Preparing the Pond for WINTER!

[@YadaYadaBingBang]

WOW! You've created the Maserati version of a Fish Pond ;-) Careful or you'll spoil the fish - next thing you know they'll be demanding cable TV, internet and a Netflix membership for those long winter nights! Seriously - love your videos, very informative, interesting and well presented - thank you!!

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Haha 😂 thank you! I think they appreciate it! 😊

[@jaydee5447]

Watched all three pond videos. Exceptionally well done my man.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Appreciate it, and thanks for watching!! 👊

[@mattclinch1976]

You could also use a cattle trough heater.

[@jackanddan]

Awesome job dude. Honestly, we know lots of people that put heaters in their ponds, especially above ground ones like you it works very well and it’s honestly not that much expensive…… lotta people don’t realize that these fish don’t really need to be incredibly warm…. we just got snow today in Cleveland. We are happy that our pond is inside.😀😀👍👍

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Yeah, I’ve used aquarium heaters in a pond before and it worked well.. Its starting to get pretty here now too, no snow yet though! 😀👍

[@ThePegasus101]

fantasic pond knowledgable fella

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! 👊

[@Tricyklist]

You are remarkably resourceful, knowledgeable and practical! Just when it seems you have everything covered you add more layers and useful information for your followers to think about. Glad you have the heron problem fully covered too. Again in a very practical way. Using readily available materials. Thanks for these great videos! Lots to think about.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Yeah, there’s lots to think about when it comes to ponds, that’s for sure!

[@martynskoipondandgarden4581]

great rundown of how you prep your pond for winter buddy 👍👍

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you, mate. It’s getting pretty chilly now!

[@jesaitlapayab.2035]

Excellent video, I have seen all your videos since you built the new pond, greetings from Mexico

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! 😊

[@mastmalang70hk]

Very nice and clean job, like the idea of polycarbonate sheets👍👍👍👍

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! The polycarbonate sheets worked really well!!

[@titanuranus2136]

Thanks for the video, very informative. It will be interesting to see how often the heaters are on in winter, and if it would be at all practical or cheap enough to have it even warmer. I dont have a pond yet, but I have wondered how much it would help if you had your air pump indoors, so warm air enters through your air stones via an insulated pipe. Perhaps insignificant, but given how well your pond is insulated, it might help a degree or three. Your lid might help to keep a head of warm air above the water.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Yeah, I think having the air pump indoors would definitely help, having that slightly warmer air being pumped in. The heaters hardly turned on at all over the winter, but we did have a particularly mild one this year. We did have couple of days when it got really cold, so I think they must have turned on then. But, yeah, I think the insulation and the cover made a big difference, and really helped keep the temperature up.

[@matthewsmith22]

Such a cracking build, I feel terrible now, as soon as the water drops below ten I just turn the pump off and leave them until next spring😂

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Haha, cheers mate.. I may have gone a bit over board.. I’m sure your fish will be fine! 😊

[@Boja23]

Exactly what you said. I do have heaters and keep the pump flowing. Turn off the waterfall and straight pipe it to the pond. Add some polycarb on top. To sum it up though, I feel terrible, compared to what Gingerfish did in his preparation. Hard to beat that that insulation, though!

[@MandyJane123700]

That looks fantastic. I wish my pond was as neat and tidy as yours, but I am not a carpenter and I've just slapped a bunch of stuff together. lol I am in Florida, but we do get freezing temps sometimes, so I've added a 1,000w heater. Keeping the control dry is going to be interesting. I should look into the kind of electrical box things you're using. Right now, I've rigged up a small trashcan, some bricks, and a large tub over it.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Florida looks like a great place to be, especially if your into ponds!! Yeah, the waterproof boxes are good, i sometimes add an extra plastic bag or something over it as well, just as a bit of an extra precaution.. 😊

[@lisahardy4608]

Omg id love something like this . Just lovely . From New Zealand

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you!

[@bittersweet82]

Fish in the wild will settle at the bottom and sometimes bury themselves in the sediment to keep warm, would it be better to have a lining of sediment at the bottom in a pond instead of having it clear (like yours?) maybe with more nooks and crannies for them to hunker down in? I have also read that using a ping pong ball in the pond will stop ice forming.

[@walterrutherford8321]

I bought a house with an outdoor hot tub. It had an insulating cover and the previous owner had the sides surrounded with 1” styrofoam sheets. It ran just fine for two years in Fairbanks Alaska including winters where the pump/heater cycled on about 90% of the time. I finally disconnected and drained it because I was wasting a lot of power using it only ~2 times / year. You could probably use something similar for a fish pond except the jet pumps are probably too aggressive.

