The weather in the UK during the winter varies from freezing temperatures, snow then to constant rainfall and blustery winds. This can be a nightmare for people with ponds in their gardens.
If you're new to ponds, you may not have considered the specific care and maintenance required during Autumn and Winter. During the colder month, attention needs to be turned to your fish, pond pumps, and filters to prepare for the colder climate.
You can find below a checklist of what we feel is necessary to know for looking after your pond in winter.
Should I feed my fish in winter?
The first thing to remember is that your fish will already be well accustomed to the British climate. However, as temperatures drop so will their metabolism, meaning digesting their food will be harder and take longer. You should feed them less during this season so that uneaten food will not impact the water quality. You should also change their food to a wheatgerm-based pond feed. This is easier for fish to digest at colder temperatures. Wheatgerm pond food should be fed in temperatures between 10 – 4 degrees. Usually, these months are between October through to March.
Should I turn off my pump and filter in winter?
Whilst other countries struggle with the blistering snow and freezing temperatures, the UK climate is not of concern! We recommend keeping your pond pump and filter running in these months. It helps by keeping a constant flow of water aiding what’s left of the good bacteria in your filters, although most of the bacteria is either dormant or dead its worth keeping that supply of oxygenated water. Running the system 24/7 also helps with the clarity and maintaining the pond during winter.
What happens if my pond freezes over winter?
When your pond water freezes, don’t panic! It is important NOT to break the ice or pour hot water over it. Remember that fish are sensitive to extreme temperature changes and shockwaves. Shockwaves can kill your fish!
An effective way to prevent your pond from completely freezing is to install a small pond heater, however, these heaters come at a cost. It’s worth knowing, they are not cheap to buy and certainly not cheap to run as they average at around 1kw for smaller ponds and up to 3kw for larger ponds. All that is needed is for a small portion of the pond to be ice free which allows the gasses to exchange. The cheapest way to achieve this is to either keep the pump running, place a small floating object like a ball in the pond (remove in the morning) or purchase a small floating pond heater. These pond heaters are only designed to keep a small portion of the pond ice free, so they are usually not too expensive to run.
Should I run my UV in winter?
There are pros and cons for both options. We recommend turning them off in winter, this way you’re not paying for the electricity, and you should get longer out of your bulb by doing this. Remember, the bulbs only have about 6-8 months before they need replacing.
Remember if you do turn off the pond pump you need to make sure that the UV is free of any water in the quartz sleeve section. If water is in the UV still, when the temperatures drop and freezes there is a significant risk of damaging the quartz sleeve. When the water freezes it expands which will inevitably crack the quartz so when you turn on the UV in spring water will then flood the electrics causing the UV bulb to blow and damaging the electrics. Keeping the UV on in winter won’t help much as the days are darker and cooler so there’s a slim chance of getting green water.
How do I stop leaves falling into the pond in Autumn?
There are many ways you can do this. The easiest way is to simply add a pond cover net over the top of your pond. They usually come with fixing pegs so it's easy to install them on ground ponds. If you have a raised Koi Pond you would have to create a timber frame and secure the net to this. Alternatively, if you haven’t got a wall mounted surface skimmer installed you can easily pick up floating pond skimmer at an affordable price nowadays. These floating skimmers simply float on the ponds surface and suck up any leaves or debris that are floating, then all you need to do is empty the basket of these leaves. These do need electricity, so you would have to have a nearby socket available.
Should I cover my pond in winter?
In most cases it can be very difficult to cover a pond completely, especially if the pond has shrubs overhanging or if it’s an odd shape. If you have a pond that can easily be covered, we do recommend doing this. It will help with the leaf fall and will help with the temperatures of the pond at night (to some degree) keeping off the wind chill. If you decide to cover the pond it can be easy to forget about the fish, regularly check on the fish for any signs of illness. It can be as simple as building a timer frame and screwing down some 10mm Polycarbonate sheets. These sheets are thick, light and easily manageable.