My backyard overhaul journal

[Dez]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Dez I had a few questions about your wintering process. I've gone through your thread and it looks like during winter you only run a pair of heaters and an air stone.

- how many watts are the heaters and what's the output of the air stone?

- do you blow out the buried flex hose?

- do you empty your skimmer chamber and put your pumps indoors so the box can't freeze and potentially crack?

- after winter is done and you're shocking the pond, what do you keep the koi in and how long are they in it? what supports them in there for bio?

Thanks and moar pics please!

Ha. I don't check can reef at all these days. Sorry for the delay.

- I think the heaters are 1500watts? Buy realistically they don't kick on that much. My electric bill doesn't change from summer to winter so that's good for budgeting purposes. They are designed to kick on only when the water drops below 6 degrees c. The more snow the better, the snow sits on top of the ice and insulates everything.

- there are 2 airstones. Output is whatever the largest Laguna air pump is. Bought it in 2011 so I can't remember.

-I use a shop vac to suck out the buried lines.

- no I don't empty the skimmer chamber as the pond is still full. I just take the pumps inside.

In the spring, I inflate an 8' kiddie pool on the deck, pump old pond water in, put all the fish into the pond, and put an air stone in the pool and a net over top, then shock the pond overnight. Next day, drain, fill, dechlorinate, and put the fish back in.

Hope this helps.

[lastlight]

That does thanks I don't need this info until next summer so to some degree your reply is timely enough lol.