Preparing your pond for the winter: This is how you do it!

When temperatures drop, fish become less active. During this rest period we do not want to disturb the fish. Therefore, it is important to perform maintenance on your pond in September or October. 

Step-by-step plan

Your pond needs a little help to get through the winter properly. With proper preparation in the fall, you can enjoy a beautiful healthy pond again in the spring. With the steps below you can make your pond winter-ready in no time. 

Step 1: Clean the pond

Fall is traditionally the time when leaves fall from aquatic plants and trees and end up in the pond, sinking to the bottom and rotting. Plant debris and leaves are a food source for algae. It also creates more waste products in the pond, which makes plants grow less well. So it is important to manually remove organic material from your pond. 

Because you cannot remove everything, a layer of sludge often forms on the bottom anyway. A soil vacuum cleaner or robot is an ideal solution for removing excess waste that has ended up at the bottom of the (swimming) pond. This gives leaves no chance to rot and dangerous gases. Also, the walls of your swimming pond remain free of dirt, which ensures more swimming enjoyment.

Step 2: Check the water values

To keep all fish, other living creatures and plants in the pond healthy, it is a must to regularly measure the water quality of your pond. It is important that the values are in order before your pond goes into the winter. This will make it easier to start up the pond again in the spring.

Water quality is determined by a number of different water values. Because a garden pond is home to more diverse fish and other living things than in the wild, a helping hand is needed to achieve a healthy balance. If you do not, algae growth will occur, your fish will get sick or aquatic plants will not grow sufficiently.

A pond in the autumn and winter period does not need much maintenance, but it is important to keep your pond water in balance. By applying AquaForte Microbe-Lift Autumn Winter Prep strengthens the natural bacterial economy in your pond. This gives your pond in the autumn and winter period already a head start on a healthy pond balance in the spring.

Step 3: Think about your fish

Fish become less active in winter. They consume less energy and will therefore eat less. They need different food with a different energy value. In winter you can feed your fish with AquaForte Wheatgerm, floating koi food specially designed for low temperatures.

When the water temperature drops below 5°C, the health of koi carp is at risk. Therefore, it is advisable to install a pond heater in the winter.

Step 4: Technical work

A pond pump is not necessary during the winter and you can remove it from the water, for example, to give a maintenance service. If you do this also clean the filter well immediately and restart it in the spring. It is best to run an adjustable speed pump on a low setting to also keep the filter active. After all, bacteria that are important for water quality have nestled in the filter. A shame to lose them! At low temperatures, algae do not develop quickly and a UV-C lamp has no effect. To save energy, however, you can turn off the UV lamp in winter.

Step 5: Beware of freezing

When your pond freezes over there is little oxygen in the water. If the frost lasts for days, the health of your fish will be endangered. To ensure that your fish get enough oxygen at all times, you can use an ice-free holder (possibly with heating element) in combination with an aeration pump. When you use an aeration pump, it not only moves the upper layer of the water, but also deeper water layers. Thus, the oxygen level in all layers of your pond is continuously maintained, even during a period of severe frost.