Winter and Oxygenization

With the season quickly drawing to a close, many of us will be considering what to do with our pond for the winter. There are plenty of options in winterizing your water garden.

One is to run it all year long. Depending on your climate this is the most desirable, but not always the most practical. If it is too cold in your region to avoid ice issues, and IF you have the correct style of fall or stream, you can often get away with running it as long as you keep the skimmer opening open at all times. This is a bit of a risk for most and you can't leave town without a pond-sitter, but the ice sculptures that form are quite amazing in their own right.

Second is pulling the pump and winterizing your pond. Unless you have a very large feature you will need to keep oxygen available to the fish. This is done most commonly through a tank heater or bubbler. Each has their pros and cons, and many variations of each. The standard tank heater is easiest, but most are relatively costly to run due to their high Wattage needs. Their are lower wattage heaters, look around and see what options there are, we have had issues with longevity with some of the smaller wattage ones so be careful.

Bubblers are the other half of the second option. They are good to keep water moving and the ice open a large amount of the winter. It is not necessary in most cases to keep the ice open at all times, but as often as possible. In zone 4-5 we can use a small danner mag drive pump for 85 - 90% of the winter. Breathers are excellent, but hard to come by, if available they are good options.

The third option is to forget about keeping the ice open and just getting an air pump/stone that will get oxygen to your fish no matter what the surface is like. We've recently gotten one brand in stock to try. I haven't had a chance to test it so I'm not willing to give them any props yet, but hopefully this will be the best option yet. Often kept in an overturned bucket propped slightly off the ground, these air pumps can deliver a consistent air supply for your fish no matter how cold or icy they get.

Good luck with your winterization and feel free to stop by our site for more tips and products. I am currently working on rebuilding our site so not everything is up yet, but it will be shortly.