# Heating a 60-gal. outdoor goldfish pond? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904 "2004-11-21T03:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/1 "2004-11-21T03:12:00Z")
This isn’t exactly a question of world-shattering importance, I guess, but I don’t know where to turn to. The thing is, Winter’s coming up, and my mother needs to find a way to heat a 60 gallon goldfish pond she has on our front deck. The trouble is, we don’t know what _kind_ of heater we should be looking for—and for that matter, all the “pond heaters” we’ve been able to find (online, or in real life) are just built to burn a hole through the ice of ponds much larger than the one she has. (She needs a heater with an adjustable thermostat, that’ll keep the pond water at a comfortable 70°+) So…is there an Ichthyophile in the house who can help me out with a little advice? Please? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/2 "2004-11-21T03:34:01Z")
These are Koi in this pond? Or the little goldfish you keep in a bowl? Do you just need the water not to freeze on the surface or to keep the fish alive? ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/3 "2004-11-21T03:35:53Z")
When we had fish in our pond, about the same size as yours, we had an indoor pond that we transfered the fish to during the winter. It may help to know how cold it gets where your at, because trying to keep pond water at 70[sup]o[/sup]F, when it’s -20[sup]o[/sup]F outside would get quite pricey. [Here](http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/9031/cid/2223) are some submersible heaters that may help you with keeping the water warm. ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/4 "2004-11-21T03:38:42Z")
I think as long as the pond is deep enough that ice on the top won’t be an issue with goldfish. My sister has a pond much larger than yours, but only two feet deep and here fish are fine during the winter. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/5 "2004-11-21T04:07:58Z")
If there are koi in the pond, it just has to be deep enough so that all of the water doesn’t freeze. You definitely don’t need to keep the water at 70 degrees. 60 gallons of water that’s not set in the ground will freeze solid in certain climes. You need to heat it enough that it can’t freeze solid and the fish should survive. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/6 "2004-11-21T09:15:47Z")
It’s just little goldfish, not full-sized Koi. And it’s in Northern California (near the coast, not the Sierras), so we won’t have to worry about blizzards. And at least part of the reason my Mother wants to heat the tank is to help clear up an “Ick” epidemic that’s been running through the fish, and is resisting treatment. (She tells me that raising the temperature will help things.) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/7 "2004-11-21T15:17:04Z")
My MIL has a pond. Every winter they are transferred into two tanks inside. One winter, for reasons I forget, she didn’t get them out in time and the pond froze over. She figured she would just buy new fish in the spring and felt bad about the ones that froze to death. Come spring, as it thawed, the fish came alive. She only lost a few. Some of her goldfish are now about 10 or 11 years old. I know, I gave her her first inital baggie of fish. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/8 "2004-11-21T16:58:58Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > And at least part of the reason my Mother wants to heat the tank is to help clear up an “Ick” epidemic that’s been running through the fish, and is resisting treatment. (She tells me that raising the temperature will help things.) As far as I know, it can. It can speed up the life cycle of the ich, which means that treatment might not have to last as long in order to get at the little bastards when they’re vulnerable—free swimming in the water. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/9 "2004-11-21T18:27:43Z")
My mother’s pond, here in Memphis, freezes every winter. Not solidly obviously, but there’s a thick layer of ice on the surface. Then when it warms up the ice melts and the fish are fine. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heating-a-60-gal-outdoor-goldfish-pond/275904/10 "2004-11-22T00:05:19Z")
> [@percypercy](#): > > My mother’s pond, here in Memphis, freezes every winter. Not solidly obviously, but there’s a thick layer of ice on the surface. Then when it warms up the ice melts and the fish are fine. > -Lil How does she feed them?