Winter Ponds | Pond Water Heaters Keep Koi Ponds Warm And Safe To Feed
Pond Water Heaters And De-Icers Are Important In Cold Winter Ponds
In parts of the USA and Northern Europe where proper winters take hold, as a pond keeper, particularly a Koi keeper you will need to ask yourself a simple question. Do I want to let my Koi hibernate over the winter period and stop feeding or do I want to keep the pond water warm, encouraging them to continue eating, growing and developing?
If you decide that you want to continue feeding then you will need to use a pond water heater to maintain the required conditions. If you have a smaller pond, containing small Koi and mainly goldfish then you will at least need to maintain a small hole in the pond surface to allow dangerous gases to escape; a pond deicer is the best choice here. Click here for popular pond water heaters and deicers in the USA and UK ...
Tip! If you have a small backyard fish pond and live in a cold climate and need to maintain a hole in the pond surface then you can always a place a pan of boiling water on top of the ice; you will have to be keep an eye on the pan though! To me this is a lot of hassle; especially as most pond deicers are low cost and cheap to run.
In large and expensive professional Koi ponds, pond water heaters are in fact highly sophisticated automatically controlled gas fired tank less pond water heaters. In smaller backyard fish ponds immersion or tank water heating is often used.
The process of heating Koi ponds or smaller fish ponds requires the pond water to be pumped through a heat exchanger, whether that is a gas fired heat exchanger or an electric model. As the water circulates through the heat exchanger it is heated.
To Feed Or Not To Feed That Is The Question!
Professional Koi pond keepers will often use gas fired tank less pond water heaters to maintain a constant ambient temperature for their Koi. These units keep the temperature constantly at around 15 Celsius (60 Fahrenheit). This is ideal for the Koi as it prevents there body from hibernating and allows them to continue feeding to maintain their size and to develop and grow.
If you are looking for a serious of articles relating to Successful Koi keeping and creating the best Koi pond environment then click the link ...
As Koi hibernate they stop feeding, resulting in loss in body mass and overall size. There is also a weakening of the Koi’s immune system, making them more susceptible to fish disease problems and fish health problems ...
This weight loss of course will have to be put back on again in spring, as the pond water temperature starts to rise again, after the cold winter months. Given a choice it is far better to continue feeding using a suitable seasonal Koi and pond fish food, complete with the required vitamins and trace elements ...
In terms of safety and correct installation you should seek expert help when installing a gas fired pond water heater or electric pond water heater in large professional Koi ponds. Stainless steel is probably the best construction material.
For smaller fish ponds or koi holding tanks a submersible pond water heater that rests on the pond floor is probably your best bet. These electric immersion pond heaters have been designed in such a way that they must be constantly immersed and the controller must be protected from the elements.
As a general guide line you can work on the principle that 1 kilowatt (1000 watts) of electricity is sufficient to heat approximately 250 US gallons by 10 degrees Fahrenheit (approx 8 degrees Fahrenheit for Imperial gallons) and maintain that pond water temperature.
Make sure that any submersible pond heater is electrically protected. The pond water heaters and pond de-icers reviewed on this site are all regulated to high safety standards and certified for pond use.
As winter comes to an end you will need to remove sludge and debris from the bottom of the pond. A great product for doing this Viresco Digester, a UK product that is shipped to anywhere in the world at low cost ... Viresco also do a range of products that are second to none for removing problematic blanket weed and string algae from your fish pond.
