Help With Pond Please

[kellyinman1]

Hiya i have a 6ft by 6ft by 4ft deep koi pond - which also has some goldfish and a large stergeon. I heard your ment to switch off the pond filter and UV during the winter but can i still do that if i have a sturgeon because they need lots of oxygeon? also do i need to continue to feed them because of the stergeon?
any help for the winter months would be greatly apreciated!

 

[chr15_8]

Hiya i have a 6ft by 6ft by 4ft deep koi pond - which also has some goldfish and a large stergeon. I heard your ment to switch off the pond filter and UV during the winter but can i still do that if i have a sturgeon because they need lots of oxygeon? also do i need to continue to feed them because of the stergeon?
any help for the winter months would be greatly apreciated!

hi

dont turn the filter or uv off. keep them on even if its only goldfish in the pond.

im not sure on sturgeon but the koi and goldfish dont need feeding thought the winter.

i have cut my feeding down now to every other day.


you need to keep the filter on as it will keep it ticking over during the winter for the spring/summer next year. if you turn it off it will have to start a fresh and build all the bacteria up again.

the uv doest only break down algae but it also kills bacteria (good and bad) so it will kill all the bad bacteria going around the pond.

im sure the sturgeon will be the same but im sure someone will comment. if you want you could feed a wheat germ food until they are slow at taking it and slowly cut down

 

[kellyinman1]

Hiya i have a 6ft by 6ft by 4ft deep koi pond - which also has some goldfish and a large stergeon. I heard your ment to switch off the pond filter and UV during the winter but can i still do that if i have a sturgeon because they need lots of oxygeon? also do i need to continue to feed them because of the stergeon?
any help for the winter months would be greatly apreciated!

hi

dont turn the filter or uv off. keep them on even if its only goldfish in the pond.

im not sure on sturgeon but the koi and goldfish dont need feeding thought the winter.

i have cut my feeding down now to every other day.


you need to keep the filter on as it will keep it ticking over during the winter for the spring/summer next year. if you turn it off it will have to start a fresh and build all the bacteria up again.

the uv doest only break down algae but it also kills bacteria (good and bad) so it will kill all the bad bacteria going around the pond.

im sure the sturgeon will be the same but im sure someone will comment. if you want you could feed a wheat germ food until they are slow at taking it and slowly cut down

Thank you for yout help!

 

[chesterscot]

yeah dont turn the filter off keep it going all year round
scot

 

[black angel]

turning the filter off really depends where you live and how cold it can get. if the pond freezes over then the pumped water goes on top.

 

[smegforbrains]

I don't wish to sound out of order, but I would recommend sending your Sturgeon to a much larger home.


They are essentially lake dwellers and are often mis-sold by LFS as pond fish.

Sturgeon need a lot of room due to their mature size. You really need a minimum of 6 feet in depth and at least a volume of 10,000 gallons (roughly 2700 square feet surface area based on a constant minimum 6 feet deep).


I used to keep a small lake just outside Birmingham. I have had Sturgeon in there grow to about 5 feet long by the age of six years old and then some.

Unfortunately, I do not have the lake any more and all of the Sturgeon and Koi had to be re-homed. It was a heart breaking move as I had kept the lake for about 12 years but due to financial problems I had no choice.

 

[kellyinman1]

I don't wish to sound out of order, but I would recommend sending your Sturgeon to a much larger home.


They are essentially lake dwellers and are often mis-sold by LFS as pond fish.

Sturgeon need a lot of room due to their mature size. You really need a minimum of 6 feet in depth and at least a volume of 10,000 gallons (roughly 2700 square feet surface area based on a constant minimum 6 feet deep).


I used to keep a small lake just outside Birmingham. I have had Sturgeon in there grow to about 5 feet long by the age of six years old and then some.

Unfortunately, I do not have the lake any more and all of the Sturgeon and Koi had to be re-homed. It was a heart breaking move as I had kept the lake for about 12 years but due to financial problems I had no choice.

Hiya yes thanx for the advice but dont panic we are building a HUGE pond - 10ft by 8ft by 6/7ft deep. We brought him as the size he is now and were fully aware of the size they get to and only got him as we are building a pond.

 

[chr15_8]

turning the filter off really depends where you live and how cold it can get. if the pond freezes over then the pumped water goes on top.

imo turning off the filter shouldn't be an option! and i can't see why it would help at all it will only be a disadvantage!

if the water from the outlet enters a few in inch under the waters surface it will stop the pond freezing over.

i still have 40 ltr's per minute of air going to the bottom drain and it will be kept on throughout the winter aswell as the filters

 

[kellyinman1]

Well i agree it would be silly to turn the filter off but last year we lost all of our koi and goldfish the only thing that servived were 2 roach and 1 tench. when my husband discussed this with various people they said the reason why was because we left our filter on!
So im really confused! this year we have much much more expensive fish and obviously dont want to loose anymore!

