It's that unfortunate time of year again; time to shut down your pond or water feature in preparation for the winter.
We all dread this day because it means that winter has come and the time for enjoying outdoor living has come to an end.
We're going to go over how to shut down a pond or water feature properly and painlessly. A pond shut down is a straight forward and easy process. Ensuring a proper shut down will help your system last longer, reduce future maintenance and keep everything functioning properly.
Here's Your Guide to Shutting Down Your Pond or Water Feature for the Winter.
Step 1: Remove Debris and Leaves
You'll want to start by skimming the water for leaves and picking up debris around the perimeter of the pond. This will help ensure the leaves and debris don't decay over the winter, causing more maintenance in the spring.
You'll also want to empty any skimmer baskets, filter mats, etc. ensuring all debris is removed.
Debris can build up over the course of the winter, once the debris has decayed it can cause a thick layer of muck to form at the bottom of the pond or water feature. If this happens to your feature, you'll want to rinse/pressure wash your feature continuously while pumping it out, do this until the pond is clean.
Step 2: Drain Water & Remove Fish
Once the surface debris and surrounding debris are cleared, you'll want to remove any fish (if you have them) from the pond. The easiest way to do this is by draining the water until there is only about 6 - 8 inches of water left. This will make catching the fish with a fish net a lot easier, saving you a lot of frustration.
If you don't have fish, draining the water at least half of the way down is good practice, this way when the snow melts in the spring, your feature isn't being flooded with water.
Draining the water feature will also help you reach any electronics inside the feature such as pumps, lighting or powerheads, etc.
Step 3: Test & Remove Electronics
Once the pond is drained, you'll want to test all your electronic components to ensure they're functioning properly. Doing this now will allow you to know what to expect come spring so you can save for the products and order them ahead of time. Now is a good time to check any Auto Doser,