Aquarium heater vs Pond heater/deicer (again sorry if questions are stupid)

[Rivermist]

Hey all !

Thanks a lot again for you help today.

Gonna be on my way to petsmart but I want to know some things about pond heaters.

What is called a pond heater or deicer keeps a hole in the ice.
But does it impeach eventually all the water to freeze by maintaining it a decent temperature ?

Or for that only a heater for aquarium is gonna do the trick ?

I don't want to be sold the wrong thing and be stressing again tomorrow for my Fish.

So for my ponds that are not very deep should I rather go for an aquarium heater than a pond heater ?

Thanks again.

 

[DrCase]

Go for the pond heater...the aquarium heater wont do much

 

[DrDave]

I agree, the aquarium heaters are not made for large ponds.

 

[Rivermist]

just back after having been at 3 stores they didn't have any pond heaters and the largest aquarium heaters were not large enough anyway !

Got wires and will move my air pump outside tomorrow... will protect it under a box...
Have to do a new oxygen system... it's gonna be some fun but I would have loved not having to spend hours again in the cold !


Grrrrrrr


Thanks again will let you all know how I saved my fish !

 

[koisRus]

just back after having been at 3 stores they didn't have any pond heaters and the largest aquarium heaters were not large enough anyway !

Got wires and will move my air pump outside tomorrow... will protect it under a box...
Have to do a new oxygen system... it's gonna be some fun but I would have loved not having to spend hours again in the cold !


Grrrrrrr


Thanks again will let you all know how I saved my fish !

The link that you posted in the other thread is what most places call a pond heater http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22277. If you place this on top of a frozen pond it will melt a hole in the ice. The largest aquarium heater I have seen is 1000 watts, and has a set point of 32-99 degrees F. http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22277 Most other aquarium heaters only go down to 68 degrees.

 

[Rivermist]

Thx.

The pond heater I have found in the garage (left by previous owner) doesn't seem to work... the boiling pan is gonna be my best friend again today and then I'll put the oxygen in the hole.

For the aquarium heaters... petco and petsmart didn't have anything large enough. Maybe online but I can't afford to wait for the shipping.

Hopefully my air pump is gonna be happy protected and under the deck...

 

[koisRus]

Thx.

The pond heater I have found in the garage (left by previous owner) doesn't seem to work... the boiling pan is gonna be my best friend again today and then I'll put the oxygen in the hole.

For the aquarium heaters... petco and petsmart didn't have anything large enough. Maybe online but I can't afford to wait for the shipping.

Hopefully my air pump is gonna be happy protected and under the deck...

The de-iders usually have a built-in thermostat that goes on at maybe 35 degrees and off at say 45 degrees. If you had this on the ice and it did not get hot it may not be working, you can check by placing it in your freezer for an hour, then remove and plug in to see if it gets hot, be caefull because they do get hot.

Place the airpump outside under a container to keep it from getting wet, and use silicone airlines.

 

[DrDave]

You might add where to get the silicon airlines. I don't think the LFS has them.

 

[koisRus]

You might add where to get the silicon airlines. I don't think the LFS has them.

PetSmart, available in black, http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3742977, or blue, http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752199.

 

[DrDave]

Cool, that is my favorite store.

 

[CometKeith]

Rivermist check the wattage of your deicer. I bought a 300 watt de-icer last year that liked to stay on a lot. It was really cute because the fish were swimming next to it in the dead of winter. Our electric bill went up $200 the next month. My wife said its me or the fish so I had to figure something else out!

 

[Oldhead]

Well this is my fishy's second winter and second air pump. The 1st air pump was an expensive one and only lasted a year. So I bought a cheapy one at petsmart and some black silicone tubing. Ran the tubing into the house so I could keep the air pump inside where its warm. hopefully this helps it last longer.

 

[koisRus]

Airpump inside house with warm air going to outside cold air might not be a good thing, this is how you get moisture in the line that will freeze.

 

[koisRus]

Rivermist check the wattage of your deicer. I bought a 300 watt de-icer last year that liked to stay on a lot. It was really cute because the fish were swimming next to it in the dead of winter. Our electric bill went up $200 the next month. My wife said its me or the fish so I had to figure something else out!

I don't understand how this could be, if it ran 24 hours per day that would be 7200 watts or 7.2 kw, times 30 days in a month would be 216 kw.

 

[DrDave]

At $.12 per KWH that is about $25.92 a month.