General Winterization Concerns and Notes

 There are lots of different types of water features and designs.  This means there is no one way to care for all of them, unless we are talking about the same design principles for each one.  A little understanding of the overall concerns can provide the needed direction for winterizing your type of system.  The correct way to winterize one feature may not be the best approach for another.  The overall design of the feature becomes very important and must be properly evaluated to derive a suitable maintenance program.  Let’s generally define some water features. 

      Statuary Fountain- Plumbed bird baths, lions heads, artistic features

      Bubbler rock features – cored drilled columnar rocks plumbed

      Flexible liner systems as opposed to hard shells

      Small water feature under 80 sqft.  Usually the minimum pump size we would use in the size of feature is 3000 gal per hour (50 gal min) and thus leaving this run year round typically does not pose a problem.  If you have fish… it is recommended to keep the water circulating

      Small to medium from 80 to 250 sqft- leave running

      Medium to large 250 sqft and up.- leave running 

We build our water features in a way that provides for easy maintenance, management and lots of enjoyment.  When you are talking about size of features… it becomes a bit relative.  Some people I talk with have a “large pond”… but it actually ends up being what I would term as a “puddle of water”. 

When we are talking about ponds and healthy ecosystems, consider the following six points of interest.  The pond, streams and falls need:

1.     A good solid circulation system including pumps and plumbing

2.     Effective filtration that includes mechanical and biological systems

3.     Aquatic plants

4.     Aquatic animals

5.     Rocks and gravel

6.     Beneficial bacteria and enzymes. 

 

Winterizing your pond should include the following five considerations.

• Fish
  • Koi are such hardy fish, they can withstand a very broad range of temperatures, from freezing conditions to hot summers.  This means the temperature of the water is the least of the pond owner’s worries.
    Keeping the water circulating will benefit the fish year round.  This helps to maintain beneficial levels of oxygen in the water and filters/releases out impurities in the water that occur during the breakdown process happening at the bottom of the pond.
    As the temperature drops, the Koi will move towards the bottom of the pond, and will become more and more reluctant to feed, especially in temperatures below 50 degrees F.  During the winter season the fish will go into a state of hibernation or dormancy where they will often times huddle together at the bottom.  The earth acts as a natural insulator and thus it is warmer at the bottom than at the top.  Their respiration and metabolism slows drastically to conserve body heat, which means that processing food is very difficult and a risky task.  I recommend not feeding your fish when the temperature of the water gets to between 50 to 55 degrees.
• Plants
  • A lot of aquatic plants act like perennials in the landscape.  They will die back when the temperature cools down, these plants you will want to prune.  This pruning not only helps keep the area looking clean and manicured… but plays and important role in keeping the organics out of the pond.
• Circulation
  • Keeping the water moving is a great way to help maintain a healthy environment.  Moving water over a falls will increase and maintain adequate oxygen levels in the pond for the fish.  It also helps to create a gas exchange thus preventing a buildup of toxins in the water that could occur if the water freezes over and there is no moving water. 
    Watch for buildup of debris around the pump.  This is true for ponds without a mechanical skimmer… you may have to clean out around the pump once a week or more depending upon your environment.  Mechanical skimmers are much easier to maintain in relation to the pump… cleaning a high quality mechanical skimmer usually takes 5 minutes while the old style could take you hours.
    
    It is beautiful when the water freezes over the pond and at the edges of the stream, and with an adequate pump size (~1500 to 2000 gal an hour) the static surface area of the water is broken and will not freeze all of the stream and waterfalls area.  You need to be cautious however during times of extreme cold/freeze cycles… what happens is water will get locked up in ice thus effectively dropping the water level in the pond.  If the level of water drops too low your pump could run out of water and cause damage to it.  Ice along streams can create a diversion for upstream waters out of the system and thus reducing the water level as well.  Supplementing the water supply might be necessary… but typically in the northwest this is not much of an issue.  When it is cold here we often times will still get some rains that will make up for any water loss due to ice.
• Winterizing supply lines
  • Auto-fill devices to the pond should be protected, shutoff and winterized.  This will help reduce risk of damage that could occur to those lines, and they are not needed during this time of year.
• Debris
  • You will want to make sure and do some policing around and in the pond during the final days of fall and into winter for branches, leaves, plants and general debris that have fallen into the pond.  The trick with managing the pond environment really has to do with managing the nutrient load for that body of water.  Keeping excess organics (leaves, needles, branches, plants) cleared out of the pond will help to keep down the dissolved organic load… thus reducing the overall available nutrient load.  This extra care in the fall will help to make for an easier spring cleanout and startup of the pond. 

 Most ponds that are of good design will not need a lot of extra care during the winter months.  They can be a great inspiration and beauty when the rest of the yard looks a bit blaaah.  Water features should be low maintenance (with the right design) but they are not zero maintenance.  A little thought and understanding of the water feature can go a long way to increasing the enjoyment and function of that feature!

In our pond environments we utilize the Aquascape Ecosystem.  We use consistent design techniques that provides for a user friendly, low maintenance system.  Our ponds not only look natural but are great filters and easy to maintain.

 

Some quick considerations based on size:

---Statuary Fountain-   Typically utilizes small pumps and is beneficial to drain during cold winters months.
---Bubbler rock features –These features vary widely in type’s construction.  Often times you can leave these running year round.  If the rock outlets do freeze up the catch basin still typically will be fine and provide protection to the pump.  If there has been a history of your system freezing… I would recommend removing the pump and draining the system.
---Small water feature (less than 80 sqft)- usually the minimum pump size we would use in this size of feature is 3000 gal per hour (50 gal min). Leaving this run year round typically does not pose a problem.  If you have a system that does not run much water I would recommend winterizing.
---Small to medium (from 80 to 250 sqft)- typically leave running
---Medium to large (250 sqft and up)- leave running