Getting ready for my fisrt winter with a pond

1. To run the waterfall or to not run the waterfall...
Pros: ensures a hole is available for stuff to get out if pond freezes...
actually, waterflow should reduce chances of pond freezing
Looks pretty
Water tempature should be higher than if not run (true?)
Cons: Still paying electrical cost
Waterfall may freeze at parts, causing water to go outside of pond
--Is this really true? As a decent flow rate how does it freeze?

2. When to stop feeding...
-- Reports range from 55 to 45 degrees
--- at what depth do we concern ourselves with..(1' temp != 3' temp)



My first winter was last winter. I shut off my waterfall because I
did not want the splash to freeze taking water from out of my pond
leaving an ice sculpture mess. Also what happens if you loose power
for a half day and your lines freeze up? You can't just turn the
power back on in your pump. Sounds more like a mess.

Next I bought a livestock stock tank heater:

http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp...oductID=25 73

and put it in the pond when it started to freeze. At times I had two
to three feet of snow over the pond and could not even see where the
heater was. It worked. These are not only sold for livestock - I
have seen them in Petsmart and other petstores for use in ponds. PS:
they suck as much power as your pump too.

About feeding. I did not feed my goldfish at all my first year
because I did not see the small things in my large pond. Still, they
made it fine through the winter. This year I have been feeding them
and will stop with the first freeze. They will be fine for the
winter.

I must be doing something right because they are alot bigger and I now
have baby goldfish swimming around.

Rick