Preparing a country pond for winter. Pond in the country for winter: cleaning the reservoir, removing equipment, protecting against deep freezing, measures to maintain the integrity of waterproofing in winter, wintering plants and inhabitants of the reservoir Artificial reservoir in winter

The work of preparing an ornamental pond for winter frightens every gardener whose pond winters for the first time. With experience comes the understanding that this procedure is not so complicated and requires first of all thoroughness. Well, and a certain amount of effort, which, of course, will be rewarded with an excellent “well-being” of the reservoir after the winter.

preliminary stage

It is necessary to prepare the pond for winter long before the cold weather. With the beginning of leaf fall, the pond must be covered with a net. Of course, a golden or crimson leaf on blue water looks much more picturesque than a fine mesh. But the fallen leaves, accumulating at the bottom, begin to rot in the spring and lead to an increase in the concentration of swamp gas and ammonia. From this, the water becomes cloudy, plants and fish die. With the onset of night frosts, the mesh is removed so that it does not freeze or tear.

At this stage of preparing the reservoir for winter, you can use special garden equipment. The skimmer is a surface suction pump that is mounted on the bottom of the reservoir or on its walls, or simply floats on the surface of the pond. It is convenient to remove fallen leaves with a water vacuum cleaner.

First stage. bottom cleaning

Preparing a pond for winter begins with cleaning its bottom. Whatever the reservoir on the site, wintering or not, this procedure is mandatory for everyone. Bottom silt and rotting debris, decomposing, form pathogenic gases and poison the inhabitants of the reservoir. You can clean the bottom with a water vacuum cleaner or manually. With the help of conventional and double-sided rakes, the bottom is carefully combed in all directions. Garbage is taken ashore. Places for planting plants wintering in the pond should be bypassed when cleaning. If the reservoir is large, it is cleaned from the boat.

The bottom of a small (no more than 1.5 m deep) non-wintering reservoir is easiest to clean: after pumping out the water, this is easily done manually. The pond should remain clean for the winter.

Second phase. Equipment conservation

At this stage, it is important to closely monitor the night air temperature. As soon as it reaches + 5C, the injection pumps are turned off and disconnected from the filters. Filter media (absorbents, brushes, sponges) are washed with a weak saline solution. Filters and UV blocks are dried and packaged to avoid any water intrusion. The pump is cleaned and stored in a frost-free room, lowered into a bucket of water.

Pumps with special system frost protection can be left in the pond for the winter.

Hoses, nozzles of fountains, underwater lamps and other equipment are cleaned (including with the help of special preparations they are cleaned of lime deposits), dried and cleaned. Any reservoir hibernates without summer equipment.

Third stage. Pond preparation

The main work on preparing the reservoir for winter primarily depends on its size.

A small body of water (with an area of ​​up to 20 m, a depth of up to 0.8 m) is considered non-wintering, regardless of whether it is of natural or artificial origin. Such a pond in winter middle lane Russia freezes to the bottom. Therefore, in the fall, all plants and fish are taken out of it and sent for wintering. The water is pumped out, the bottom and walls are cleaned by hand. Pipelines are purged and clogged. For the winter, the pond is half or two-thirds filled with water. The fact is that snow and ice will still accumulate at the bottom of an empty reservoir, which will melt for a very long time in the spring. And so the pond in winter will freeze only from above. In a very frosty winter, an ice hole is made in the ice and pumped out a small amount of water. The resulting air bag prevents the pond from freezing to the bottom in winter.

Wintering pond of natural origin requires only to prepare plants and fish for winter. He does not need any additional procedures other than cleaning.

If the concrete pond is well designed and built and its waterproofing is not in doubt, it can also be left to winter completely filled with water. A high-quality film pond in winter can also not be drained.

Preparing the pond for winter will bring some trouble to the owners of molded reservoirs. The rigid form (plastic or fiberglass) at its core is quite sensitive to pressure buildup. To prevent the pond from bursting in winter, you need to partially fill several plastic bottles with sand and put them into the pond. In winter, they will take on the pressure of the ice. For 1 sq. meter area of ​​the reservoir immerse one bottle. If the pond is level with the ground, the water is not drained from it; if it is raised, then the water level is brought to the ground level.

Fourth stage. Wintering of aquatic plants

Preparing a pond for the winter means taking care of the plants living in it. Plants in the shallow and swampy areas should be cut almost to the water's edge. Non-winter-resistant - burlap or fallen leaves shelter from the cold. Some of these plants (some,) are removed from the pond and sent to winter in a room with a minimum of light and heat and always moist soil. The reed is not cut at all, since its hollow stems serve as carbon dioxide outlets and oxygen conductors for wintering plants and fish. For the same purpose, a bunch of stems can be specially placed in the reservoir.

