Heating a Koi Pond

[MitchM]

ONLY two feet??? As a former ice fisherman, I have seen many occasions when a 3' long ice auger failed to reach liquid water!

...
John

If you're referring to fishing on a large open lake, then yes, it will have thicker ice than my pond because the open lake is exposed to more wind.

.

 

[sissy]

My son came up with the idea of putting them on switched outlets in my bedroom closet in a little panel box in the wall so no one can accidentally turn them off or on and each one is marked clearly for me .He is a licensed electrician but moved back to NJ to work for the NJ turnpike .I am so happy he did that as the side steps off my front porch get ice coated in the winter and are on the shady side of the house .True de-icer is what I use just to keep a hole open .I guess a pond heater would be similar to a spa heater but not as hot .

 

[teeemkay]

I wouldn't put a heater in the pond as it might actually be more stressful to the fish. And what if a sudden power outage happens and the pond can't be heated for a period of time? Their bodies wouldn't know how to handle it.

I think you are doing the right thing so far keeping the waterfalls running to create a hole in the ice. We do the same thing and our fish have been fine. On exceptionally cold days we plug in the de-icer near the skimmer box if the pond is in danger of completely icing over (as advised by the people we bought our house/pond from).

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I wouldn't put a heater in the pond as it might actually be more stressful to the fish. And what if a sudden power outage happens and the pond can't be heated for a period of time? Their bodies wouldn't know how to handle it.

I think you are doing the right thing so far keeping the waterfalls running to create a hole in the ice. We do the same thing and our fish have been fine. On exceptionally cold days we plug in the de-icer near the skimmer box if the pond is in danger of completely icing over (as advised by the people we bought our house/pond from).

People that can afford the size heater necessary to properly heat a pond have no problem affording a permanent back-up electrical generation system.

 

[teeemkay]

People that can afford the size heater necessary to properly heat a pond have no problem affording a permanent back-up electrical generation system.

True there. I'm sure most of us are not in that boat. It gets pretty painful just running those de-icers more than a handful of days if we get a really cold snap in the winter... My checkbook starts screaming when I write out the ComEd check those months.

 

[morewater]

Hence breathers that use only 40watts.