Pond De icer

[Oscars]

For those of you who run your pond in the winter. What method do you use to de iced the pond. If you use a deicer can you post or pm me the model? Thanks I'm a little worry about the wattage.

 

[bomber]

I am running a laguna brand 300watts I believe. Its a 70 dollar heater but it works.

 

[The_Nuge]

i run a stock tank heater from tractor supply for 40 bucks. then a standard aquarium pump and air stone.. ( only keeping koi and golds) this obviously wont work for tropical fish.

 

[Muske]

I run my year-round. I used a stock heater the first year I had my pond and it shorted out when I was on vacation. It completely froze over and I lost 3 imported Koi that year. Last year of Koi and crappy heaters...

I pull the flagstone piece (lip) I use on the falls off and tweak the boulders under the lip to create a pretty smooth flow from filter to pond. 4000gph rips all year long.

Pic of the falls minus the flagstone lip


Pic of some snow cover. The pond does freeze over and some crazy ice formation grow around the falls, but I just keep an eye on it when temps. get below 0 for several days and haven't lost a fish in 4 years.

 

[5_fish_in_a_pond]

My first question is how deep is your pond? If it is above the frost line for your area (for my location, its 6 feet) I would suggest bringing in the fish. I keep mine in a cow tank I got from the local farm supply store in my garage along with a filter. It keeps the water above freezing, without having to worry about a heater. If you don't want your fish to go into hibernation mode, putting a fish tank heater into the cow tank works great. That's what I do. I haven't lost a fish in two years using that method.