Aquatic plants can be left in the pond in winter only if it is winter-hardy varieties. Most of them give wintering buds in autumn, which sink to the bottom. For reinsurance, a couple of buds are cut off from each plant and sent to winter in the house. There they will germinate and in the spring will participate in the restoration of the population.

If the reservoir is shallow, all aquatic plants are removed from it for the winter and transferred to a room or to a deeper reservoir.

In winter-hardy aquatic plants cut off old leaves and shoots to the root. Baskets with them are moved to the middle of the pond and heated to a depth of more than one meter.

Can remain in water only in very large bodies of water or in regions with mild winters. In Central Russia, these aquatic plants are in the basement in winter at a temperature of 0 - + 5C. They are placed in a container with water and make sure that the water constantly covers them completely. With enough light, underwater water lily leaves do not rot or grow.

The most delicate aquatic plants overwinter in barrels of water at a temperature of +10 - +15C and moderate lighting. The water in the barrels must be changed every two weeks.

For wintering, gardeners have come up with a few tricks. Someone lowers baskets with nymphs into the nearest non-freezing natural swamp or lake. And someone literally digs a hole for a nymph and digs a plant into it to a depth of at least half a meter.

A wintering pond should contain the maximum possible number of plants, because this is how the natural cycle of life is maintained in its biological balance.

Fifth stage. Fish care

It is best if the fish spend the winter in their native pond. If the reservoir is deep enough (from 1.5 m), the temperature at the bottom remains around + 4C, and the fish will not freeze. If the depth is less than one and a half meters, the pond hibernates without fish.

Preparation of fish for wintering in the pond begins with a change in the feeding regimen. In autumn, feed should be given less than in summer. The emphasis is on protein feed. With the onset of cold weather, fish feeding stops. Wintering fish begin to get used to get their own food.

Now there are enough on the market technical means so that the wintering fish feel as comfortable as possible. In the winter, you can put an aerator in the pond to enrich the water with oxygen. You can lower the pond heater into the water so that the water in the pond does not freeze and the fish receive oxygen all winter. And you can buy a special anti-icing device with a compressor and install it on the terrace of the reservoir. In order for the pond to remain with a polynya in the Middle Lane in winter, a special pump with a capacity of at least 5000 liters per hour is required. On the surface of the pond for the winter, you can put special polystyrene boards. Some firms are developing special eco-friendly deicers so that one or another part of the pond does not freeze in winter. You can put a backlight in the pond, the water around it will not freeze.

But do not be upset if there is no opportunity to use all these tricks. Wintering fish will also be happy with an ordinary polynya, regularly spilled with boiling water. It is better if there are several of them on the surface of the wintering reservoir. Only you can’t make a hole with an ax - the shock wave harms the health of the inhabitants of the pond.

For delicate ornamental fish, a large aquarium will be an ideal wintering place. In an aquarium, you can keep wintering fish from those reservoirs that are not suitable for wintering. The main thing at the same time is not even a sufficient volume of water (it is calculated depending on the capacity of the biofilter and the size of the fish), but balanced conditions: comfortable enough so that the wintering fish is interested in life and does not fall into hibernation, but also severe enough so that in the spring she does not die in her native reservoir.

But even in the absence of an aquarium, you can comfortably arrange fish for the winter. A large barrel, a powerful filter with recirculation and +15 C - and in such conditions the fish will be able to overwinter even in the basement.

Sixth stage. Ice observation

The conservation of the pond for the winter ends with the last, but very important event. A few logs or rubber balls are thrown into the wintering pond. They will not allow freezing ice to damage the walls of the pond in winter.

Additional shelter of the pond for the winter on top of the ice is required only during severe frosts. To do this, you need boards and burlap or straw. But it is impossible to leave a wintering pond in this state for a long time, because plants and fish cannot be without light for a long time. Therefore, caring for a pond in winter is not only monitoring the condition of ice holes, but also regular cleaning of the surface from snow.

A decorative pond winters comfortably and without loss, if it was taken care of with attention and love in the fall. Caring for a pond in winter will not require such troubles from the owners as autumn preparation for wintering. And the pleasure that your own pond can deliver in winter - both as an exquisite part of the landscape, and as a font for a bathhouse, and even as a skating rink - is huge and unforgettable.

Reservoirs in the country in winter: preservation, conservation

Reservoirs in summer cottages are no longer a rarity. Almost every gardener uses various fixtures to obtain and store water. These are wells, and tanks, and barrels, and wells. often on suburban areas you can also find decorative ponds: artificial ponds, fountains, pools, waterfalls. With the onset of the first cold weather, all these objects must be preserved for the winter.

