Winter garden pond maintenance standard advice has always been to ensure that water does not freeze over completely preventing oxygen reaching the pond water. Well, research conducted by Pond Conservation has suggested that the opposite is true.

The research undertaken suggests that ponds and their inhabitants will survive very cold weather conditions, which result in pond water freezing over completely.

The surface water tends only to freeze leaving volumes of unfrozen fresh water under the ice. Making a hole in the frozen surface isn’t going allow that much oxygen in to make any real difference to the amount already present in the water. This is because oxygen diffuses so slowly in to still water. A pond that is a half a meter in depth, oxygen will take 8 months to diffuse to the bottom.

Submerged pond plants will continue to photosynthesize producing oxygen even if the surface is frozen over.

But, if you keep fish then you should take action if your pond freezes over. Snow must be brushed off a frozen pond surface so that plants can continue to photosynthesize. It is also advisable to keep your pond pump operating through winter to mix oxygenated and deoxygenated water together.

To keep your garden pond healthy, keep the water clean and unpolluted through the seasons to help oxygen producing submerged plants to flourish.

Garden ponds provide very important wildlife habitats. If you are keen to install one in your garden, Liners Online supply high quality, low maintenance rubber pond liners, protective underlay and pond pumps. Visit our Pond Liners Online website for more information and to place an order.