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Warming filter over winter
I had an idea and wondered if anyone had tried this.
My pond is 1800 gal. Pump pushed uphill through a UV filter then onto a garbage can filter with lava rock. Gravity feeds back to 3' x 4' x 8" pond that starts the waterfall and back to the pond. The idea is ---- Can I either wrap the pipes with eavestrough heater cable or put the cable into the filter to enable the system to be left on all winter? I thought of also laying some down the stream. Thoughts??? |
Warming filter over winter
IMO you will need a whole lot more heat than that. I heat my small pond
(about 2000 gallons) in the Richmond Virginia area with a 15 amp immersion heater unit, and cover the pond with a lean-to greenhouse made with several layers of polyethylene sheeting to keep the cold air and wind away form the pond. The 4000 gallon pond uses 2 of these heaters. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html "Heather" wrote in message .. . I had an idea and wondered if anyone had tried this. My pond is 1800 gal. Pump pushed uphill through a UV filter then onto a garbage can filter with lava rock. Gravity feeds back to 3' x 4' x 8" pond that starts the waterfall and back to the pond. The idea is ---- Can I either wrap the pipes with eavestrough heater cable or put the cable into the filter to enable the system to be left on all winter? I thought of also laying some down the stream. Thoughts??? |
Warming filter over winter
Xref: kermit rec.ponds:130401
"RichToyBox" wrote in message news:z0b4b.234787$Oz4.63899@rwcrnsc54... IMO you will need a whole lot more heat than that. I heat my small pond (about 2000 gallons) in the Richmond Virginia area with a 15 amp immersion heater unit, and cover the pond with a lean-to greenhouse made with several layers of polyethylene sheeting to keep the cold air and wind away form the pond. The 4000 gallon pond uses 2 of these heaters. -- I'm glad I don't have your electricity bill! As a matter of interest, what temperature do you keep it at & why exactly do you do this? Most people just seem to allow their ponds to Winter naturally & just keep the ice under control. rgds I. |
Warming filter over winter
Xref: kermit rec.ponds:130401
"RichToyBox" wrote in message news:z0b4b.234787$Oz4.63899@rwcrnsc54... IMO you will need a whole lot more heat than that. I heat my small pond (about 2000 gallons) in the Richmond Virginia area with a 15 amp immersion heater unit, and cover the pond with a lean-to greenhouse made with several layers of polyethylene sheeting to keep the cold air and wind away form the pond. The 4000 gallon pond uses 2 of these heaters. -- I'm glad I don't have your electricity bill! As a matter of interest, what temperature do you keep it at & why exactly do you do this? Most people just seem to allow their ponds to Winter naturally & just keep the ice under control. rgds I. |
Warming filter over winter
Xref: kermit rec.ponds:130401
"RichToyBox" wrote in message news:z0b4b.234787$Oz4.63899@rwcrnsc54... IMO you will need a whole lot more heat than that. I heat my small pond (about 2000 gallons) in the Richmond Virginia area with a 15 amp immersion heater unit, and cover the pond with a lean-to greenhouse made with several layers of polyethylene sheeting to keep the cold air and wind away form the pond. The 4000 gallon pond uses 2 of these heaters. -- I'm glad I don't have your electricity bill! As a matter of interest, what temperature do you keep it at & why exactly do you do this? Most people just seem to allow their ponds to Winter naturally & just keep the ice under control. rgds I. |
Warming filter over winter
About the third year that I had the ponds, due to all kinds of water
quality, crowding, and other issues, we lost fish to dropsy, ulcers, and started the real serious learning curve. Ignorance was bliss, until it bit us in the ***. That year, I think that every fish had three or four series of injectible antibiotics, and we just couldn't keep them healthy. The larger pond was built, we got Doc Johnson's book, filtration was increase, population was decreased and things started looking up. We joined the koi club, and several of the stronger members heated their ponds to keep the immune system of the koi functioning. DW says we should try that. The next year KoiZyme hit the market, and we haven't had to treat many fish since. Occasional scrapes during spawning have been the most trouble we have had. We try to maintain 70 degrees, but if we get a layer of ice or snow over the cover that reduces the solar gain, the temperature may drop and has a hard time recovering. I have been able to keep it above 60 for the last 5 winters. The heaters don't get serious until mid or late January, due to solar gain, and warmer temperatures through most of December, and by mid March or the first of April, the solar gain and warmer temperatures allow the heaters to only run part time. If my pond were oriented toward the south, rather than east and west, I would be able to get even more help from the solar. