heated pond?

[WaterPond]

I have thought alot about buying a heater for my pond. This way i could maybe keep the fish outdoors all winter. I also thought of it because my fish seem to get a very bad disease once every year. It is usually fin rot of body fungus. I am thinking a nice stable temp. will help them.

It is a 165gal pond, with 6 goldfish which i currently bring in for the winter. I really want to heat it!

I live in southern ontario where temperatures can get from 0C to -20C
I was thinking 500w? what do you think?

[piranha]

It would be near impossible to keep the pond warm in winter weather without fluctuations in temperature at different sections of the pond. This would be more stressful for the inhabitants. A de-icer is used only to prevent freeze over. Noxous gases must escape the pond through a hole in the ice created by the de-icer. You can maintain your goldfish in a winter pond provided they are at least 6 inches in length, your pond is at least 18 inches at its deep end, and stop feeding when water temps dip below 50 deg fahrenheit. Commons are at the top of the list for cold tolerance.

[WaterPond]

OK, i dont want a de-icer, i want a heater.

I was thinking maybe this one that can convert into a de-icer with a float attachment, but will hold a steady temp during the summer months.

The pond is 2' deep

what do you think?

[hc8719]

this may be too big, but your best guess is a pool heater.

i'd put some aquarium salt in too, just to prevent freezing to some extent.

EDIT: had to redo this, seein you put Celsius not Farenheit (however you spell them)

im doubtful it gets only to -20C, thats like 12F, i live in ohio, and i can tell you, we get sub zero temperatures, im sure canada does too.

[piranha]

I have a few questions Waterpond. Why would you require a heater in summer if your keeping goldfish in the pond? As far as winter is concerned, I myself live in the northeast US and have kept commons for several years in sub-freezing temps. I personally think heating a pond doesn't make much sense. For winter an excellent choice for a de-icer is Farm Innovators Ice Chaser. Very reliable 3 year warranty.

[WaterPond]

the reason i want a heater in the summer is to have a steady temperature, i get a very bad disease every year because my tamperature chnages so much. Loweres the ammune systems of fish.

[piranha]

What kind of goldies do you have? What kind of fluctuations in temperature do you have? If you have other than commons or comets, I would be concerned about temperature changes and would continue to bring them inside for winter weather. If you experience changes in the area of 10 degrees during summer, this should not stress the goldies enough to get sick except when water quality or diet is compromised. Is water properly filtered ? Do you feed a diet of wheat germ between water temperatures of 50 and 60 degrees fahrenheit? This strengthens the immune system. Do you stop feeding when water temps go below 50 deg F? Feeding will kill or sicken them at this time. Their metabolism slows to a point they can no longer digest foods.

[WaterPond]

water never drops that low. It is usually about 68-74F, at night, probably aroumnnd 55F

[Reefmonkey]

I'm on the Texas coast, where we don't have to worry about the kind of weather you guys have in Canada, but we can get the occasional dip into the 20s, and even the overnight lows in the 40s aren't great for the South American cichlids I keep in my 100 gallon garden pond year round. So here's what I do:

400 watt aquarium heater
Bubble-wrap blanket for really cold nights.

I went out and bought bubble-wrap like one uses for packing breakable objects. I made a two-ply blanket out of it - bubbles facing in. It is a little smaller than the surface area of my pond to allow open spaces for gas exchange, but floats on the top and covers most of the pond surface to keep heat in.