I live in Manitoba Canada, I'm a zone 2b. I have a heater that I put in the pond, aeration stones and a small fountain. The large aquascape pump is taken out, cleaned ready for spring. I leave a cheaper pump in the pond for the small fountain. All the filters are drained and put to sleep for the winter period
Great video! ❤️I’m in zone 7a and my pond didn’t freeze over the last 2 years but my question is, how did you plant your Colocasia elephant ear in your pond that stays there overwinter? Do you have a video on that?
We have a 3k gal pond with 20ft stream. Steam is lined with river rock pond has no rock on the bottom. We have Aquascape bio filter system beauty much like yours. We have a huge problem with alge in the stream and pond in the summer. The pond is in the shade most of the day. So alge is problem 1, 2 is leaves. We have huge trees next to the pond and they fall directly in it. Our water turns a tea color even though we are cleaning the pond multiple times a day so the leaves don’t sink to the bottom. We live at 4K ft in CA, it does snow here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Hey Rebecca, Wow! That sounds like an awesome water feature! The first thing I’d recommend is to get boulders on the inside walls of the pond, and gravel on the bottom. It sounds like you don’t have a skimmer based on the leaves so I’d recommend an Aquascape series 1,000 skimmer at minimum. I will have a whole series on pond installation next season, so I’ll show where the best place for the skimmer would be, Algae is fed by nitrates, but aquatic plants are also. Planting your pond and stream with perennial aquatic plants and a few tropicals will shade the water, and pull the nutrients out, and make the algae go away during the growing season. Having some algae is natural, and isn’t a bad thing. Water Hyacinth is an awesome filter plant to have in the stream, biofalls, or in the pond. The fish like to eat the roots also. They make fantastic, rich additions to compost as well. Elephant Ear (Colocasia) is awesome, and Thalia is another great genus of plant. As far as designing with plants, I recommend planting a bunch of the same plant in one area; plant an entire bank with Thalia, for instance. Let me know how it goes!
Hey Clark, Great Video. I have 800G pond that is 3.5Ft deep, in zone 6. Couple years ago i let it freeze completely and I guess only top two foot of my pond was frozen, my fishes didn't die. But it's been couple years i have been using de-icer to keep a bare minimum hole. Wondering how do you keep the pump running in winter ? isn't it suppose to freeze and also how much of the impact you have on hydro bill ?
Hey Ash, Once in a while you’ll get lucky without having a hole in the ice, but that’s the exception, not the norm. My stock tank heater keeps the water to 35°F roughly, so the water is warm enough to leave the pump in the skimmer. The stock tank heater isn’t cheap; the bill goes up noticeably during winter. However it’s worth it for me because of the winter interest, and the microclimate the pond creates.
I live in Zone 3 and plan on closing the waterfall in my pond. I am adding aeration stones and a deicer. DO I need to blow out the water line from the pump to the water fall tub?
Hi Chris, That sounds like a good plan. Generally not, as long as the tubing is buried flat, and there aren’t any weird bends or dips where water can settle, freeze, and crack the tubing.
Were in Northern Indiana shutting our pond down and need some tips. Do you think we should shut our pond down or keep it going with a stock pond heater?
Hi Barb, It’s really personal preference. I leave my pond running all year, with a stock tank heater. The fish/ pond life still need oxygen during winter, so you’d need something to aerate the water, and maintain a hole in the ice. If your pond does ice over completely, use hot water to melt it. Be sure to remove leaves and other detritus from the pond, and cut back perennial aquatic plants. I hope this helps.
Hey Jeremiah, If I remember correctly, the liner for the pond was 17’ long and 10’ wide. Yes, the stream is a separate liner, about 10x8. The trick there is to make the level of the stream higher than the water. I’m going to do a series in spring on how to build a pond and I will be using an Aquascape 11x16 pond kit. If you get one of those kits, it’ll give you everything you need, including the perfect size liner, but you need to get the boulders & gravel, fish and plants. though; just follow the directions closely.
I live in Manitoba Canada, I'm a zone 2b. I have a heater that I put in the pond, aeration stones and a small fountain. The large aquascape pump is taken out, cleaned ready for spring. I leave a cheaper pump in the pond for the small fountain. All the filters are drained and put to sleep for the winter period
In in zone 6A and this will be my first winter with a pond. I'm hoping for a mild one!
