Richard, where did you get/what kind of heaters do you have? Most of the
time I have to try to find some way to cool the water, as it likes to get in
the mid 80's for months at a time in the summer. But it would be nice to
keep the temp steadier in the winter. My pond is "caged", so I would have to
find some way to tarp in the open areas, but I could turn the whole
courtyard into a greenhouse . . .

Lee

"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:4yfY9.22761$6G4.5833@sccrnsc02...
Lee,

I have my pond heaters in the skimmer box. One it keeps the fish away
from
the heater elements, and the side of the skimmer box is vertical and makes
a
good support for my heaters. It also heats the water that is going to the
filter, so the bacteria actually have higher temperatures to do their
work.
I heat my pond and try to maintain 70 degrees in my Richmond Virginia
ponds.
We have just had that same cold that you had with a high yesterday of
about
20 degrees. The ponds dropped to 67.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
GADZOOKS! I never thought of that! Everyone talks about using deicers to
keep a hole open for gas exchange; I never thought of using one in the
skimmer box - "pre" all the filters - to warm the water a bit! Would
that
really work??? (too late for the string algae: it's making plant
blankets
right now. I have "faith": I'll have more before long . . .)

Lee

wrote in message
...
Jo Ann puts a heater into the filter where the water is coming in.
the
filters are
draped with plastic to keep in the heat. the additional warmth seems
to
help keep
the biobugs going. but frankly, that string algae is your main
cleaner.
if you
remove it from the waterfall put it somewhere else. Ingrid


"Lee Brouillet" wrote:

My water temps have been reasonably mild (compared to a lot of yours,
at
least!), in the high 50's or so. We've been through a cold snap, and
the
water temp has dropped to about 46*. Whereas my filter "was" keeping
up
with
my fish load, it appears to have gone into hibernation. I had a
little
niggling fear, checked my ammonia (last reading/last week: Zero) and
ran
out
screaming: the reading was into the second level (.5 or .05, don't
remember,
but the Aquarium Pharmacutical test). I dumped about 2 cups of Amquel
in
the
pond, and I'll retest it when I get home.

The Amquel will bind the ammonia, but how long can I support the pond
with
Amquel until the biobugs wake up again? The fish haven't been fed for
about
2-2.5 weeks, so that's not a contributing factor at this time, but I
DID
just pull a bunch of string algae (so I could hear the waterfall
again).

Suggestions?

Lee,

I use Aquatic Eco PN QP20 heaters on page 346 of this years catalog. We
have had the coldest winter since 1977 this winter. The ice breakers are
working the Chesapeake Bay, and local ponders have over 6 inches of ice on
their ponds. Mine are in the mid 60's. I have 2 of the heaters on the 4000
gallon pond and one in the 2000 gallon pond. I would not recommend heating
if the pond is not covered with a wind break, since the heat loss would be
extreme. The digital thermostat can be set to any temperature, so you could
set it for say 62 or 63 to keep the pond from dropping into the 50's
(aeromonas alley) and for your location probably not have to have the heater
running but a very few days, due to the solar gain of the cover and the
minimal evaporative cooling due to the high humidity inside the cover.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
Richard, where did you get/what kind of heaters do you have? Most of the
time I have to try to find some way to cool the water, as it likes to get
in
the mid 80's for months at a time in the summer. But it would be nice to
keep the temp steadier in the winter. My pond is "caged", so I would have
to
find some way to tarp in the open areas, but I could turn the whole
courtyard into a greenhouse . . .

Lee

"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:4yfY9.22761$6G4.5833@sccrnsc02...
Lee,

I have my pond heaters in the skimmer box. One it keeps the fish away
from
the heater elements, and the side of the skimmer box is vertical and
makes
a
good support for my heaters. It also heats the water that is going to
the
filter, so the bacteria actually have higher temperatures to do their
work.
I heat my pond and try to maintain 70 degrees in my Richmond Virginia
ponds.
We have just had that same cold that you had with a high yesterday of
about
20 degrees. The ponds dropped to 67.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
GADZOOKS! I never thought of that! Everyone talks about using deicers
to
keep a hole open for gas exchange; I never thought of using one in the
skimmer box - "pre" all the filters - to warm the water a bit! Would
that
really work??? (too late for the string algae: it's making plant
blankets
right now. I have "faith": I'll have more before long . . .)

Lee

wrote in message
...
Jo Ann puts a heater into the filter where the water is coming in.
the
filters are
draped with plastic to keep in the heat. the additional warmth
seems
to
help keep
the biobugs going. but frankly, that string algae is your main
cleaner.
if you
remove it from the waterfall put it somewhere else. Ingrid


"Lee Brouillet" wrote:

My water temps have been reasonably mild (compared to a lot of
yours,
at
least!), in the high 50's or so. We've been through a cold snap,
and
the
water temp has dropped to about 46*. Whereas my filter "was"
keeping
up
with
my fish load, it appears to have gone into hibernation. I had a
little
niggling fear, checked my ammonia (last reading/last week: Zero)
and
ran
out
screaming: the reading was into the second level (.5 or .05, don't
remember,
but the Aquarium Pharmacutical test). I dumped about 2 cups of
Amquel
in
the
pond, and I'll retest it when I get home.

The Amquel will bind the ammonia, but how long can I support the
pond
with
Amquel until the biobugs wake up again? The fish haven't been fed
for
about
2-2.5 weeks, so that's not a contributing factor at this time, but
I
DID
just pull a bunch of string algae (so I could hear the waterfall
again).

Suggestions?