I must be going through something all new ponders do. When we first put
the pond in, my attitude about the two goldfish was, "What the heck. If
they die, $4 will get us two more." Now, as we're looking at our first
night with temps in the teens (!), I'm thinking, "My poor darlings! I
must protect them!" :-)

I've seen several references to using aquarium airstones and heaters.

When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

With an aquarium heater, is the goal just to keep the water temp above
freezing? I've got a 90-gal. pond. Should I look for a heater for a
90-gal. aquarium?

I have a birdbath heater that I was planning to use. It consists
basically of a heating element between two thin, flexible sheets of
aluminum. It did a great job last year on the shallow birdbath, but I'm
not sure it would be effective in a large volume container.

Please forgive these really stupid questions -- but the lives of my
darlings are at stake! Thanks!

Frances (Zone 5, Wooster, OH)

"Frances Whited" wrote in message
...
I must be going through something all new ponders do. When we first put
the pond in, my attitude about the two goldfish was, "What the heck. If
they die, $4 will get us two more." Now, as we're looking at our first
night with temps in the teens (!), I'm thinking, "My poor darlings! I
must protect them!" :-)

I've seen several references to using aquarium airstones and heaters.

When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

With an aquarium heater, is the goal just to keep the water temp above
freezing? I've got a 90-gal. pond. Should I look for a heater for a
90-gal. aquarium?

I have a birdbath heater that I was planning to use. It consists
basically of a heating element between two thin, flexible sheets of
aluminum. It did a great job last year on the shallow birdbath, but I'm
not sure it would be effective in a large volume container.

Please forgive these really stupid questions -- but the lives of my
darlings are at stake! Thanks!

Frances (Zone 5, Wooster, OH)

This depends on the depth of your pond. Mine is 2 feet 6inches deep,in
winter I can get 9inches of ice on the top . The main thing is to make sure
you have an area of the surface clear of ice. Do not break the ice with a
hammer as the shock will kill you fish. Use a saucepan full of very hot
water, or a floating heater to make and maintain the hole.The fish will
disappear to the bottom of the pond and re-appear in the spring when the
temperature reaches about 50f
Mike
UK


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The air pump can be one gotten at any aquarium store. Most of these are not
rated for use outdoors, but you can put it on a brick to get it up off of
the ground, and then you can put a bucket over the top of it to keep the
precipitation off.

As for the small aquarium heaters, a 90 gallon heater is designed to keep
the 90 gallon aquarium slightly warmer than the room temperature. In the
outdoor pond, I am not sure that it would have enough energy to keep the ice
melted around it. The birdbath heater would be much better at maintaining
the hole in the ice, and is much more durable.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Frances Whited" wrote in message
...
I must be going through something all new ponders do. When we first put
the pond in, my attitude about the two goldfish was, "What the heck. If
they die, $4 will get us two more." Now, as we're looking at our first
night with temps in the teens (!), I'm thinking, "My poor darlings! I
must protect them!" :-)

I've seen several references to using aquarium airstones and heaters.

When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

With an aquarium heater, is the goal just to keep the water temp above
freezing? I've got a 90-gal. pond. Should I look for a heater for a
90-gal. aquarium?

I have a birdbath heater that I was planning to use. It consists
basically of a heating element between two thin, flexible sheets of
aluminum. It did a great job last year on the shallow birdbath, but I'm
not sure it would be effective in a large volume container.

Please forgive these really stupid questions -- but the lives of my
darlings are at stake! Thanks!

Frances (Zone 5, Wooster, OH)

Frances Whited wrote:

When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

Since my pond is fairly small, I place a 2x4 across the pond (above the
water), and place the pump along it. I use a piece of pvc pipe, which
is attached to the board, at a 90 angle, so that it goes down into the
pond. I attach the pump to the upright, and place an upside down 5 gal
plastic bucket upside down over it for cover.

THE key, is to make sure that the air line runs straight down, as any
dips or sags will collect water, which will freeze.

wwowow... you are pushing the limits with such a small pond. OK. my mom has a small
pond. I put that bird bath thing on a rock right below the surface and then put a
small pump with a hose to shoot water over the top of that bird bath heater SLOWLY.
Then had a Kmart air pump (8 bucks) and 2 airstones dropped in to add aeration. the
pond was 22" at the deepest and the fish were fine. Ingrid

Frances Whited wrote:
When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

With an aquarium heater, is the goal just to keep the water temp above
freezing? I've got a 90-gal. pond. Should I look for a heater for a
90-gal. aquarium?

I have a birdbath heater that I was planning to use. It consists
basically of a heating element between two thin, flexible sheets of
aluminum. It did a great job last year on the shallow birdbath, but I'm
not sure it would be effective in a large volume container.

Please forgive these really stupid questions -- but the lives of my
darlings are at stake! Thanks!

Frances (Zone 5, Wooster, OH)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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.

Frances Whited wrote in message ...
I must be going through something all new ponders do. When we first put
the pond in, my attitude about the two goldfish was, "What the heck. If
they die, $4 will get us two more." Now, as we're looking at our first
night with temps in the teens (!), I'm thinking, "My poor darlings! I
must protect them!" :-)

I've seen several references to using aquarium airstones and heaters.

When you use an airstone, you need an air pump too, right? Where do you
locate the air pump so it is protected from the elements?

With an aquarium heater, is the goal just to keep the water temp above
freezing? I've got a 90-gal. pond. Should I look for a heater for a
90-gal. aquarium?

I have a birdbath heater that I was planning to use. It consists
basically of a heating element between two thin, flexible sheets of
aluminum. It did a great job last year on the shallow birdbath, but I'm
not sure it would be effective in a large volume container.

Please forgive these really stupid questions -- but the lives of my
darlings are at stake! Thanks!

Frances (Zone 5, Wooster, OH)

I am in Zone 6 (Colorado) and use a Rubbermaid 300 gal. stock tank for
a pond liner. The pond is about 6 ft in diameter and around 2 ft
deep. My 30 (+ or -) goldfish have done fine over the past 10 years
with an airstone (or two). Also, I leave the filter running
(disconnected from the waterfall supply line) to create a disturbance
on the top of the water. These measures keep my pond from totally
freezing over for most of the winter. I do get about 8-12 inches of
ice on top during colder spells, but the movement of the water usually
keeps a couple of holes open in the ice. Once in a while, I have to
put a pan of hot water on the ice to melt out a hole if we get a week
or so of colder weather with high temps still below freezing.
I keep the pumps out of the weather in a plastic container with a lid
on it, disguised under a pile of rocks. One of my airstones plugged
up, so I just use the tubing without a stone attached. I did tie a
small rock to the end of the tubing to keep it straight so it won't
freeze up, per John's advice. I've never tried using any of the
heaters on the market, but I have heard that people have good success
with stock pond heaters - they recommend getting the kind that is
caged so that the heating element won't come in contact with the
liner. That might be a better option for Zone 5 where you have colder
winters.
Gary