Well

Today, a well in the country is one of the main ways of water supply. country house. Before you start warming it, you need to correctly carry out preparatory work. First of all, you should sheathe the riser with metal mesh, then cover with a special casing (they are sold in stores). The space created between the structures will retain heat inside more efficiently than all heat insulators. The most vulnerable section of the pipe is located near the house, where it rises and goes along the freezing ground. It is recommended to place it in a separate casing made of a larger diameter pipe.

It is also necessary to think about how to close the well directly. If the winters are severe and the soil freezes deep enough, glass wool, penoizol, polystyrene are used as a heat-insulating material. In this case, the insulation is made directly at the time of installation of xenon. Thermal insulation material it is laid along the entire perimeter, its thickness must be at least 30 cm, the gap between the masonry and the well is 4 cm.

The hatch that closes the well must also be covered with a double seal with insulation. If the winters are not too cold, it can be covered wooden box. It will not release heat from xenon.

The water supply pipe was also securely hidden from frost. The most important thing is to take responsibility for the work, as any oversight or mistake can lead to freezing. For wells operating in winter period constantly, this problem does not pose a danger - the pipe is constantly flushed with fresh water, wells variable use may be taken out of service.

Tanks and barrels

Gardeners know that the water left for the winter expands when it freezes and can break the tank, and in the spring the need for watering arises before the summer water supply works.

An empty tank left in the country in the winter becomes easy (in the literal sense) prey for metal thieves.

There is an easy way to protect the tank from defrosting and theft. At the bottom of the tank you need to lower a few plastic bottles. In order for them to sink, they must be filled by a third with dry sand or gravel. For a hundred liters of tank volume, you need about three five-liter plastic bottles.

The law of physics applies here. When it freezes, the volume of water increases by 10 percent. Freezing comes from the sides and from above. When expanding in conventional barrels, the bottom becomes elliptical or it completely pulls out. If there are bottles, then they are squeezed, compensating for the expansion - after all, there is air in them. And it, unlike water or other liquid, is compressed. The ice around the bottles will appear last. In this way, the plastic and air in the bottle compensate for the increase in volume when it freezes.

Plastic does not deteriorate in water, so once flooded bottles will save the tank for many winters.

Barrels for watering the garden should be overturned and laid on their side. If you have a summer washbasin with a sink in your garden, you need to wrap it polyethylene film and tie.

Well

There are several reasons why it is still very profitable to have a well on your site. First, you can dig a well manually. The main thing is to observe all the precautions. Secondly, the well can be independently repaired and periodically cleaned. Thirdly, well pumps are more economical than well pumps. Accordingly, it is much cheaper to bring water into the house, having a well. In addition, there is always water in the well.

Yes, the well in our days is extremely beneficial and necessary. But with the approach of winter, many people have a question - how to save water? Do I need to insulate the well for the winter?

First, whether it freezes or not depends on the depth of freezing of the soil. Secondly, on the type of construction of the well. Were reinforced concrete rings used in the construction or. the well was built from wooden beam- all this plays a significant role in winter. Thirdly, even identical wells built in different soils behave differently in winter. After all, for example, the depth of freezing of clay is one, and peat is completely different. The average soil freezing index is 1-2 meters.

Concrete is a good conductor of temperature. When the soil freezes, the concrete will freeze to the same depth as the soil. Therefore, if the water in the well is below the freezing level, then everything is in order, the well can be used all winter. If the water is above this level, it will freeze.

The insulation of such a well must be taken care of in advance. Rings are insulated from the outside - basalt wool, polyfoam and others. Do this at the level with the freezing of the soil. In winter, various heating elements close the well with a lid.

Wooden wells are often simply decorated with lids. But this is not so much for insulation, but for safety and from getting into the well of debris - leaves, branches, dust.

You can install a decorative insulation over the well wooden frame. A gable is installed on the log house wooden house. On one slope, the house has a door, inside there is a shaft made of rounded logs, reinforced at the edges with a metal strip, a handle for raising water comes out. The walls of the log house protect the upper ring of the well from the effects of negative temperatures and wind, reduce the likelihood of ice formation on the upper rings.

Pond

It is necessary to prepare the pond for winter long before the cold weather. With the beginning of leaf fall, the pond must be covered with a net. Of course, a golden or crimson leaf on blue water looks much more picturesque than a fine mesh. But the fallen leaves, accumulating at the bottom, begin to rot in the spring and lead to an increase in the concentration of swamp gas and ammonia. From this, the water becomes cloudy, plants and fish, if any, die. With the onset of night frosts, the mesh is removed so that it does not freeze and tear.

Preparing a pond for winter begins with cleaning its bottom. Whatever the reservoir on the site, this procedure is mandatory for everyone. Bottom silt and rotting debris, decomposing, form pathogenic gases. You can clean the bottom with a water vacuum cleaner or manually. With the help of conventional and double-sided rakes, the bottom is carefully combed in all directions. Garbage is taken ashore. Places for planting plants wintering in the pond should be bypassed when cleaning.

