Pond Pump Problems

Hello,

Our new house (which we've had for 3 months now) has a pond in the back garden.

I've noticed that water is no longer circulating so presumably theres a problem with the pump somewhere.

I've found an article here Pond Maintenance

which states that pumps should be turned off over winter and that interuptions to the power supply can affect them. 'DING' not so long ago there was a power cut while I was at work. Is this the most likely source of the problem?

If so what do I do next?

Also should we be feeding the fish over the winter? This article says not to? The previous occupiers said they didn't need 'much' feeding during the winter months.

Many thanks,

Jonathan.

 

Usual problem with pumps is the foam fiters get choked so it's best to make a proper bio filter box so the pump only sees clean water. You can then throw the foam filter away.

A pond is teeming with life and fish feed very little during the winter months so they don't need any aditional food. If you give them more than they need all you will do is add nutient to the pond which will rot on the bottom and foul the water as it decomposes. Conditions in pond silt are anaerobic and bacteria produce methane. In the spring and summer as the pond warms silt can 'turn over' releasing it. It happens quite suddenly and can create poisonous levels of disolved or free gas just at the time when fish are active and need plenty of oxygen.

[ 19. March 2007, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Its not common, but in a power cut / power restored it has been known for pump impellers to either:

Not spin

Struggle to turn

Turn backwards

I have actually seen it happen with expensive and inexpensive pumps.

The idea of not running a pump in winter is that if it is to supply a biological filter the filter is doing nothing, so turn the pump off, however this is not true.
The biological filter is still working although at an almost non-existent rate, but if you turn the pump off all the bacteria die, and when you switch it back on you dump a load of dead bodies into your pond. What you should do is raise the pump up from the pond floor (couple of bricks) this keeps the filter ticking over and stops the bottom layer of pond water from being cooled down.

If your pump is not running a filter then yes by all means turn it off.

You could also try turning the supply to your pump off then on to see what happens (in case it is struggling to run as I mentioned above)

Also as has been said it could have a blocked filter.

Some pump makers say their pump should be stored in a bucket of water when not in use as this stops the seals from drying out.

Fish are cold blooded and their metabolism changes according to temperature. So in summer feed more in winter feed less / not at all.

Koi keepers change the type of food in the colder months then when really cold do not feed at all.