Pond heater ??

[small fish]

Any one here use a heater in the pond or a kiddie pond to help over winter trops??  As I am in Louisiana I don't know if I need it but I want to do all that I can to have my water lilies survive the winter.  I would like to have them over winter outside too.  Is that to much to ask??

Myra

[Kat]

Myra--I've sometimes will have an aquarium heater in my spare kiddie pool during the spring/fall to help extend the season.  I don't leave one plugged in all winter as I'm not sure it would make that much difference.  Good luck with overwintering your tropicals.

[Desertponder]

I have to overwinter tropicals indoors. You may be able to leave yours in the pond there. How cold does it get during your coldest part of winter?
I have to heat my stock tanks for the hardies Dec. thru  early Feb. as they will freeze solid here. I use the drain plug stock tank heaters. I definitely notice them on the electricity bill but if I don't use them for those three months the tanks will freeze solid with ice, even if I try just keeping the water moving.
I have used aquarium heaters in my whiskey barrel gardens in the past and it works to keep them from freezing but its hardly worth it. I just put all the plants over in the other stock tanks and dump them out now. You really need to use the titanium heaters if you do this and they are pretty pricey. The glass ones shatter if they happen to get pulled out and hit the cold air.

[Sean]

Hi Myra,

I am in zone 8B up here in Canada and had used aquarium heaters for years. Now I have a really big titanium pond heater which keeps the water steamy hot.
You can easily use a 300 watt aquarium heater for you pond and just turn it up to high.

Cheers,
Sean

[small fish]

Thanks ya'll for the suggestions... I just got finished reading the post to Kim's thread on using heaters... I think I will price the water bed heaters and the aquarium heaters ... the winter here rarely gets below 20 degrees .. I am not sure witch of these would be better in a kiddie pond outside .. hummm, I thought this was going to be a really simple thing !!!  but I really want something that will keep the trops alive through the winter ... the god part is the winter here is only about 4 months or less ...

Myra

[frloplady]

I use 300-500 watt aquarium heaters in the kiddie pools and the fish q-tanks, but those are in a greenhouse.  I also used the silversided insulation wrap around the outsides to help with heat retention.  I didn't have any tropicals to overwinter last year.  A small pump running would help keep the water temperature stable all through the pool.

Mary

[Ky Kim]

If I was you, I would go with Seans advise.  Mine won't be out in the weather, yours sounds like it will be.

I'm still hoping that the waterbed heater doesn't cause problems later on.  Right now, the tank is a nice even 80 degrees.  There no way for the heater to get wet, unless I spring a leak in the liner.

Kim