Want to shut down pond pump over Winter...

[john_roberts]

Hello to everyone on the forum from a Newbie

I have a small pond, about 2 feet deep, no fish but frogs do frequent it each year. I have a small pump which feeds into a waterfall and runs 24/7. Late Autumn all the floating plants in the pond seem to die off and the frogs disappear, leaving a 'redundant' pond in some senses, as we tend not to sit outside too much over Winter.

Doing my bit for the environment (and being very green electricity wise in the house) the pond pump accounts for approximately 20-25% of my electricity bill over the Winter months, so I want to shut it down. I had thought about draining the pond altogether and cleaning it out, then refilling in the Spring but I don't want to deter frogs from spawning.

So I am looking for some general advice, really? Can I shut the pump down and if so what plants would I need to keep the water oxygenated? Could I even drain the pond between certain times over Winter or would it be best to keep water in it? I've never known the frogs hibernate *in* the pond, in fact I only keep the pond for them!

In anticipation - John

[smartie]

Hello and welcome to WAB.

I don't claim to be a pond expert - I speak only from experience of my own pond, which we've had for about 15 years. Certainly I'd say don't drain the pond over winter - though the frogs won't be around now, all sorts of other creatures - for instance dragonfly and damselfly nymphs - will be in there, even though the pond looks "redundant" at this time of year.

I don't run my pond pump at all during the winter and have not had any problems with the water quality. If you keep it clear of leaf debris and make sure you keep an area ice-free (I just pour a jug of hot water into the pond to make a hole if it ices up) you shouldn't get any build-up of harmful gases.

Others may give you some more erudite answers.

[Hedge Witch]

Hello John, welcome to WAB.

I think I would shut off the pump, but my ponds don't have them, so I have no experience in this area.

But I would avoid the emptying and cleaning out of the pond. Refilling upsets the balance - and you tend to get green water or blanket weed depending on the water you use and other factors. I guess the pump comes with a filter, so maybe this is less of a problem for you. But from an ecological point of view, the pond life really does best when it is left undisturbed (possibly with the exception if clearing away most of the dead leaves in Winter).

I would imagine the frogs will cope whatever you decide, but would be happier with the status quo.

[diggleken]

Hi John and welcome,
if you are keeping the pond for frogs, let it go reasonably wild and as smartie rightly says, there will be lots of stuff such as eggs in there, on weed and mud and stones, which will make great wildlife watching as the year goes on.
The frogs will be around, under stones and other hiding places - they may also, very soon, be breeding - some frogspawn has already been laid , and froze, but you should expect some quite soon.
The frogs (and toads) will appreciate the wildness bringing insects in for them to feed on too.
If you have cleaned out inthe past and want it to be wild, perhaps get some rich mud from a farm pond or stagnant water - it will be teeming with life and eggs and will be great.
As for pumping, if its not too high volume, shouldnt be to bad for frogs, but much floating pondweed doesnt like to be close to constant rippling/soaking, such as water lilies and can rot.
Hope this help a little. Good luck.
Ken

[Tursiops2]

Hi John and welcome to WAB
Turning off the pump over the winter shouldn't cause any problems. In fact, a pump isn't really necessary for a wildlife pond if you have sufficient oxygenating plants. Only use native species, many exotics sold in garden centres are very invasive and cause serious problems if they escape to natural watercourses (see Invasive non-native plants).

These are good: Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum), Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum demersum), Water Starwort (Callitriche stagnalis).

Draining the pond shouldn't be necessary, and would damage the ecosystem, but it can be a good idea to "refresh" the water by bailing out approx. two thirds and refilling with rainwater.
Hope this helps.
T2

[john_roberts]

Thanks to everyone so far for the welcome and the advice

The pond started out originally as more of an ornamental thing than anything else, with the waterfall (and it's sound) adding to the pleasure of the garden. The frogs moved in fairly quickly and seem quite at home there though I don't often see frogspawn and have never seen tadoples in there. The pump is fairly low powered, just a basic low voltage thing, no filter or UV or anything like that, as I have no mains power in the garden. It doesn't create much disturbance but the frogs do seem to like to sit under the waterfall, or at night in the cascade that leads down to the pond, along with the entire local bird population during the day

At the moment there is nothing in there but a couple of sunken pots of suitable 'grass' and about 2 inches or so (maybe) of dead leaves and other debris in the bottom. So, what should be a good course of action now?

Obviously switch off and remove the pump for cleaning, then scoop out the debris from the bottom of the pond? I've been told to leave this at the side of the pond so that the creepy crawlies find their way back into the pond, is this so? Then introduce the plants mentioned above? I don't know anywhere that stocks these locally but will try and find some.

Thanks again for all the nice welcomes so far!

[Hedge Witch]

Hi John,

Yes, I always leave the leaves etc on the side of the pond for at least a day.

I would agree with growing those plants - they will add more life to your pond. And another versatile plant which really conditions the water is Water Soldier. Fantastic plant and fairly foolproof. You just throw it in and it'll take care of itself. You will have to remove the odd plant after a year so it doesn't look overcrowded.

Maidenhead Aquatics is a fairly large chain that should have most of these. To be honest, a neigbour might be able to give you some of these - I know I've given tons of the stuff away. Pond weeds really do grow like weeds!

Not sure why you didn't see tadpoles. But adding more plants tends to cure many a pondlife problem. I shouldn't wonder if this doesn't sort out that too.

[Tursiops2]

Ah, it sounds as though it needs a bit more work than your first post suggested.

Could do with a bit more info really, a photo would help. How big is it? How is it lined? Is it vertically sided all round? How is it edged - stone, or planted?

Am I right in supposing you acquired the pond with the house rather than built it yourself?

T2

[john_roberts]

Ah right, sorry about that...

I put the pond in myself, but without really doing a lot of research, only 'advice' from the one and only local place that sells them. Like I said it was purely for ornamental reasons - It's a preformed liner, about 4 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet deep or so, lined predominantly with surplus stones and a few overhanging bushes. It's quite vertically edged though there are 'shelves' for plants etc. The place where I bought it only has a few small floating plants every year and these just rot after Autumn so I take them out, probably why I always have major problems with green water and algae, then I just end up with thousands of pond snails and pond lice, so I end up cleaning it all out and starting again.

Any help would be appreciated, or any decent suppliers of good pond plants that survive all year, are these avaliable mail order or is that question as syupid as it sounds LOL!

Regards - John

[larachmor]

I normally run my pump for "daylight hours" - and using an electric timer vary the running time to suit. The only time I leave mine running for 24 hours is during periods of icy weather, when the movement of water created by the flow from the pump keeps an area ice-free, which is important, particularly if you have fish in the pond.
During this last spell of cold weather we had nine days where the temperature remained sub-zero, falling at one stage to minus 14.6c, and even at these extremes the pump continued drawing water from beneath the ice, keeping the surface around the fall ice-free, whilst the ice depth was around 4 inches elsewhere.