 

[chr15_8]

Well i agree it would be silly to turn the filter off but last year we lost all of our koi and goldfish the only thing that servived were 2 roach and 1 tench. when my husband discussed this with various people they said the reason why was because we left our filter on!
So im really confused! this year we have much much more expensive fish and obviously dont want to loose anymore!

well i have 2 pond.
a goldfish pond about 1000 gallons (uk) this has about 50-60 goldfish (we only bought about 10 when my dad built the pond about 9 years ago) we took all the fish out about 3 years ago to give the pond a good clean out (i kept the filter running in the temp pool to keep the bateria alive and we had about 90 goldfish, a couple of golden orfes and about 5 shubunkins. until most of the stock got taken out by a heron)

a koi pond with about 2,400 gallons (uk) with 15 koi worth around 1.5k together. the only koi ive lost in the 6+ years ive kept them is one i lost to the heron!

if you was to join a koi forum they will all tell you not to turn off the filter/uv at all and keep it running 24/7

 

[kellyinman1]

Well i agree it would be silly to turn the filter off but last year we lost all of our koi and goldfish the only thing that servived were 2 roach and 1 tench. when my husband discussed this with various people they said the reason why was because we left our filter on!
So im really confused! this year we have much much more expensive fish and obviously dont want to loose anymore!

well i have 2 pond.
a goldfish pond about 1000 gallons (uk) this has about 50-60 goldfish (we only bought about 10 when my dad built the pond about 9 years ago) we took all the fish out about 3 years ago to give the pond a good clean out (i kept the filter running in the temp pool to keep the bateria alive and we had about 90 goldfish, a couple of golden orfes and about 5 shubunkins. until most of the stock got taken out by a heron)

a koi pond with about 2,400 gallons (uk) with 15 koi worth around 1.5k together. the only koi ive lost in the 6+ years ive kept them is one i lost to the heron!

if you was to join a koi forum they will all tell you not to turn off the filter/uv at all and keep it running 24/7

Ok thank you - i wont be turning it off. Now i just wonder what happened last year

 

[chr15_8]

could be a few different thing like water parameters. when you feed till if some is getting left i will slowerly build up, if something got spilt in by mistake even a bird/fox could of dragged something by it/in it which is toxic to the fish.

currently i have a fox who insists on leaving its poo around the pond. have removed 3 bits in the last 5 days, im sure if this went into the pond it would screw something up, could of been something like this

 

[kellyinman1]

could be a few different thing like water parameters. when you feed till if some is getting left i will slowerly build up, if something got spilt in by mistake even a bird/fox could of dragged something by it/in it which is toxic to the fish.

currently i have a fox who insists on leaving its poo around the pond. have removed 3 bits in the last 5 days, im sure if this went into the pond it would screw something up, could of been something like this

Yes thats true - i guess i will never know

 

[black angel]

Ive been told by someone who runs his own pond supplies shop to keep filters running through the winter, but when i went to see his place early spring all the pumps were off...so who knows.
i have for the past 2 years kept my filters and pumps off and the fish all survived. I think a big part of whether they survive pumpless is down to stocking levels. I had 5 goldies in a 1600 gallon pond and without the pumps they made it. Even though the fish go in to a torpid state they will still be giving off ammonia and without filtration you can imagine the build up.
As for keeping it running think about this....

its winter and air temperature can reach what? - 10 where i live. when you get to a certain depth, the water stays roughly the same temp all the way through the winter, which is why people should have ponds at least 4 foot deep. Add a pump and what you are doing is drawing this water away and as it circulates and meets the colder air its temperature is going to get lower.

Problem I personally have this year is that ive got more fish in the pond,15 i think. so i think i will keep the pump going for as long as i dare and maybe just turn the rate of water drawn down to its minimum and switch it off totally for january and february.

the way i have my pond set up i cant move the filters so they can empty under the water line.

what some people ive read in canada do, is tie a piece of polystyrene below the outflow into the pond so that the splash is dispersed before it hits the water.


edited to add.....i read another post that said you keep koi. koi in themselves are much much hardier than goldfish which the op has said also has.

 

[chr15_8]

have you tried covering the pond then?

alot of koi owners are talking about making a mini poly tunnel to help keep temp's up. ive also got a goldfish pond and do the same thing with the koi pond.

with 5 goldfish it probably didn't hurt to keep it off. but with 15 i would keep it one. its also the best time of year to be adding to your filter. im adding a diy nexus to my setup next month and will be temporary pump feeding a 50 gallon water tank with all the media tro keep it going.