Great video! ❤️I’m in zone 7a and my pond didn’t freeze over the last 2 years but my question is, how did you plant your Colocasia elephant ear in your pond that stays there overwinter? Do you have a video on that?
Thanks Elizabeth! I planted the Colocasia at about 6-8” of water depth. I don’t have a video about that, but I should add it to the list.
We have a 3k gal pond with 20ft stream. Steam is lined with river rock pond has no rock on the bottom. We have Aquascape bio filter system beauty much like yours. We have a huge problem with alge in the stream and pond in the summer. The pond is in the shade most of the day. So alge is problem 1, 2 is leaves. We have huge trees next to the pond and they fall directly in it. Our water turns a tea color even though we are cleaning the pond multiple times a day so the leaves don’t sink to the bottom. We live at 4K ft in CA, it does snow here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Hey Rebecca,
Wow! That sounds like an awesome water feature! The first thing I’d recommend is to get boulders on the inside walls of the pond, and gravel on the bottom. It sounds like you don’t have a skimmer based on the leaves so I’d recommend an Aquascape series 1,000 skimmer at minimum. I will have a whole series on pond installation next season, so I’ll show where the best place for the skimmer would be, Algae is fed by nitrates, but aquatic plants are also. Planting your pond and stream with perennial aquatic plants and a few tropicals will shade the water, and pull the nutrients out, and make the algae go away during the growing season. Having some algae is natural, and isn’t a bad thing. Water Hyacinth is an awesome filter plant to have in the stream, biofalls, or in the pond. The fish like to eat the roots also. They make fantastic, rich additions to compost as well. Elephant Ear (Colocasia) is awesome, and Thalia is another great genus of plant. As far as designing with plants, I recommend planting a bunch of the same plant in one area; plant an entire bank with Thalia, for instance.
Let me know how it goes!
Currently in Houston
Hey Clark, Great Video. I have 800G pond that is 3.5Ft deep, in zone 6. Couple years ago i let it freeze completely and I guess only top two foot of my pond was frozen, my fishes didn't die. But it's been couple years i have been using de-icer to keep a bare minimum hole. Wondering how do you keep the pump running in winter ? isn't it suppose to freeze and also how much of the impact you have on hydro bill ?
Hey Ash,
Once in a while you’ll get lucky without having a hole in the ice, but that’s the exception, not the norm. My stock tank heater keeps the water to 35°F roughly, so the water is warm enough to leave the pump in the skimmer. The stock tank heater isn’t cheap; the bill goes up noticeably during winter. However it’s worth it for me because of the winter interest, and the microclimate the pond creates.
@@TheBarefootedGardener Thanks ....Wondering if you will be making video on the tropicals you store indoors during winters.
Very interested.. so do i take out my water Lilly during fall or winter?
You only need to take it out if it’s tropical. Otherwise, just put it in the deepest section of pond, if it’s not planted in 18-24” of water.
I live in Zone 3 and plan on closing the waterfall in my pond. I am adding aeration stones and a deicer. DO I need to blow out the water line from the pump to the water fall tub?
Hi Chris,
That sounds like a good plan. Generally not, as long as the tubing is buried flat, and there aren’t any weird bends or dips where water can settle, freeze, and crack the tubing.
Were in Northern Indiana shutting our pond down and need some tips. Do you think we should shut our pond down or keep it going with a stock pond heater?
Hi Barb,
It’s really personal preference. I leave my pond running all year, with a stock tank heater. The fish/ pond life still need oxygen during winter, so you’d need something to aerate the water, and maintain a hole in the ice. If your pond does ice over completely, use hot water to melt it. Be sure to remove leaves and other detritus from the pond, and cut back perennial aquatic plants. I hope this helps.
What size line did you use for your pond and did you use a separate one for stream if so what size is it. Thanks
Hey Jeremiah,
If I remember correctly, the liner for the pond was 17’ long and 10’ wide. Yes, the stream is a separate liner, about 10x8. The trick there is to make the level of the stream higher than the water. I’m going to do a series in spring on how to build a pond and I will be using an Aquascape 11x16 pond kit. If you get one of those kits, it’ll give you everything you need, including the perfect size liner, but you need to get the boulders & gravel, fish and plants. though; just follow the directions closely.
@@TheBarefootedGardener thanks
is it cold enough in your climate that your pond would freeze solid without a heater?
There would be a solid layer of ice, yes. Probably about 6” of ice. The heater I use also helps to overwinter some more tropical type plants.