I do not think my pond is deep enough!

[capewind]

That is great news!

 

[leet13]

My dad is telling me it will not freeze up and to save my money/time (of course- he is cheap)... my mom's friend (she is 20 mins south from here) has a 2ft deep pond that is about 20 ft long is telling me they leave their fish in all winter with a heater... Tired of people putting doubt in my head. I just need to help my husband build an indoor set up and go with it!!!!!!! lol

 

[capewind]

All you can do is go with your gut. Most likely, you will be fine, BUT if your area gets slammed with a major storm, it COULD be an iffy situation. IF the worst happens, your pond is big enough that the whole thing wont freeze solid. Just be sure to keep a hole open to let air in/gas out.

 

[koiguy1969]

go with the indoor setup...you can enjoy your fish and do it without worry.. i dont care if mine need to be indoors or not. i just wouldnt have it any other way. did you watch my video i posted on page #1? i have several more on this site... do it, & love it!
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/8021-baggy-cam-videos-2011-wintering-pond/
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/8243-basement-wintering-pond-12-6-11/
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/2992-underwater-footage-basement-pond/

 

[leet13]

Yes! I think I wrote a comment on your youtube page koiguy1969! I cleaned out the basement and made a nice big open space... yay

 

[taherrmann4]

One says keep them outside, one says bring the in.....

I say you will be fine inside or outside. If you want to be able to enjoy them during the winter then bring them in and you can afford the expense of building an indoor pond. Otherwise leave them outside..... Either way you are fine.

 

[sissy]

I got a pond heater after the 2010 winter and live in VA but lived almost all my life in NJ and the winds can be brutal along with the zero or below zero weather .Not as cold as some states but I had a fountain pond and fish had to come in as it was only around 2 feet deep and had to empty it or it would freeze and crack .Now last winter was mild for most every one and wondering if this winter will be a cold one .I wish back then I had a heater , I may have tried leaving them out side .and really glad I did not live any farther north than NJ .

 

[brandonsdad02]

I had that same issue last winter. I was going to try to leave them out there all winter but mid December the whole pond had 3" of ice on it and the area around the pump was starting to freeze solid. I got a stock tank the next day and got busy with the move inside. I filled the tank with pond water and huge chunks of ice from the pond. Brought the fish inside that I could get that night and let them warm up together. I didn't lose any fish from the move.

This past spring I redid my pond.. made it bigger and deeper. Its mostly 2 1/2' deep with a large pocket that is over 3' deep. Its 15' long, 12' wide. I'll be running a air stone all winter to keep a hole open.

 

[sissy]

did my other one about 3 ft and then up to 2 ft and after a dog destroyed my liner last summer I went down to a little over 4 feet but that is more for the hot summers here since my pond is in full sun

 

[leet13]

Sissy- how did a dog destroy your liner? wow!

 

[sissy]

New neighbors moved in and there dog got out a big dog too .My sides are straight up and he could not get a foot hold and guessing his claws dug slices into the liner .I had 5 long slices in the liner and could not fix them .I tied the dog to my swing out front after i got him out and the people saw him and came up and got him but did not even offer to help or pay for damages and it was summer a 100 degrees and had to move all 13 of my fish out to holding tank and lift bridge and take water falls and filters apart .Took me over a week working most of the night and day .They got foreclosed on a couple of months ago and moved .What realtor told me is they never even paid there first mortgage payment .What I feel sorry for is the couple selling the house held the mortgage for them .Hard to sell around here

 

[callingcolleen1]

I have wintered much smaller ponds before, used to have a collection of five ponds that were quite shallow, less than two feet deep, that all flowed together. I put the heater in the middle pond and kept the water circulating, used a big 1500 watt cheap cattle stock heater from Peavy Mart, their quite cheap to buy, but expensive to run, but it kept a hole in the ice open all winter long here in Canada, zone 2. I always keep the heater where there is a good flow of water, to evenly heat the water, that way the fish won't hang out at the heater. I still use the 1500 watt heater, but a few years ago I redug the little ponds out and made three big ones instead. I now heat the water only when it's minis 15 degrees c which is about 4 degrees f. Your pond is smaller so you will have to heat the pond more, keep heater plugged in when temp is colder than 20 f, bit of ice nothing to worry about. I also check the pond all winter on a daily basis, to ensure the pumps running and heater working. I keep spare heater on hand, just in case, and spare connecting hoses just in case. been doing it this way for twenty years, lots of fish, big and small, fancy little fantail goldfish and big koi too. Everybody always seems to do well all winter for me, never had any problem. All three of my ponds flow together into the bottom pond, which gets so much ice I could walk over it! Everybody survives there too, and it is two and a half feet deep, that pond. Under the ice the water is still flowing, with the top two ponds.

 

[leet13]

Sissy-- that is terrible!!!!

callingcolleen1- We got an indoor set up started- Bought a bunch of 2x6x10 and 3/4 inch thick plywood... Got underlayment and 15x20 liner... I am going to have a lot extra since the frame is 6x4x3 but I am adding a small water garden (more like lotus pond) to my existing pond next spring so i can use the extra liner there to "bridge" the water garden and existing pond together (maybe a small sort of stream).

 

[callingcolleen1]

I used to have "ponds in the heated porch" over winter, but after a while the room started to get to damp and mold started to grow so I got rid of the ponds there and just have them outside now, find that it is easy that way cause the koi are way too big now to bring in house, I don't even know how I'd net them out their that big, the two big fish in the top pond must weigh at least 5 pounds, haven't moved them in 15 years at least, ponds has just been running forever.

 

[addy1]

My fish get to stay outside winter round. No way I could catch them. Tried to catch a tiny fry from the preform..............yeah right! mission impossible.