Titanium water heaters

[MajorDan]

Has anyone used these in their pond to maintain an above freezing temp in the pond?

I am in zone 7b where much of the winter the temps can hit the teens with many days above freezing. I was thinking of putting two heaters in my skimmer to add BTUs to the feed to the bottom of my bog, the water fall and the upper pond. All three drain into the pond.

The plan would be to control them with a digital controller with a temperature prop. Setting the controller to 60F and letting them heat the supply water throughout the winter.

I realize that if we get a wicked winter these heaters will not make much of a difference. comments appreciated.

 

[Tula]

I don't heat our pond over the winter, but I do cover it with a pool solar cover and provide O2.

 

[Ronfire]

Let it freeze over. Keep a hole in the ice and drain the water from the pipes,skimmer and pump.
I use a pond breather to keep a hole in the ice durring the winter, removed the pump and place it in the shop.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yes, over the years I experimented with heating different ponds depending where I was living. The problem with using aquarium heaters (even titanium) is they are not designed to continuously run which they will do on very cold days even if set at 60 degrees. They are designed to cycle on and off. I was successful keeping a very small pond warm when living in SoCal and the in the deep south but when living in way up north, it was hopeless. You might be able to do it in Huntsville. Guess you could try. But the question is what do you have in there that needs heating?

 

[MajorDan]

I know it seems crazy but I just wanted to do it so the fish would be more active over the winter and I want to keep everything running too. Just have five 7” shubies and a bunch of babies.

 

[Tula]

I've noticed my koi are more active over the winter since I cover the pond. I'm also surprised that some of my plants don't die off, like the grasses and some of the water celery.

With your bog, upper pond and water fall all moving water into your lower pond I don't think a heater will be sufficient to raise the temperature of the pond to increase fish activity. Sigh......how many more days till Spring?! LOL

 

[Ronfire]

My concerns with a heater is the fish will move to the warm area, when they leave that area they get a cold shock.

 

[Stephen Noble]

I forget the dimensions of your pond but if not too big you could cover it (as Tula mentioned) with Plexiglas. I have done that and it significantly retains heat and you can still observe the fish etc. But, the largest pond I did this on was only about 3 feet wide. I used large sections of Plexiglas that were discarded from a construction project. Some were pristine and a few badly scraped. But they were free!

 

[MajorDan]

I forget the dimensions of your pond but if not too big you could cover it (as Tula mentioned) with Plexiglas. I have done that and it significantly retains heat and you can still observe the fish etc. But, the largest pond I did this on was only about 3 feet wide. I used large sections of Plexiglas that were discarded from a construction project. Some were pristine and a few badly scraped. But they were free!

Great idea. Did it touch the water or was it suspended above the water?

 

[Stephen Noble]

There was about 1inch of clearance. As a result, it 'rained' water condensation droplets into the pond. Looked cool and it worked. I only did it for one season because while it was cool, it was also a lot of work and heating was expensive.

 

[Lisak1]

My concern would be my electric bill... haha.

 

[Phaewryn]

My concern would be my electric bill... haha.

I've been running an Aqueon Pro 300 watt aquarium heater in my 60 gallon 18" deep kidney preformed pond for a month (and it's been down in the 40's most of that time) and only saw a $10 increase in my electric bill. I actually don't think it's going to have much of an impact on my electric bill. The heater itself cost more than the cost of operating it. It's been working great for me so far. My guppies are live and thriving outside.