Year round tropical pond?

[Gourami Swami]

Hello everyone... I live in Jersey, and in the winter, it gets COLD here. Theres 6" of snow on the ground as I speak. Now, It has been my dream for a while to have a monster pond, and this spring I plan on building one. The plan was for koi and goldfish. But then I started thinking "they're boring". I was thinking about how AWESOME it would be to have a pond with something like midas/p-bass/oscars or even like a ray or arowana. I was wondering if there is some way to keep a pond tropical temps all year round? It would not be huge, probably something like 8' long oval, 3-4 feet deep. Is there some way, like insulation, or industrial heaters, etc. that could make it work? Maybe like a hot tub heater? Does anyone else have one in a "cold" area? If not I may be a pioneer

I would really like for this to work, and i think with something like a hot tub heater, it sounds possible.

 

[Mystix212]

You could build that pond then do a very good insulation job on it and keep it protected from the elements along with a sump with 500W titanium heaters or more in that. Indoors or out?

 

[guppy]

It is possible but you pretty much need to put it in a greenhouse or sundome, You will also need lots of insulation on the sides and bottom.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Definately outdoors. With the space I have in my yard I was planning for it to be about 550-700 gallons. What do you mean by sundome, like a little greenhouse? O you think I could just like make a glass or acrylic top for it? I would think that a hot tub heater would be able to keep the water at tropical temps, no? Insulation would be doable, but what exactly would I use? House insulation perhaps?
Keep the ideas coming, Hopefully I can have this all planned out and begin it in may

 

[Jkoziatek]

deff do it in a green house... tons of insulation on the under the liner... and a large space heater haha

 

[Gourami Swami]

I think something like a removable "greenhouse top" would be good for the winter... wouldnt want it to overheat in the summer though, the air gets up to 90 in august. Maybe a chiller would be required.

 

[X24]

a nice green house, and sufficient heaters will work out in the winter. in the summer idk if you'd really have to worry about it since most fish will be able to take high 80's.

our FFA chapter is thinking about gettng a nice greenhouse and raising flowers and doing some stuff with hydroponics (which would be awesome)

 

[guppy]

Definately outdoors. With the space I have in my yard I was planning for it to be about 550-700 gallons. What do you mean by sundome, like a little greenhouse? O you think I could just like make a glass or acrylic top for it? I would think that a hot tub heater would be able to keep the water at tropical temps, no? Insulation would be doable, but what exactly would I use? House insulation perhaps?
Keep the ideas coming, Hopefully I can have this all planned out and begin it in may

Several kits are available, google geodesic greenhouse

 

[Gourami Swami]

Hehe.... those seem a tad big.... I was thinking more like something you cant walk through

 

[hankn]

Try this link for winter pond covers:
http://www.shelter-systems.com/fish-pond-covers.html
They have some as low as $290 (8'x7'4").
For heating start at this site:
http://www.heatingyourpond.com/