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html "Iain Miller" wrote in message ... "RichToyBox" wrote in message news:z0b4b.234787$Oz4.63899@rwcrnsc54... IMO you will need a whole lot more heat than that. I heat my small pond (about 2000 gallons) in the Richmond Virginia area with a 15 amp immersion heater unit, and cover the pond with a lean-to greenhouse made with several layers of polyethylene sheeting to keep the cold air and wind away form the pond. The 4000 gallon pond uses 2 of these heaters. -- I'm glad I don't have your electricity bill! As a matter of interest, what temperature do you keep it at & why exactly do you do this? Most people just seem to allow their ponds to Winter naturally & just keep the ice under control. rgds I. |
Warming filter over winter
"RichToyBox" wrote in message .net... About the third year that I had the ponds, due to all kinds of water quality, crowding, and other issues, we lost fish to dropsy, ulcers, and started the real serious learning curve. Ignorance was bliss, until it bit us in the ***. That year, I think that every fish had three or four series of injectible antibiotics, and we just couldn't keep them healthy. The larger pond was built, we got Doc Johnson's book, filtration was increase, population was decreased and things started looking up. We joined the koi club, and several of the stronger members heated their ponds to keep the immune system of the koi functioning. DW says we should try that. The next year KoiZyme hit the market, and we haven't had to treat many fish since. Occasional scrapes during spawning have been the most trouble we have had. We try to maintain 70 degrees, but if we get a layer of ice or snow over the cover that reduces the solar gain, the temperature may drop and has a hard time recovering. I have been able to keep it above 60 for the last 5 winters. The heaters don't get serious until mid or late January, due to solar gain, and warmer temperatures through most of December, and by mid March or the first of April, the solar gain and warmer temperatures allow the heaters to only run part time. If my pond were oriented toward the south, rather than east and west, I would be able to get even more help from the solar. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html As a thought, have you investigated some kind of Solar Panel to help? My father has heated his swimming pool (in the UK!) with these for years & they have paid for themselves several times over. I. |
Warming filter over winter
there are two reasons to heat, the biggest by far is their immune system never shuts
down. the other reason is altho the fish metabolism is very very slow, they are using up stores of fat when they cant eat (water temp under 55, no food). for us in the frozen tundra that is a loooong time for them to go without food. it weakens them and their immune system the longer it goes on. I know about when the temp is going to drop below 55, and feed romet B antibiotic food for 2 weeks before. When there is going to be a frost I take in the tender plants, clean the veggie filter out, set up the bucket filter with filter material from the veggie filter, and then cover the pond. It doesnt help too much in fall (my other pond had a permanent greenhouse over it, and that did help keep water warm longer into fall). But it shortens the "down time" in spring. someday I am going to have a sun pit. a large mostly very well insulated underground greenhouse that is heated and my koi pond will be in there! Ingrid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. |
Warming filter over winter
One of the cover layers is the bubblewrap like swimming pool solar blanket.
It does an excellent job of insulating due to all the dead air spaces. For a swimming pool, they lay the blanket directly on the water, which provides solar heat and prevents evaporation, which is a cooling force. For a koi pond, you really cannot cover 100% of the surface due to the need for gas exchange, and if it doesn't cover all, then there is an area that is radiating heat from the pool. There is a solar heater that is marketed for ponds. It is a black plastic device with many tubes for the water to flow through. It uses a pump in the pool to supply the water through the tubes. The pump needs to be put on a timer, since it will act as a heat sink at night. On cold cloudy days it will give off more heat than it collects. I really don't have a good place to install one of these, though my local pond supplier has used one on her pond in the spring to give it an early start. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html "Iain Miller" wrote in message ... As a thought, have you investigated some kind of Solar Panel to help? My father has heated his swimming pool (in the UK!) with these for years & they have paid for themselves several times over. I. |
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