Kashka,

I know absolutely nothing about pond requirements as far as pumps or other mechanical instruments go, so I can't give you answers to most of your questions, but I can tell you I felt the same way the first winter I left the fish in the pond (comets and shubunkins). I worried and fretted all winter about them.

Come spring, I opened up the pond and there they were, at the bottom of the pond, happy as dormant fish can be. In 3 years I haven't lost any fish in the winter to the cold and I am also in Zone 4. I do put plastic over the pond and either leave the pump running (with hose dropped into the pond) and/or a deicer. I am thinking about trying a bubbler this winter.

What kind of fish do you have? I guess that does make a difference.

AND.. are you taking pictures that you will post?

Anne

Kashka, here also a non-techie, so I can only tell you from my experience about noise and filtration and fish in the winter.
- We have a Sequence external pump, it's behind the pond, half hidden by a low stone wall and a low evergreen thingie. We have to go around the waterfall before we can hear it.
- we had a Fishmate pressurized filter for a few years, it did help very nicely. But then we left it out too long, and a few stiff night frosts later something cracked, and it didn't work well after that. So be careful about taking yours in on time. We now have a settling chamber - two chambers in a row actually - with filter mats in it and a drain at the back, that DH opens about once a week to let the worst of the settled goo drain out. The water is lovely and clear most of the time, and it clears up fast whenever it gets muddled up by me falling in or something.
- Our pond has a central section that is 3 1/2 feet deep and the fish winter over fine in there. We sink the lilies down as well, after cleaning the pond up as well as we can (especially dead leaves). We have deicer islands, but last winter we had a bubbler in the pond as well. This worked so well that almost the whole winter we didn't have the deicers plugged in. A bubbler is a very low cost option.

Good luck and keep us posted!

:) Mary

I live in Central IL.

I have a pondmaster pump, and a Fishmate UV pressurized filter. Although they caution about not using the filter in the winter, I have NEVER taken it inside for the winter. Last winter there were several days/nights below 0 (zero) and the filter/pump worked just fine. I make sure the outlet hose basically shoot right back into the pond bypassing the waterfall I have built. As long as the flow is strong, the filter will not freeze.

Your fish will overwinter fine, and don't need to eat. You shouldn't feed them if the water is below 50 anyways.

My pond is 32" and I've never had it freeze more than 18" Fish were fine, and actually seem to enjoy the water.

Pashta mentioned putting plastic over the pond, and I am not a fan of that. I would be concerned about not getting enough outgassing from the pond. I have had the pond surface freeze, but every morning would go out with some water (1 gal or so) and put a hole in the ice. This also allowed the birds to get a drink. Much appreciated in the cold weather.

One more thing about the fish. Just make sure they are hardy fish. Goldfish/Koi/fancy goldfish ok. Pleco (Alge Eaters...not so much).

I think you will probably not be very happy with a submerged filter. They are incredibly hard to clean and do not get the waste out of the water....it is just trapped in the filter box. You would be much better off with an external filter. I am attaching a link to a koi forum where there are lots of great examples of ponds and DIY filters. Maybe you can get some good ideas there. If you choose to buy a filter, remember that the manufactures stated pond size is always WAY off. If they say a filter is good for a 1000 gallon pond, it will probably struggle to keep a 500 gallon pond filtered. And I don't know if you have thought about this or not, but rocks in the bottom are VERY unhealthy for fish and require a lot of maintenance. All the uneaten food and fish waste settles into the cracks and rots. The rotting debris is a haven for parasites and harmful bacteria. A clean pond is a healthy pond and it is impossible to keep a pond clean with that gunk in the bottom.

Now regarding fish. You probably would be happier sticking to goldfish. You might be able to get away with a couple of koi, but keep in mind that koi really need 300 gallons each with a minimum pond size of 1000 gallons. They get very large and produce a lot of waste. Once they get big, they are also very damaging to plants. If you do get koi, stick to the butterfly type....they grow a little slower and don't get a big as regular koi.

Here is a link that might be useful: Koi shack

Thnx for info / links.

Are the various external filtration systems pretty much interchangeable with different pumps - IE can I use a pondmaster pump with any other filters?

Nope, no koi for me - more shubunkins probably. There are some goldfish that look just like koi with dramatic colors and long fins (only smaller).

When I used to have my fish outdoors, I'd bring them in mid December and they'd look kind of skinny... made me wonder if they could make it another 2 or 3 months.

Pond/filter combo doesn't matter. Just make sure the pump doesn't exceed the volume capacity of the filter. IE don't hook up a 1000GPH pump to a 500GPH filter.

Under powering a filter would be ok, albiet it will flow more slowly. But again, dont be stupid and buy a 100GPH pump for a 1000GPH rated filter either.

As groundbeef said, you do need to match your pump with your filter. The water passing through the filter has to have sufficient time to contact the bio-media in order for the beneficial bacteria to convert the ammonia. If the water rushes through the filter too quickly, the ammonia will still be there when it leaves the filter. Plan on running all the water in the pond through the filter at least once per hour. For a smaller sized pond like yours, twice an hour is even better, as long as the filter can handle that much flow.

Some filter/pump combos cannot be retrofitted with a different brand of pump and some can...it all depends on how and where the pump attaches to the filter. One really nice thing about the pondmaster mag-drive pumps is they can be used in or out of the pond. If they are used out of the water, they need to be situated in an area that is lower than the water level of the pond so they will be kept flooded with water even when the pump is off for easier start-up and more efficient water handling (this is called flooded suction).