How did your fish survive the winter ? I live in the northeast and it gets very cold and snowy here. My pond is about 18 feet long 4 feet deep and 6 feet across although it curves around, it is not a rectangle.

For Algae control I use a combination of algae reducing plants and a ultraviolet lamp that the water flows through. The UV light kills most algae . and the plants are most welcome by the Koi as they eat them.

I run my pumps and waterfall until it freezes over, I then drain down the hose, unplug the pump and go into the house until spring :D

The pond freezes solid, but come spring, it melts, I clean out the leaves and debrie, and the fishicles defrost and start swimming like nothing happened. Funny I know last winter, the pond was a solid ice cube, we had a very deep freeze and yet this spring the fish are all accounted for :winky:

My biggest problems are leaves in the fall and blue Heron in the spring and early summer, One heron can clean out a pool in a few hours.. I think I need to go deeper, I built a ledge for the plants and I think the heron stands on it and has a good shot at the fish.

A few years ago we had a raccoon, that decided our fish were a free meal, so I left the dogs out for a couple of nights.

The UV light is really great for reducing the algae, you should add it to your pond, you dont need a big one and they are fairly cheap on ebay. 50-90 bucks.

Enjoy your pond !

Ahhh spring, with all of it's beauty, and all of it's work:rolleyes:
All the fish survived the cold winter...we had a deicer on the surface of the fish pond.
We drained the lower pond with the fish in it...and found about 3" of sludge at the bottom. We'd had two 4" rains within a week during the winter, and the mulch and mud had gotten into both ponds. I honestly don't know how the koi survived all of that. In fact, we found two of the fish in the mud, still alive and kickin'...
we got all of the sludge out, washed off all of the rocks in the bottom, and refashioned the ledges in each pond. We put all of the rocks from the bottom around the edges, building up the edges so we can avoid any further issues with mud.
None of my marginal plants survived, since I left them out of the water. My two lily pad plants did survive, since they were in the bottom of the pond, and they are really taking off this year.
My husband put a net over the fish pond so as to keep the herons and racoons out. We had a male and female mallard duck that thought the pond was their swimming hole. We put a fake owl out next to the pond, and they haven't been back since.
We put some new plants and grasses around the ponds...some of which have already been destroyed by the blasted rabbits. It's a learning process...
We do have a UV filter that we're using this year, and we bought an 11 ft. wide umbrella to protect the ponds from the afternoon sun. It's shaded by a large tree in the a.m.
I'm using an algae reducing liquid a couple of times a month, so I hope it doesn't get too bad this year. The sides are kind of wierd this spring, and I'm trying to figure out how to keep them clean. That's the challenge now. Any advice would be helpful!!
Thanks for all the info!

I just wanted to add that I discovered an awesome plant a few weeks ago, called Unicorn Rush. It's an ornamental grass that is good planted by ponds. I put mine in a container that I keep soaked. I used to landscape, and I have never seen it before! If you're looking for a cool new plant, check it out. The "leaves" grow all twisty and corkscrew-like, and it's very interesting.

One of the seasonal plants we use comes from florida. The name escapes me "fibro fog". It is a plant that the Us considers dangerous to local waters, but they sell them here. the are floaters and spread quickly. they die off in the fall.

In florida they have infested the local ponds and lakes and are killing out the local plants, they also use up the oxygen in the water, so if they get to dense they can kill fish too. Not a problem in your pond as you can trim them out.

You want to have 60 - 80 % of the surface area covered by plants! this keeps the water cooler, removes a lot of the algae food source, and naturally keeps the water clean.. My lilies return each spring bigger than before with multiple blossoms all summer, they are beautiful, just leave them in all winter, they can handle it fine.

Netting is a good way to help keep it clean and to keep out the Heron, I just hate to do it, I like being able to just walk out and sit by the pond with out having to remove the netting to see clearly. Lazy I guess.

Comets and Koi are fine in muddy water :) Its us that want it clean. Asure sign things are ok in the pond is when the frogs move in :rolleyes: They are very sensitive to water quality and will leave if it is poor...

Well I am glad to hear that they survived the winter, as I wrote earlier, I let it freeze over and everything was just fine..

Your ponds sound lovely. Where we are the predation would
be severe!

But I sure wish I had one!

Heres a partial view at night

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...38/bobpond.jpg

to the right is a bridge I built to cross over the pond, the pond continues for another 6 feet to the right.

OMGosh.... I knew it! It is more than lovely!

It's beautiful, and I especially like the lighting!