"Rob" wrote in message
m...
At any rate, you should try to
minimize run off going into your pond to avoid sudden water chemistry changes
(and you wouldn't want your prize fish to end up in swimming in a puddle at
Haight-Ashbury when the pond overflows). Considering that you live in SF,
you
shouldn't have that much run off anyway, unless you are watering your garden
very often.-

I can minimize runoff, but what about rain? Sure it is dry around
here for most of the year, but our winter in SF is just a rainy
season. It can downpour like a fiend. Should I prepare the pond
somehow to get rid of excess water? I can easily imagine the pond
overflowing.

Thanks for your answers...

I watch the weather, and when it looks like there will be a lot of rain, I pump
down my pond a few inches, if necessary, to allow for the rainfall. I usually
keep the pond water level six to eight inches below the top, so I don't have to
pump it down very often (my pond is 45" deep, so I have a lot of leeway). You
must be careful though, as excessive rainfall entering your pond can affect the
chemical balance, especially the pH and O2 content. Just be aware of the
possibility and check your water parameters after a hard rain. You might have
to pump some of it out and replace it with fresh water if the parameters get too
out of whack. Honestly though, I've not had any problems with it where I live
(and we get 45" of rain/year here). I have my waterfall set up where I can
connect a clear plastic hose to the pump outlet pipe,and that I can run out into
the yard when I need to pump the pond down. I've seen more elaborate set ups
where the owner actually built a spillway to let overflow run off, but that is
not practical with my set up, since my pond is partially out of ground (18"
above ground, and 27" below ground).

In preparing your pond for winter in SF, you just need to remember that the fish
are cold blooded, so their metabolism slows down considerably (and the microbes
in their gut that helps digest food usually go dormant) during the winter. That
means don't feed them (or feed them very sparingly if they show interest in
eating - I only feed them easy-to-digest Koi food in winter when I feed them at
all, something that is primarily wheat-based) when the water gets below about 52
degrees F. Usually, they will stop feeding on their own below that temperature,
so don't let any food sit in the pond uneaten, and make sure that you keep plant
debris out of the pond. Most of your trees there don't loose much of their
foliage in the winter, but if you have a problem with plants shedding into the
pond in the winter, you can buy a mesh pond screen at a garden supply shop and
cover the pond with it to keep leaves and other plant material from blowing into
it.

By the way, my wife was born and raised up on the side of Twin Peaks. I forgot
what the neighorhood is called.