Pond heater

[Slayer_will]

So my girlfriends dad is putting in a 5ft by 6 ft by 3ft deep pond in his backyard, and me and her can stick it with what ever we want. We live in south Florida but the main thing I'm worried about is does it need a heater in the winter, the temp might drop into the 40s once or twice every year or 2. All the pond heaters I've seen are de icers though and not heaters? Does anyone make a pond heater like a tank heater? Another thought is would rain water be bad for the fish since this area is only half way covered? Appreciate any and all replies

 

[taksan]

Yes ... you can get inline Pond heaters however for that sized pond I would probably get a 1500w titanium aquarium heater ...would do the job easily and not too much $

 

[duanes]

I had ponds in Milwaukee, that were rained on constantly, and with the proper species of varied temp tolerant fish, not a problem.
I agree a heater would be costly, but even more costly would be the monthly energy cost for a heater with enough power to maintain a constant temp in that size pond.
I only turned on heaters in my tanks (@ 1000 gallons in tanks)in the house in Milwaukee in winter, and the monthly energy bill from the fish house went from $200 per month in summer to $400 per month in winter.