At the stage of equipment conservation, it is important to closely monitor the night air temperature. As soon as it reaches plus 5 degrees, the injection pumps are turned off and disconnected from the filters. Filter media (absorbents, brushes, sponges) are washed with a weak saline solution. Filters and UV blocks are dried and packaged to avoid any water intrusion. The pump is cleaned and stored in a frost-free room, lowered into a bucket of water. Pumps with a special frost protection system can be left in the pond for the winter.

Hoses, nozzles of fountains, underwater lamps and other equipment are cleaned (including with the help of special preparations they are cleaned of lime deposits), dried and cleaned. Any reservoir hibernates without summer equipment.

Preparing the pond for winter will bring some trouble to the owners of molded reservoirs. The rigid form (plastic or fiberglass) at its base is quite sensitive to pressure increase. To prevent the pond from bursting in winter, you need to partially fill several plastic bottles with sand and let them into the pond. In winter, they will take on the pressure of the ice. One bottle is immersed per 1 square meter of the reservoir area. If the pond is level with the ground, water is not drained from it. If raised, then bring the water level to ground level. A few logs or rubber balls are thrown into the wintering pond. They will not allow freezing ice to damage the walls of the pond.

Additional shelter of the pond for the winter on top of the ice is required only during severe frosts.

To do this, you need boards and burlap or straw. But it is impossible to leave a wintering reservoir in this state for a long time, because plants cannot be without light for a long time. Therefore, caring for a pond in winter is not only monitoring the condition of ice holes, but also regular cleaning of the surface from snow.

Pool on concrete base must be covered after draining water from it. If there is still some water left at the bottom, put a log of wood so that it “accepts” the frost. After that, the pool must first be closed with boards with a small distance between them, then put sheets of metal, plastic, old linoleum (any material that you have) on the boards. From above, everything must be covered either with strips of leatherette or with dense polyethylene and secured with bricks. Reservoirs on a film basis can not be drained for the winter.

Fountain

Preparing the fountain for wintering (preservation) is very important, as exposure to low temperatures and snow can adversely affect the state of the fountain and shorten its life.

Initially, you should drain the water and clean the fountain well and that's it. Technical equipment(pumps, filters). With the help of a compressor, it is necessary to remove the remaining water from the pipeline. Next, all removable parts of the fountain are dismantled, which can be damaged under the influence of frozen water. The ends of the pipes must be insulated with plugs. Then you need to install objects made of elastic materials into the bowl, which can shrink with increasing external pressure (styrofoam, plastic bottles, car tires).

The very last step is closing the bowl - for this purpose, you can use a film or special designs. It is very important that the coating does not let moisture into the fountain bowl and is securely fixed.

Anton Prikhodov

One of the last stages of pre-winter preparatory work on the site is the care of a natural garden reservoir (lake, pond or stream system).

Streams, as a rule, are cut off from the lake and freed from water - they are small and if they are not drained, they will freeze to the bottom, this can damage their bed.

The pond hibernates dry and covered (if it is small acrylic), with ice - if it is freezing of any type (concrete or film), or with water and animals - if its depth is more than 1.5 meters, and the mirror is more than 15 sq.m. At the same time, the material that forms the bottom and walls of its bowl is insignificant.

1. Preparation of the reservoir, dismantling of equipment.

In autumn, protect the pond from falling leaves, drowning they will spoil the water in the pond

At the very beginning of leaf fall, it is important to protect the pond from falling leaves. It certainly looks beautiful on the surface, but, having sunk, in the spring it will spoil the composition of the water: after warming up in the spring sun, the foliage will begin to rot, taking oxygen and releasing marsh gas. The water in a small reservoir, already deprived of oxygen during the winter, will become almost unsuitable for the life of fish. An aesthetically justified, but unreliable way is to catch the leaves that have fallen into the pond every day with a net. If there is no such desire, or the pond is left unattended for a long time (for example, summer cottage), then a thin mesh is pulled over it. At the end of leaf fall, the mesh is removed and dried, and the leaves are sent to the compost pit.

If the winter is mild and water bodies in some area practically do not freeze, it is enough to cover the surface with a net and leave a working aerator or pump for forced water circulation. Acrylic and PVC containers of small ponds are drained before frost, cleaned, equipment is disconnected and either covered and left to winter in place, or dismantled and brought into a technical room.

It is better to dismantle equipment that is not winter-hardy, rinse it and store it in a cool room until spring: the filters are dry, and the pump itself is in a container with water, otherwise dry storage can ruin it. Hoses, nozzles, fountain nozzles, lamps, aerators - that is, all summer equipment - winter dry in a dry room.

