Anyone Try Heating An Outdoor Pond Through The Winter???

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It's been done before. Check out post 116 of this thread: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...at#post1399512

This guy had an 8,000G outdoor above ground tank. The wattage he claims to have run to heat his tank seems low to me (3,000 watts on 8,000G is only .375 watts per gallon). That's like having a 37.5 Watt heater on a 100Gallon tank...you don't see people running that low of wattage on indoor aquariums, so I'm not sure how he was able to manage to keep his tank warm outdoors in Seattle Washington.

The electric meter really spun out of control when he did water changes...20KW to heat the new water from 42F!

I didn't see what temp he kept his tanks at, but considering he was keeping tropical monsters (RTC, Pimas, Aros etc) I'd imagine it had to be at least 72F. As he mentions, insulation is key.
 
Zfishies said:
I don't under stand this? In a room its more of a constant temp vs outside the temp always changing and having to battle a steady temp


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I am talking about inside. You can heat the tank/pond to 80 degrees or heat the room itself to 80 degrees. It will always take less energy to heat the tank.

I suppose the same could be said about an outdoor tank/pond - it will take a lot less energy to heat the pond than the whole outdoors...

As far as heating outdoor ponds, it is only really feasible in areas that are almost warm enough to begin with. If it gets into the 40's or lower the cost would get ridiculous.
 
Zfishies said:
I don't under stand this? In a room its more of a constant temp vs outside the temp always changing and having to battle a steady temp


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Click to expand...

I don't quite understand it myself, but I know that even at 80 degrees indoors my tank with drop into the low 60's if the heater gets unplugged. Every indoor pool house I've been too has been heated nicely but the water is always cooler due to evaporation and most places say the heat the pool and not the building, the water temp keeps it warm enough.
 
If you have to heat an outdoor pond i would agree that insulation is going to be a huge factor, so i would definately recommend a green house over the pond then try to heat it if you choose to do this.
People are always astonished by how warm my grandmothers warehouse is in her back yard that dad and i built for her when i was in high school, so that she didnt have to clutter up her house with all her plants in the winter time.
My dad and i actually sat comfortably in the green house drinkin coffee one winter day in t-shirts and jeans when temps were in the high 20's, so a green house with insulated walls and a clear ceiling would do wonders for a pond, then find a way to heat the water on top of that, would probably be doable. I dont remember the type of clear plexi like material we used on the ceiling, but it had some coating on it that made it more efficient for a green house.
 
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