How to prevent surface from freezing

I thought about using a bird bath heater, but honestly I don't think it would work, if it did it would run too death. It is supposed to be around 10 degrees for the next several nights. :(
I hate winter, hate it. I wouldn't care if I never seen another drop of snow. The wind is the worse. do not like cold wind. My heat is running right now, LOL everytime the furnace kicks on, I flip through the check book .....
Best thing would be for me to find a cheap 55 or 75 gal that I could set up in the basement or something. Probably wouldn't even need gravel, just a filter. I would need to change the water often with several fish. I think there are 14 fish out there. The largest is 6 inches probably, the rest are smaller like 2-3 inches.

It can snow here in April although, rarely, and usually melts quickly IF it sticks.
March is cold, but we start getting some sun too. So I'm thinking I could probably put them back outdoors the first of April.

sigh, I dunno ...
I'll sleep on it for now...
 
best thing to do is to remove them and put them in temp rubbermaid like some suggested the weather has not been predictible for me lately- so I wouldn't count on not having weeks and weeks of deep freeze versus just days of freezing.
 
Set the pump from your fountain bubbler a couple of inches below the surface on a support of some sort. Bricks and milk crate work good.
 
I want to first say I am no expert, just saying what I may do.

First is how big are the gold fish? If their small enough I would do what has been suggested previously which is either a fish tank or a rubbermaid conatiner. Or maybe if the fish are small enough just go to petsmart and buy one of those plastic dog pool's (basically a kiddie pool) for like $10 bucks.

Or if they have to stay in the pond, I would try the air pump idea.


Off topic (far as fish): For your eletric bill, I know a lot of people who switched all their household light bulbs to the CFL (energry effeicient bulbs) and they noticed a difference in their bills. I am actaully going to get CFL bulbs for every light in my house (well techincally mom's, I still live at home, but I'm 21 thats ok! lol) to help my mom out on bill expeinces. Also may sound dumb or obvious but have your windows open, meaning don't have your blinds down or drapes, use as much natural light as possible because heck its free!
 
$300/month heating a pond? methinks they exaggerate. Maybe their entire bill is $300?

-Let's say you run a 100 Watt floating heater 24/7 for 30 days...720 hours.
-Let's say your electric rate is 20c/KWH (which is high).
So ... 720 hours x 100W (.1 KW) = 72 KWH
and ...72 KWH x $.20 /KWH = $14.40 per month on your electric bill.

x 6 months = $86.40 for the winter, less if your rates are lower.

Have you priced stock tanks lately? You could easily spend that much on a large stock tank. plus you have to get it home and wrangle it into the house.
 
A 50 watt birdbath heater wouldn't be too expensive to run. 50 watts even at 10¢/KwHr (which is average) only adds up to .05¢ per hour, or 1.2¢ per day, or $1.44 if it was left on day & night for 4 months. Also, how about floating some pieces of Stryofoam SM on the surface? It would certainly keep heat in, so long as there was a few square inches left uncovered.
 
try looking for "pond bubblers". You can set them on a timer to "bubble" the water to keep it from freezing. Marinas use them alot for boats that winter-over.
 
A person isn't going to add $300 to their electric bill unless they are actually trying to heat the pond. You don't need to heat the pond you just need to keep a hole open in the surface.
You could try a stock tank heater, that's what I use in my 800 gallon stock tanks. I have to or they will freeze solid, even with a pump bubbling water.
You will see them on your electric bill but not to the tune of $300. If you buy one that is thermostat controlled they don't run all the time, just when they need to. And, you really only need to use one during your coldest part of winter. Once things are not freezing real hard and the water bubbling will do the job you no longer need to use it.
Another option is you can make a cover over your pond to create a greenhouse effect.
 
hmm I'm not sure a greenhouse effect would work as we have days sometimes that is no sun out. several days at a time. The other thing would be making something sturdy enough to stand up to wind. And it is near a walk way, so I couldn't anchor it very well on that side without being in the walk way.

What is the styrofoam MS ?
 
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