2. Cleaning the reservoir

At the beginning of the seasonal cooling, the water temperature is measured daily. Serious preparation for winter begins when the water temperature drops to +10 ºС. At this time, the fish are fed less and less - it still almost stops eating when low temperatures, and an excess of uneaten food will only lead to rotting of the water. Moreover, at this temperature, if winter heating of water in the pond is not planned, it is already necessary to dismantle most of the equipment - an aerator, a pump, a filter. Some pumps and filters can winter in a non-freezing pond if they are located at a depth of 50-60 cm and below, and can even turn on for several minutes in winter, aerating and mixing the water, so this moment must be taken into account when constructing a pond.

Small freezing pond less than a meter depth) are lowered, manually cleaned of dirt, leaves, silt, and fish and plants are transferred to home aquariums. The pipes are blown and sealed with plugs, then the reservoir is filled with at least two-thirds of new water. This will simplify wintering and spring defrosting. Such a pond is prepared for wintering with ice in the same way as a swimming pool - that is, the water level is adjusted in accordance with the ground level and expansion joints are placed in the water - slightly submerged plastic cans, 1 canister per square meter of water table. You can use rubber balls or a few thick sheets of styrofoam.

As a rule, preparatory work is carried out in November-early December, when average daily temperature air ranges from zero to +5 ºС degrees. At this time, the water begins to come to its constant "winter" temperature, and fish and aquatic animals - in their usual, natural mode, settle down for the winter. At a water temperature of +5 ºС, the reservoir is cleaned of silt for the last time (it is left only in the wintering pit), residues dead plants, garbage. During the winter, fish need oxygen. Therefore, in winter, there should be plants in the pond, and the freezing process of the reservoir will have to be controlled. When the bottom layer of water cools down to +4 ºС, the fish will finally stop eating and go to the very bottom, digging into the silt. Wintering will begin for them, even if the pond is not frozen. After that, it is undesirable to disturb them.

Rake with frequent teeth - ideal for manually cleaning the bottom of the reservoir from debris before wintering

The bottom is cleaned with a water vacuum cleaner or manually, leaves and debris are removed from the bottom with frequent rakes with rounded flattened teeth, then, if possible, silt is removed. The main thing is not to overdo it - aquatic plants drop wintering buds to the bottom in autumn. If possible, they should be left in the pond, and a few, for insurance, should be placed in the same place where heat-loving water lilies will spend the winter. In the spring, these "reserve" buds will help restore the population, even if all the other buds die. It is possible to lower the water level in the reservoir for several hours needed for cleaning, then it is desirable to return it back - and return the same water.

3. Preparation for wintering of fish and plants.

Heat-loving fish species (for example, Japanese carps, swordtails, goldfish) in without fail are caught and settled for the winter before the water reaches lower limit their endurance, otherwise, when transferred to a warm aquarium, they will get sick due to impaired preparation for wintering and a malfunction in the biological program.

In order for fish of local breeds in the middle lane to winter normally in the lake, its depth must be at least one and a half meters. Even one such deep wintering hole with an area of ​​about a meter per meter (or even less, depending on the number of fish) in the center of the pond is enough. If the depth of a small (less than 15 square meters) pond is less than a meter, and it is built with sloping walls and flat bottom, then during the winter it will most likely freeze to the bottom and the fish will not have a chance to survive. In this case, it would be more humane to catch and eat it in the fall or arrange it for a warm winter in the house.

Carp, perch and other "local" fish can winter in both quite comfortable room conditions, and in conditions “close to front-line”, for example, in a large barrel or bath in the basement - the main thing is to ensure sufficient aeration, water temperature within 10-15 ºС, and low lighting. She will not fall into hibernation, but activity will slow down, the fish will be “autumn-spring”. It is advisable to use only high-protein food at this time and in small quantities.

Heat-loving fish only hibernate in aquariums, all the rest can survive the winter if there is a depression in the pond up to 1.5 meters, and plants in freezing ponds do not hibernate

Fish from a warm aquarium, of course, can be released into the pond only when it is fully warmed up.

Local aquatic plants are able to overwinter in a non-freezing pond (baskets with them are moved to the deepest place, where there should be at least a meter from the top of the basket to the surface of the water), and more heat-loving water lilies, lotuses and other exotics should winter either in the house in the water at positive temperature, or in water in a cool room.

As a rule, they are initially planted in mesh pots, in the summer they live in a pond, and for the winter the pots are pulled out, placed each in a bucket of pond water and placed in the cellar. Some of the leaves are cut off. You can keep the plants just in damp soil, but there is a risk that they will dry out. Most plants do not need strong lighting at this time; their natural winter lighting is dusk.

4. Formation of ice cover and provision of comfortable wintering for fish

Do not leave fish to winter without oxygen

Reeds and cattails are cut to a height of 15-20 cm above the water surface. To provide the fish with an influx of oxygen, it is important to place bundles of straws or reeds vertically in the water - around them the water freezes more slowly, carbon dioxide leaves the water, and oxygen enters the water through the hollow stems, even when the ice becomes thick. From time to time, you can drill a hole and also insert a bunch of straw into it.

