Creative Covering for Outside Pond in Spokane

[koipondman]

Just thought you all might like to see the creative cover Dan Olson has made to cover his new outdoor pond to keep heating costs under control--in cold Spokane, the cost of keeping the koi reasonably warm during our winter weather can be overwhelming. This is the second pond Dan & Sharon have covered in the winter - so as you can see, this technique seems to be working well!!

Phyllis

[keokoi]

Nice!

here a link http://www.pvcplans.com/pvc-greenhouse.htm I used to make a Bonsai Greenhouse in case of a frost.... I will be using the same design when I move my QT area..

Joe

[aquitori]

Looks like a cool project this winter...Need to look into making one...

[Ryan S.]

Looks good, although I don't think it will fair well with snow.

[aquitori]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ryan S. Looks good, although I don't think it will fair well with snow.

Yeah it doesn't look strudy if snow is all over it....might work in NorCal where all we get is rain...

[dick benbow]

tHANKS GENE FOR YOUR POSTING OF THE PHOTO...rYAN USED THE "s" WORD ON HIS POSTING....WAS THIS PHOTO TAKEN BEFORE OR AFTER THE LAST INCIDENT?


THANKS FOR POSTING THE PLANS JOE....COPIED EM FOR REFERENCE

[maryland_ponder]

I would think you could just keep an eye on it during snow & keep it cleared off & it would be ok.

I think its a good inexpensive idea.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ryan S. Looks good, although I don't think it will fair well with snow.

[PapaBear]

I did the same thing (poorly and in a hurry I must confess) to protect against near zero temps last month. It snowed twice while the cover was on it and surprisingly enough the heat retained by the water below (without a heater running) actually melted the snow before it could weigh things down. I was rather pleasantly surprized.

[Regenmeneer]

Papabear, it's a good thing it didn't collapse because the snow melted. Unfortunately that means it does not isolate very well.

This is the cover I use on my winterpond. It's made of polycarbonate sheets. Actually, this is 2cm thick with two layers of tunnels 1cm X 1cm.

This is used on glass houses and isolates very well. It does however have it's effect on the intensity of the colors of the koi. This was also being discussed in another thread. I think this is caused by a coating that is UV blocking.

Regenmeneer

[Dan O]

Just got back to the office and notice many comments regards to snow. The heat in our pond water is what you want to melt snow. This cover along with others I have built will withstand snow (it melts) and high wind (the real culprit in heat loss) does not super cool the water.

Unless you are willing to put up a total insulated, heated and vented cover, like a greenhouse or a building the idea of losing heat has no consequence. I have built several buildings over the years, swimming pool enclosues, swimming pool buildings etc. They all have one thing incommon, humidity plus considerable venting issues. I have used re-claim type heating systems, all work well at a huge expense.

Back to the cover, I open up the cover daily to release any built up gasses, will be installing some vent holes soon so we won't have to open up the flaps unless we are viewing or feeding.

This cover really works well, does the job and best of all inexpensive. I have found our heater hardly has to work at all to maintain 55-57 F. if the outside temperature is at 35F or above. When we get down to zero, we still can maintain the 55-57F, just have a heater working a little harder. Without the cover we are lucky to keep temps above 48-50F when heating and it is zero outside.