If you are in a wooded area or in an area where you get a lot of leaves from the wind pond netting is a must. The pond netting comes in two different sizes. 3/8” is best for needles, small seeds, nuts and berries. 3/4” is best for larger leaves. The pond netting can be placed over the pond and staked around the perimeter or tented over the pond. Tenting is commonly done with PVC pipe, fittings and stakes.
Tenting prevents the leaves from getting wet and is easier to blow the leaves off. Inner tubes can also be used in water gardens to float the netting.. Floating the tubes in the pond and then covering with netting will help prevent the netting and leaves from getting wet and sagging in the pond. If many leaves collect on the netting it may weigh the netting down and the leaves may set in the water. If this happens you will need to get the leaves off the netting and out of the water. If left in the water they will begin to decompose and release unneeded nutrients into the pond causing lots of problems. The Pond Warehouse offers a few different Pond Cover Netting, such as 3/4″ Boxed Netting 20′ x 100′ for you to consider.
Water garden de-Icers:
De-Icers keep an opening in the ice. These units will not heat the water and they keep a small area open usually enough to let out harmful gases and keep fish safe. If you loose power for a period of time the ice will freeze in pretty quickly and usually need to be chopped out for it to work properly so consider a Pond De-Icer Heater from The Pond Warehouse.
Water garden Air Bubblers:
Air bubblers will supply your pond with oxygen and are easy to maintain through all of the seasons. They will typically keep an a hole open in the ice. In extremely cold conditions the pond may look frozen over but it will actually be “honeycombed” so gases can still escape. A water garden aerator is necessary for getting your pond ready for the winter.
Aeration in Large Ponds:
When ice covers a pond and snow then covers the ice light rays are not able to penetrate and help produce oxygen. Gasses are not able to escape and this is very detrimental to a pond and you may loose fish. As a pond ages the risk gets higher from added decomposing plant materials that will us up all the oxygen left in a pond causing a fish kill. Pond aeration will provide the necessary oxygen, speed up decomposition and allow gases to escape.