For the first time, you need to leave several pieces of polystyrene foam and bundles of straw on the surface of the water.- they will slow down the freezing of water, and then make air in the ice. Ice cannot be crushed, it can only be drilled, and not above the wintering pit: from the shock wave and a sharp increase in pressure in wintering, hibernating fish, the swim bladder can burst. In addition, under the ice, the water maintains a constant temperature of +4 ºС, if the ice is broken on large area, in this place the water begins to cool rapidly and the ice thickens too much. It is even better to create products by simply spilling them with boiling water- and there is no shock water, and some kind of none, but the movement of water, and a slight heating.

You can use a portable aerator on batteries(or on an electric carrier stretched out from the house), lowering it briefly into the drilled hole. De-icers have also been created that are placed in a pond. For example, the de-icer of the German company OASE is a pump connected to a float that supplies slightly heated water to the surface, while mixing it, so that the polynya can not freeze at -15 and even at -20 ºС. Approximately the same effect is given by a backlight placed in the pond - it heats the water a little, keeping the polynya.

5. Care of the wintering pond

It is undesirable to walk on ice, and it is necessary to remove snow from it, therefore it is best for technical purposes, if there is no bridge, to throw a wide board across the pond.

In severe frosts, ice is covered with straw and burlap, or rolled insulation, but you can’t keep it covered for a long time - and plants and fish need light.

AT extreme cold you can drill through the ice and pump out some water, and then close the hole, creating a cushion of air that will prevent the thick ice from freezing and give the fish oxygen. If necessary, the lack of water can then be replenished, the main thing is to add water with approximately the same temperature so as not to cause thermal shock in the fish.

A large pond in winter is very decorative and can be used as a skating rink.(especially if it freezes to the bottom or, on the contrary, is very deep and the fish spend the winter in a hole in its central deep part). On the surface of the ice, you can create a kind of 3D masterpiece by freezing leaves, pictures, small objects or coins and even transparent hoses into the ice. led garland(the decor is laid out on ice, and then it is poured with water from the hose from above, so that a transparent and voluminous composition is obtained).

Winter care for a garden pond in itself is small and not complicated, and spring re-preservation requires a minimum of effort. If you take care of the garden pond in the fall and do everything right, and he and his inhabitants winter easily, without loss, and all year round delight the owners.

For many owners of private estates, the process of preparing for a cold snap is important. By performing the right actions, the owner will be able to purify the water, protect it from winter cold fish and plants.

Pumping water or protecting a pond

• Before the onset of cold weather, fish and plants are taken out of the pool.
• The walls and bottom of the pond are thoroughly cleaned of accumulated dirt and sediment. Common brushes are often used.
• Pipelines must be purged and securely clogged with foam. Wooden corks are not recommended, as they swell in water. Increasing in volume, they can damage the pipe structure.

Before the advent sub-zero temperature a deep pond is filled with water by about 2/3. Water is necessary so that the snow falling into the artificial reservoir in winter and turning into ice in spring does not delay the spring filling of the pond. If the liquid is pre-filled, then ice is formed only in the upper part. In the spring, a small layer of ice will quickly melt, winter water can be pumped out and the reservoir filled again.

If during wintering the temperature becomes too low, then an ice hole is made in the ice, from which the remaining water is pumped out.

The air cushion will protect the reservoir from further freezing, which will also ensure the rapid melting of ice in the spring.

If the reservoir is made by hand, its concrete walls are protected high-quality waterproofing, then pumping water is not necessary. If during the construction of the film pond were observed building codes, then for the winter it can also be left completely filled.

The owners of shaped reservoirs are forced to carry out a series of operations in order to prepare plastic pond for the winter. Its walls are able to collapse from the action of frozen water, which increases in volume, turning into ice. In such a pond, you need to lower plastic bottles and sand, they will compensate for the pressure of the ice.

Protection of water from pollution

• In autumn, before the leaves begin to fall, it is necessary to close the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe reservoir with a net. Many people prefer to admire the fallen leaves that are located on top of the bluish surface of the backyard pond, but for the safety of plants and fish, care must be taken that no organic matter enters the water. In spring, fallen leaves will begin to rot, releasing ammonia and swamp gas. The water will immediately become cloudy, lose its fresh blue tint, and the fish and plants in the reservoirs will die.
• Before you need to remove the mesh, since when an ice crust forms, it will freeze and tear.
• To remove dirt, you can use a floating or stationary skimmer, which will quickly, without harming fish and plants, remove dirt that enters the pond.

We prepare a pond for winter with our own hands (video)

It should be understood that the qualitatively carried out above activities will subsequently be minimized.

