al bolger

I have exactly the same dilema for next winter. I thought of running a 2kw for my 1500 gallon pond throughout winter and reducing the temp in jan to give maybe a 1 month winter.

How many of you actually heat your ponds?

icesizzla

Hi English

It is all down to personal preference, there is no right or wrong, it is what you feel comfortable doing and can afford. I currently have a 1250 gallon pond which is only 3ft deep and I heated it over winter. I gave the Koi a wintering period by gradually reducing the temp to 6 degrees by mid November and left it at that until mid February. I then turned the temp up 1 degree a week until now where it is 15 degrees. I found it comforting because I knew that what ever drops and increases in temp outside it was always at a minimum of 6 degrees. By doing this my electicity bill was kept down, also cover the pond as this helps keep the heat in and reduces the ammount of time the heater needs to be on. Hope this helps as this was my first winter as a Koi keeper.

Jono

al bolger

Hi Jono,

Thanks for the info extremely helpful. we have similar size ponds and I think I will do what I can afford!

Rob

Hello all interesting one this one. This winter had been my first as A koi keeper and I sat there last October not knowing what to do for the best. I bit the bullet and heated my pond after hours on the net gavering information. I keeped my pond at a steady 19 degrees. The bit that swung it for me is That I read Koi`s immune system starts to fail at around 10 degrees but parasites are still active down to around 7 degrees so I didnt want my Koi to go into winter with the risk of desease. Even more so out the other side into spring were the parasites could run amuck until my Koi caught up at 10 degrees then be fighting back infections and such like into the summer. Also my filters stayed active so fingers crossed I should have a good summer. I will heat again next winter but not as high this time I am aiming for about 12 degrees just enough to keep them out of harm and pretty active.
On a whole I would give a thumbs up to heating and a big thimbs down to adding salt to the pond to fight parasites. Koi are fresh water fish its great for salt baths no good every day.
Justin

j_sagu

Adding salt to your pond kills parasites ? :

ichi ban

i add salt to my pond regulary , i swear by it , my koi have less problems than most.all water contains a certain degree of salt anyway.thousands of expert keepers (not that i consider myself one) maintain 1/2 0z to 10z per gallon salt levels in their ponds, surely they aren,t all wrong.you do not turn your water into sea water by doing this.so what sort of problems do you think it causes koi then? :-\

Valleykoi

HEAT HEAT HEAT you can not beat it for the koi and if want to give your koi a season then just lower the temp to 12 in the winter and then the filter will still be active and the koi wont suffer buy laying on the bottom when it is cold .
with heat you will find you will have less problems with your koi and when other keppers say heat your pond that do not mean boil them up to 26 unless you want to get max growth out of them .
if you heat in a senseble way it is very very good .
i always heat the ponds but i do lower it down from 22 to 12 to give the females a season and get the body shape better .

thanks darren

Rob

Hi Brettkoi I dont consider myself an expert either. I have just been advised by other Koi keepers one of them a marine biolagist not to add salt to my water. A carp is a fresh water fish. addind salt over time will cause a fresh water fish gill damage as they are not designed to deal with it. Surely they all cant be wrong aswell. I think its just one of those arguments some people do some people dont. I also have no problems with my pond. I keep it at a stable temperature well filtered loads of o2 not over stocked and not over fed. I just dont see what I would gain from adding salt
Justin

al bolger

Well after this topic I think I will be investing next winter in a pond heater as for salting my pond it has done my koi no harm I was also informed that it can act as a tonic for fish or even a ph buffer correct me if I am wrong.