Why lose all of the progress you made treating and maintaining your pond all summer?
As the heat of the summer simmers down and the weather starts to cool, RV parks, campgrounds and other lagoon and pond owners are preparing to hunker down for the winter. What these owners may not realize is that their ponds and lagoons will really benefit from off-season winter maintenance. The benefit will be cleaner water, less sludge and less odor when things heat back up next season.
Ponds and even wastewater lagoons are biological ecosystems that rely on a proper balance of organisms, food and oxygen to remain in equilibrium. This continues even in the winter months when things are cold and activity slows down. Treating and maintaining a pond only during the spring and summer months means that this equilibrium is lost for half of the year. Organisms, whether they are beneficial microbes that keep a pond clean or fish, thrive in a stable and consistent environment.
Winter pond and lagoon maintenance may be the key thing you have been lacking for a cleaner pond!
Aeration and Mixing
If you have a subsurface aeration system installed in your pond, leaving it on during the winter will maintain oxygen levels that will keep organisms alive and thriving. The mixing action may also help minimize ice buildup on the surface. Owners who don’t have an aeration system installed may want to think about installing one as the benefits of aeration are manyfold. See our aeration page for more information on the benefits of aerating your pond or lagoon.
If your pond is in a northern climate where you can get an inch or more of ice, surface aerators and fountains should be removed prior to freezing. Store them upside down in an above-freezing place until spring.
Keeping your pond or lagoon mixed will ensure that all depths have a consistent oxygen level and temperature. As water becomes stagnant, warmer temperatures and higher oxygen levels tend to exist only at the shallowest depths. If you have fish, they will tend to want to stay at these shallower depths which can increase the chances for fish kill events. A properly sized and installed aeration system or using circulators will provide adequate mixing to create a consistent environment for aquatic life.
Beneficial Microbes
Dosing your pond with beneficial microbes like ProLake ClearLake Cold Water Clarifier will support a healthy population of organisms which will kep your pond or lagoon clean during the winter months. Just a pound or two every couple of weeks will go a long way toward eliminating fish waste, wind-blown debris, muck and sludge. The result will be a cleaner, healthier pond that will be ready to enjoy this next spring! We carry a full line of microbes by ProLake to keep your pond clean and healthy.
Clear Water Supply can provide you with the equipment you need including diffused aeration systems, solar powered aeration systems, circulators and surface aeration systems. We are also happy to help you with equipment selection based on your pond or lagoon’s size and depth. We even offer custom design solutions to take the guess work out of how to layout your aeration or mixing system!