Wall and floor cleaning

Both wintering and non-wintering reservoirs must be cleaned of the walls and bottom. Garbage that gradually accumulates on surfaces begins to decompose.

As a result, harmful gases are released that adversely affect flora and fauna.

The fastest and convenient way cleaning is the application water vacuum cleaner.

Equipment preservation

• When the temperature reaches +5 ° C, you need to turn off, disconnect them from the filters and remove them from the water.
• The filter system must be disassembled into its component parts; before wintering, they are thoroughly cleaned with saline.
• UV lamps and filters are completely dried, they are neatly stacked in boxes. Equipment is stored in a dry, preferably heated room.
• The pump is cleaned and then lowered into a container filled with water. If the reservoir is equipped with a pump that is equipped with a system that protects it from deformation due to freezing of water, the device can be left in the pond for the winter.
• Various devices for underwater lighting, nozzles, all kinds are cleaned of contaminants, if necessary, checked for malfunctions.
• They must be processed with compounds that help to completely eliminate lime. All devices are dried and left in a specially designated room until spring.

wintering plants

• Plants that are intolerant winter frosts, it is necessary to cover with burlap or fallen leaves. In the second case, you will need to clean the leaves in the spring so that they do not rot.
• Plantings that are forbidden to be stored in water during frosts must be carefully, without damaging constituent parts and roots, extract from the reservoir.
• All plants must be kept in a room where the temperature is quite low, but not sub-zero. There must be lighting, but bright light is contraindicated. In containers, you need to constantly moisten the ground at a frequency that is shown for a particular plant.
• Reed is recommended to be left in the water without cutting, as its tubular stems supply oxygen to the water, which is necessary for wintering fish.

Preparing the reservoir for winter (video)

wintering fish

• During the preparation of the pond for the winter, the fish are provided with a full protein nutrition. In winter, they do not need to be fed.
• Fish that cannot live in a pond in winter are placed in a large aquarium. In the spring they are released back into the pond.
• In winter, the access of oxygen from the atmosphere through the ice to the inhabitants of the reservoir is difficult, so a person must independently establish gas exchange using an ice hole.
• To maintain the polynya all winter, you can purchase devices that heat the pond. Sometimes they are built into special pressure filters that can work all year round.
• An aerator is used to leave room for air access. The water is artificially saturated with oxygen, and the rising bubbles prevent the ice crust from closing. This device must be chosen and used carefully. The opening should not be too wide, and the diffuser should not be installed in the deepest part of the reservoir.
• So that the fish do not freeze, you can use floating, however, it is available only with a slight minus, which is not suitable for all regions.
• With a problem additional insulation the water heating system will handle.

Before the winter cold, a decorative pond needs special care. If all the norms and regulations are followed, the owners will be able to properly clean it from pollution, prevent deformation of the walls, keep the representatives of the flora and fauna healthy during frosts, and admire again in the spring beautiful view pond.

(markov_content)

Attention, only TODAY!

Everyone new owner before the first wintering, he is worried about how to prepare him so that he successfully survives the winter and does not require much trouble to start summer season. In fact, autumn "pond" work is not difficult, it is only important to do it carefully and carefully. Let's analyze the main nuances of measures to prepare the pond for winter, using the experience of FORUMHOUSE users.

With the onset of autumn, it is important to ensure that debris and fallen leaves do not accumulate on the surface of the reservoir, which quickly pollute the water and form a layer of silt at the bottom of the reservoir, which contributes to the formation of toxic gases. The water becomes cloudy from this, and plants and fish die. Therefore, during the period of leaf fall, it is better to cover the mirror of the pond with a special fine-mesh net, which must be regularly cleaned from a layer of leaves. The mesh is removed with the arrival of night frosts so that it does not freeze and is not damaged.

On sale there are special nets for ponds with pegs, but you can use other suitable ones.

Hyperborej FORUMHOUSE user

During leaf fall, try pulling a strawberry net over the surface of the water (a green one is sold, it can be in two layers) or sink it 5-10 centimeters into the water so that it does not spoil the view. And when the leaves have fallen, you raise the net, and the leaves are all in it, and not in the water.

The inconvenience of the mesh is that if there are a lot of leaves, then under their weight it sags, and the garbage still ends up in the water, where it begins to rot. On the pond small size you can get out of the situation by placing transverse bars under the net, but on a larger reservoir it is difficult and inconvenient to “catch” leaves in the net.

The best option is to use technical devices– such as water vacuum cleaners or skimmers (surface suction pumps). A skimmer of suitable power, floating on the surface or installed permanently on the bottom or wall of the reservoir, saves it from the same leaves and large debris.

Member of FORUMHOUSE CorsaC939 advises to facilitate the collection of debris and leaves from the surface and, at the same time, to prevent waterlogging, to ensure a constant movement of water in the pond using a pump.

