Hot Pond brainstorming!

[rhetor]

Alright guys, here's the deal: I have a Pacu.

So my dad is emotionaly attached to our 2ft long Pacu, long story, to keep it short, they are soulmates.

We don't like seeing him in a 125g tank. He needs more room.

So here are some ideas we had about keeping an outdoor pond HOT during the winter here in New England:

First of all the pond would be deep. Once you get pretty deep around here, the ground temp is about 50*F. Secondly, we would put the pond close to the septic fields (don't tell anyone). The ground close to the biological action of the septic fields keeps it quite a bit hotter in the winter months, you can see the snow melt off that area first.

We would probably put a bubble over the pond for a greenhouse effect.

What are the most cost effective options for keeping the pond hot? This is still just an idea, so if the price is extreme it won't be done. I was thinking maybe a very small gas swimming pool heater. We have a 15,000 swimming pool with a gas heater already. We also have solar panels that heat the water. I'm sure that on a sunny day just one of those panels would get the water to 80*F, but they are inpractical because they can't freeze. We even had the idea of building a heat exchanging system in our attic! This way the water would absorb the heat from our attic and keep the pond warm! (Would need a good size pump to get up there though.)

Anyone have any good brainstorming ideas?

I know its outlandish. Posts that say "thats impossible, you are stupid" wouldn't really be helpful

[theotheragentm]

I work for a company that sells industrial equipment for steam and hot water applications. Fortunately, a lot of the same rules apply for basic heating principles. Using an insulated tank and burying it might be helpful.

If you're going through all this, a custom indoor tank might be more affortable.

[rhetor]

i was thinking of, to put it in simple terms, flooding the basement.

I think i have turned my dad into a radical fish fundamentalist, which is pretty funny.

[theotheragentm]

Being from Southern California, most of our houses don't have basements. I assume you're talking about a pretty large area. While larger volumes of water are going to hold temperature better, the energy to get the water up to the volume to begin with is going to be pretty big. Since you're not talking about a tank that you can see into, I assume being able to see this fish from the side is not the biggest issue. You might want to check into prefabricated tanks. Here in Southern California, this is a company that makes tanks for gas stations and applications requiring huge store. http://www.harringtonplastics.com/ This company does double-walled tanks for leak proofing, but I'm sure there is something you can find locally that will have a tank you can use. Then you can select a size more appropriately. You can also probably just saw through the top of tanks if they're not wide enough for you to gain access to place the fish in or take it out.

[Reefmonkey]

I'm on the Texas coast, where we don't have to worry about the kind of weather you guys have in New England, 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.

[rhetor]

Great ideas, thanks!

Unfortunately, well, fortunately i guess, the Pacu is gone. I went on Monsterfishkeepers.com and made a post to see if anyone could house him.

A man named Glenn just happened to live 20 minutes away. He has a 150g right now and is getting a 300+ gallon tank in February! So my big stupid fish is no more a member of my household. He will be missed but i'm sure he is much happier in his bigger tank, and eagerly awaiting his nice 300+!

A few days after the Pacu left, my Jaguar fish went berserk, and him and the Jack Dempsey started battling. I thought they were just fighting over territory, but then the Jag evicted the JD from his cave, cleared a piece of slate, and laid eggs all over it! So now they get along well. So i guess i have Jag/JD babies coming? Uh oh.