Will a heater and a pond deicer heat a pond at 30c while its -20c outside?

Jack English · May 14, 2019

Ok, I live in Ontario were the winters get kind of cold sometimes . I'm wondering if I could keep tropical fish like Oscars in a 300g pond, over the Canadian winter, if I had a 1000 watt heater and a 1000 watt deicer instead of keeping them in 55g bins over the winter. Thx!

duanes · May 15, 2019

I have had 1200 gallon ponds freeze straight to the bottom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (about as far north as Toronto).
So always had to bring even cold water fish like koi and goldfish into the basement for overwintering, I doubt Oscars would make it thru November, even with a heater.

Mbargas · May 20, 2019

Jack English said:
Ok, I live in Ontario were the winters get kind of cold sometimes . I'm wondering if I could keep tropical fish like Oscars in a 300g pond, over the Canadian winter, if I had a 1000 watt heater and a 1000 watt deicer instead of keeping them in 55g bins over the winter. Thx!

Sounds like an interesting project. I’ve heard of someone doing something like that before: allowing an ice cover to remain while the water below is heated. Keep in mind that the heated water will rise to the top and will make at least some of the ice melt.

I don’t know if 1000w is enough in face of your very cold winters.

You could also place bubble wrap on the surface of the water before it freezes over and it will provide insulation from the cold.