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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
Hi All, I've been lurking on the ng for a while now... I'd like to ask a
question. My wife and I have kept Koi for a few years now - originally they were hers (married a year ago and she had them before we met) and she used to have a number in a very small back yard pond (they were very small back then), which was however fully filtered etc. We have since moved, and moved them by using a Vat - 1000 gallon, which they have been ok in, fully filtered of course. In fact more than fine, water quality great, and fish have grown - a lot! We are now in a position to build a proper pond, 3000 gallonish. (so 2*5*1.5 meters ish), so we will be getting a new filter system and heaters. All they previous ponds have been heated - including the vat - which had bubble wrap around it to prevent excessive heat loss during winter (and thus excessive electric bills). She still wants to heat the new pond to some degree. question, on a sunken pond is there any standard way of trying to minimise heat loss through design / construction of the pond? Your views appreciated. Kev (and Julia) |
#2
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
"Kev" wrote in message
... She still wants to heat the new pond to some degree. question, on a sunken pond is there any standard way of trying to minimise heat loss through design / construction of the pond? Your views appreciated. Kev (and Julia) You don't say where you are located or what depth the ground will freeze in your area, so I will give my general feelings. I have two ponds, one 4000 gallons and one 3500 gallons that are both heated to around 70F (20C). The most important thing that you can do to heat a pond is to put some type of a cover on it to minimize evaporation. Evaporation really cools the pond. I cover mine with a lean-to structure that can be seen at http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondpage3.html. This structure gets covered with a solar swimming pool blanket that looks like bubblewrap and two layers of polyethylene sheeting. It accumulates some solar heating and helps retain the heat in the pond. The earth at a couple feet below the frost line is pretty constant temperature around 50 degrees F (10C). This relatively warm earth will act as a heat source if the pond temperature falls to below this temperature, so I don't like to see it insulated. The walls of the pond, near the surface might benefit from some insulation, since the frozen soil would rob more heat from the pond. |
#3
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
Rich.. "This increased the size to about 220 gallons."?????? you mean
increased to 2200 gallons? I am in zone 5-6, 10 below in winter, sometimes -20. I too cover the pond with plastic to minimize evaporation which carries the heat away. In addition, I constructed my pond with a stud wall that is insulated, altho if I do it again I will use blow in expanding foam which is water proof and seals really well.. wood is a very good insulator, BTW. the bottom of the pond is only insulated with the carpet foam stuff. actually it is pretty good insulation. My pond stays 50-55 for all but 1 coldest month with a single 500 watt heater. And my pond is 1.5 feet above ground. This year the pond is going to have double plastic since I am enclosing the area around the pond (for sitting) and enclosing the pond itself with a little lean to. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/winters/winter.htm Ingrid On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 06:43:06 CST, "RichToyBox" wrote: You don't say where you are located or what depth the ground will freeze in your area, so I will give my general feelings. I have two ponds, one 4000 gallons and one 3500 gallons that are both heated to around 70F (20C). The most important thing that you can do to heat a pond is to put some type of a cover on it to minimize evaporation. Evaporation really cools the pond. I cover mine with a lean-to structure that can be seen at http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondpage3.html. This structure gets covered with a solar swimming pool blanket that looks like bubblewrap and two layers of polyethylene sheeting. It accumulates some solar heating and helps retain the heat in the pond. The earth at a couple feet below the frost line is pretty constant temperature around 50 degrees F (10C). This relatively warm earth will act as a heat source if the pond temperature falls to below this temperature, so I don't like to see it insulated. The walls of the pond, near the surface might benefit from some insulation, since the frozen soil would rob more heat from the pond. |
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
Thanks both!
We live in Scarborough UK, so ground rarely freezes, although a Easterley wind can be really bitter Kev |
#5
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
We live in Jackson, MS, but used to live in Cambridge, UK. I am
wondering how much insulating would actually help your ponding experience. Our pond here seldom has more than a few days with ice on the top. Our external temp is generally in the upper-30's to upper 40's in the winter. We have not insulated or covered our cement pond at all. That means the temp does go down to air temp quite fast. The koi do fine, but are pretty inactive when the temp gets really down. We don't feed them once the water reaches 50 degrees. I am not sure how insulation would benefit them or us if it did not keep the water high enough to feed them. Even then, I suspect it would reduce the amount of time under 50 rather than eliminate it. Jan may have some wisdom about how we would benefit if we insulated. I think you will love your larger pond. People here might have a lot of suggestions about how to reduce the amount of maintaining work to be done. By all means post some pics as your work moves ahead. Jim |
#6
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
there are two problems with "under 50" temps, one is their immune
system shuts down, the other is up here in the frozen tundra without covering and heating the fish must go for 6 months without food and go thru a long transition to upregulate their immune system. I think it is hard on koi. My koi are much healthier since I started heating the water and feeding them most of the winter. Ingrid |
#7
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
Kev wrote:
Thanks both! We live in Scarborough UK, so ground rarely freezes, although a Easterley wind can be really bitter Kev I'm further South than you being in Berkshire......the ground certainly does freeze here but we are not by the coast.....having been in the planning stages for quite a few years I've worked out the frost line.....from my understanding you need to be quite a few inches under this - mine is about 6" of frozen ice in a bad winter.......Of course being by the coast your less likely to suffer the severe frosts that we do.....but I've also seen pics of Yorkshire in winter......dig deep would be my advice and afterall if you are housing Koi then you need to do this anyway......IIRC Jan put first suggested the concept of heaters to me.....take a look at these:- http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/cat...r-nets-etc.asp Gill |
#8
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Pond Construction - Thermal Insulation
Thanks for the replies
Last winter we had them in the Vat, with 3 layers of carpet under them, and treble layers of bubble wrap around them. The result was they they were nice and cosy at 17C. However I should have had shares in Npower... ! Kev |
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