right its my first winter keeping koi

what if anything should i be doing to pond

im unheated  at the moment i

clean rubbish out of filter once a fortnight (settlement)

clean static once a month

flush each bay (about a gallon ) weekly

not feeding much (wheatgerm)

still cleaning pumps  2-3 monthly

i only add water after cleaning filter

should i do anything else ? or stop doing any of above ?

thanks steve

have you a pond vac it helps if you can vacume all the rubbish organic waste dead leaves etc off the pond floor your fish will be sat low in the water on the base of the floor and this waste is a haven for trichodina and anaerobic bacteria the cleaner you can get it the better I would stop feeding at about 8 degrees and lower even wheatgerm i would still purge the filter bays and clean your static k1 keep bacterial counts down but with little feeding you shouldnt have a lot there.... are you covering the pond at all?

i have vacced the pond

also i wasnt going to build covers this year but the pond temp is really fluctuating  the last few nights and days so i might knock some up a bit sharply

knock a frame work up n cover it in bubble wrap or if u have the cash cover it in triple or double polycarb sheets , all u need is to keep the wind chill off the surface

johnokois protein skimmer mk2 http://www.goodwinfamily.force9.co.uk/SKIMMER2.pdf]

I am too unheated and i have made a frame and have always used Bubble wrap, prior to this year as i have invested in poly carb.  This is my fourth winter, whenever i have used b/w i have always maintained a good temp and have been able to feed my koi all through winter.

I always vaccum the pond floor and give the filters a good clean.

nickc

lagged the pipes with bubble wrap and lined the summer net and frame with more bubble wrap

cheap but it works

i will started to reduce the filter cleans to once every 2 weeks once they start feeding less

saph

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