Use a Pond Heater or Pond De-Icer

Pond water heaters are an ideal pond accessory if you keep Koi or other fish, as it is important that the pond water is kept at a stable temperature to ensure continued health of fish throughout the year.

Pond water heaters usually come as a submersible pond heater or as a floating pond de-icer. As the name suggests floating pond deicers float on the surface of your pond and melt a hole in the pond ice cover. Submersible pond heaters heat a much larger area and are situated inside the pond water. Pond heaters lie on the bottom of the pond and must be completely submerged when in use. The parts of the heater, which come into contact with the lining of the pond, are rubberised to prevent them from touching the sides or bottom of the pond and damaging the pond liner. To determine the size of pond heater you need, consider that it takes approximately 1000 watts to heat 250 gallons of water to 10-degrees Fahrenheit. Use this calculation and the water capacity of your pond to calculate the size pond heater required.

Fish can usually survive in ponds during the winter months provided the water is deep enough. If you have a shallow pond you should use either a pond heater or a pond de-icer, as they are more likely to ice over in the winter months. If you notice bubbles forming under an iced over pond, it could be methane gas, which is formed from decomposing organic matter and is toxic to fish if it is not allowed to escape. If your garden pond does ice over and you don't have a pond heater or pond de-icer, an alternative method is to place a pot of hot water on the ice surface until it melts through, allowing the methane to escape.

Submersible pond de-icers work by keeping a small opening thawed on the pond surface to allow toxic gases to escape and to allow oxygen to enter simultaneously. Floating pond de-icers float on the surface thawing the ice across the top of the water. Pond de-icers contain automatic thermo-regulators that turn on whenever the water temperature drops below 40-degrees Fahrenheit. Floating pond deicers are the lower cost option, the easiest to install and are ideal for small garden ponds no larger than 35' x 35'.


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