish. Use warm, not hot, water from your inside faucet to open a hole. You can run water from your garden hose also and the ice will melt.
Step6
You can build a frame over your pond, like a cold frame. Use PVC and visqueen. It will keep the pond warmer and protect it from debris falling in the winter.
Step7
Do not run a pump that brings the warmer water up from the bottom of the pond to the top. Pretty soon all the water will be cold. If you do put a pump in the water, raise it to only 10 or so inches from the top. That will leave the warm water at the bottom where the fish are more comfortable.
Step8
Discard all fish food. It won't keep until spring and you must stop feeding fish when the temperatures drop below 60 º. Buy all the pond things now that you might need this winter because no stores stock pond supplies in the winter. Be sure you have enough dechlor and algae eating bacteria for spring.
Novice 