CorsaC939 FORUMHOUSE user

Retrofit the water drain stream at its end with a bowl and a pump - ordinary, for dirty water, cubes for five to seven per hour, so that there is a constant movement of water and its aeration - and you will collect the leaves in one place.

Cleaning the reservoir is the most important event, on which its external attractiveness and the safety of its inhabitants - plants and fish - directly depend. Even with the use of filter pumps, debris from the bottom will still need to be manually removed from time to time. Among the owners of ponds, there are many who prefer the annual spring cleaning. However, if the pond accumulates a lot of garbage during the summer, autumn cleaning is simply necessary, otherwise the rotting biomass will cause trouble over the winter, for example, it will lead to a freeze on the pond.

If the pond has been cleaned at least a couple of times during the warm season, for example, with a vacuum cleaner, there is no need to drain the water - it will be enough to clean the bottom and banks of debris. This is best done with a water vacuum cleaner, but you can also manually comb the bottom in all directions with a conventional or double-sided rake.

At heavy pollution it is better to approach the issue on a large scale - drain the water, wash the bottom and banks under pressure, remove debris and sludge, and then fill the pond clean water. CorsaC939 shared the intricacies of cleaning activities. This process is simple, but quite “fragrant” and dirty, so you will have to stock up on rubber gloves and fishing waterproof overalls.

CorsaC939 FORUMHOUSE user

I lower the pump for dirty water with a capacity of 15m3 / hour into the pond with a hose with a diameter of 32mm for pumping water. The more powerful the pump and the thicker the hose, the faster the water is pumped out.

While the water is draining - it's time to connect the sink high pressure(preferably with adjustable pressure) and a pond vacuum cleaner. If the reservoir is inhabited by fish, a 200 l barrel with water and an aquarium compressor (approximately 300 l / min) should be prepared for them in advance.

During the pumping process, the sludge can be drained on the site, for example, under the trees or into a ditch for drying: the dried sludge is valuable fertilizer- sapropel.

After draining almost all the water, the fish is caught and transplanted into a barrel, and silt is pumped out of the pond with a vacuum cleaner, silt deposits, algae and other dirt are “beaten off” with a sink, if necessary, water lilies and other plants are thinned out and planted.

pavlovich64 FORUMHOUSE user

If you leave fish for the winter, try to prune aquatic plants. This winter, a dozen and a half carp did not survive with me: I was too lazy to cut the leaves of aquatic plants (water lilies, irises) in the fall. As a result - rotting, mustiness and freezing. I cut off all the leaves last winter, and the result was different.

The final stage is to fill the pond with clean water and return the fish to it. Depending on the composition and hardness of the water (checked by tests from aquarium stores), the forum member advises using products for preparing tap or rain water. You don’t have to worry too much about biobalance: if there are water lilies or other plants in pots in the pond, then a huge number of microorganisms and algae are hiding in their roots, and the balance will be restored after a water change within two to four weeks.

Another important measure is the conservation for the winter of the equipment installed in the pond, which is not intended for wintering and does not have frost protection. It is important to monitor the air temperature in order to turn off and disconnect the pumps from the filters at the first established cold (up to +5 C). After dismantling, the filter media must be washed with a weak saline solution. Store filters and UV blocks in a carefully packed form so that moisture does not get into them. After cleaning, the pump is stored in a heated room, immersed in a container of water. All hoses, nozzles, fixtures, etc. should be washed and dried properly.

Preparation of the pond for wintering depends on its size and type. Small (up to 0.8 m deep and up to 20 square meters) the reservoir is considered non-wintering. In cold weather, it can freeze to the bottom, so in the fall, all plants and fish must be removed from it. Experienced members of the forum, by the way, do not accidentally advise planting pond plants in pots, filling them with gravel on top, and then periodically replanting or adding soil. This method will not only keep the reservoir clean and reduce the formation of a nutrient medium for algae, but also greatly facilitate cleaning and cleaning.

The cleaned pond needs to be filled with water by half or two-thirds: snow and ice will still accumulate at the bottom of the lowered reservoir during the winter, which will melt for a long time in the spring. A pond filled with water in winter will freeze only from above. In frosty winters, part of the water can be pumped out from under the ice through a drilled hole so that the resulting air cushion does not allow the pond to freeze to the bottom.

Owners of the so-called "shaped" plastic reservoirs should definitely think about the use of ice expansion compensators. As you know, water expands when freezing, and the walls of plastic ponds are sensitive to increased pressure, so ice can not only break waterproofing, but also “break” the banks, which will result in costly repairs in the spring. To avoid this, compensators are installed in the pond bowl - they can be specialized purchased, but more often members of the forum use improvised items, for example, PET bottles with sand.