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Derek Broughton · 06-05-2008, 06:58 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated

wrote:

On May 5, 7:59 pm, Derek Broughton wrote:
wrote:

I also wouldn't mind
heating part of the pond with an immersion heater,

That will cost you a fortune.

I've read that this is fairly commonly done, just to keep an "air
hole" open during the winter. I've seen Jaeger do some pond heaters
that are of similar power to those used in a biggish tropical tank.

Sure, but in a tropical tank, it turns off much of the time - you're only
trying to keep the temperature slightly above ambient. If you put a heater
into a an 8m x 8m x .5m pond, it will be on _all_ the time that there's any
ice at all. Even a 300w heater consumes 7.2kWh per day. I imagine
Luxembourg's electricity rates are a bit higher than mine...

Not really. It would be a good idea to insulate those concrete walls,
between the concrete and the liner, with at least 3" of foam insulation,
but then conductance from the soil beneath the pond should keep it from
freezing solid.

Too late..

I was afraid of that. It's really not a commendation for your landscaper...

3) lighting during the night?

No idea, but you'd want a switch anyway, wouldn't you? There's no point
leaving the lights on if nobody is there to see, unless you're thinking
of
it as a safety feature (being able to _see_ if your child's in the pond -
in which case motion detector external lights are probably more use).

It's actually going to be on one of those fancy light level detectors
and timed to switch off at midnight..

Then I don't see it being a problem.

LEDs so it shouldn't consume too
much electricity. The pond is actually quite a feature for the lounge
(!?) as one of the walls is completely built in glass.. thus the fancy
lighting at night.

ooooh! jealousy /
--
derek