[@CBersPond]

Anither great video 👍 You make it look so easy. Hope you're well.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! 😊

[@leroyrazo5757]

Thanks for this video. You're ideas will be helpful. I live in Colorado US and our temp can drop to -20°F for days at a time. I've actually had to use a propane weed burner to melt the ice on the pond and this year lost one of my smaller koi to stress. The simplicity of what you do makes perfect sense and I plan to use many of these for my pond. Bravo!!!!🤩

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you!! Wow, -20°F, that is cold… 🥶

[@bobdolphin248]

Watch ur water temperature, dont be deceived by the winter sun, once the sun light heats the plastic screening it will quickly magnify temperatures, this will deplete oxygen... but overall fantastic to watch, excellent job... looking forward to viewing ur future videos

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! Yeah, that was something that had crossed my mind.. I do tend to check the water temp most days, even in the winter as I have to walk past the pond to let my chickens out in the mornings, so I keep a close eye on it. And if I do think it’s going to be a particularly sunny winters day, I’ll take the front part of the cover off. Nice to get a bit of air in there too! 👍

[@bobdolphin248]

@GingerFishyOfficial you have to be like a scientist now days monitoring the climate especially if likes ye good self keeps fish and chickens, cold winter winds can chill the water quickly dropping temperatures, the air stone bubbles will allow surface movement so ull get no ice... because ur ponds not sunkin into the ground, but raised and insulated there won't be any trouble with ground frost... to be fair climate changes have a more warming affect than a cold affect so u might not need a cover this year in fairness, Britain's becoming more tropical

[@dianejohnson6777]

Great video. Love it 😍

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! 😊

[@Sk-zw7bb]

Great work and design! Would this design work in -25C temperature in Canada?

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

-25C is pretty chilly… I’m not too sure to be honest, I think it might struggle. The lowest its been here this year is -9C (just for a couple of days), and it handled that fine, in fact the insulation has worked so well the heaters are yet to turn on. But yeah, not too sure how it would handle -25C

[@lawrencebew]

lovely mate

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thanks mate 👊

[@twunderaquatics1770]

I use a floating pond heater. My pond is about 3500 gallons. I have it hooked to a thermostat that cuts it on when the air temperature gets to 1c and off when it raises to 7c.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Them floating heaters do look good.. i probably would have gone for one of them, but decided I wanted to try and keep the pond temp a little higher this winter 👊

[@mtoner100]

I really enjoyed watching this build! I'll sub just to be sure I see updates in the spring! 😊

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! And defo being doing a Spring update!! 😊👍

[@ggbobbybrown7881]

I think you don't have to clean this big filter in this short time....

[@KristieAtwood-o9o]

OMG I wish I could hire you!

[@suzannemoran7281]

Hi Ginger ,fabulous winter preparation you have done for your pond. Plus it looks good too. Those pond vacs look like something that I should invest in. I have my pond heated too this winter. I didn't use an ink bird thermostat though. Please could you tell me which one you used and also how do they work please. Thank you so much. I wish that I could build a pond like yours it is awesome. 😊❤🐟🐡🐠🐟🦈🐋🐚

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Hi Suzanne! I hope your pond and fish are all doing well!! Yeah, the pond vac defo comes in handy! The Inkbird thermostat I use is the Inkbird ITC-308, just the basic model. It’s quite simple to use. You just plug the heater into the inkbird thermostat, put the temperature sensor in the pond, and it will then turn your heater on and off depending on what temperature you set the inkbird to. What sort of pond heater are you using? 😊🐟🌿

[@suzannemoran7281]

@@GingerFishyOfficial Thank you so much , I will write all of that down. I must buy the same pond plants that you have in the spring , as a lot of mine have died. I will have to use floating baskets as I made my pond too deep. All of my 16 goldfish are very fat and looking extremely healthy which is wonderful . I have a 1200w heater in at the moment but it is set at 15 C as I had a few baby ,fancy goldfish and didn't want to risk their health. Next year I will turn it down to 10 C and use an inkbird like yourself. I have a canister filter at the moment but I am going to make a bog filter as well for next year out of a whisky barrel. ( I am not as talented as you otherwise I would use a bin and make a wooden cover for it ) . The surface cover I have over my pond is blue , plastic balls. The same type that are used on resevoirs. I am looking forward to your next video. Happy fish keeping. 😊😎🐢🦎🐋🐟🐠🐡🦋🐝🐔

[@Michael_1Sw43]

For mine also this time, I just put in a heater!

[@matthewsmith22]

Looking forward to an update on this! How's the bog doing? I'm doing a bit of a rebuild on mine in the next couple of weeks

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Hi mate, pond update coming soon!! Bog filter is going well.. a bit of watercress got in there though and has taken over a bit, so will need a trim back soon! Can’t wait for some warmer weather, really hoping we have a nice summer this year! Good luck with your rebuild!!

[@matthewsmith22]

@@GingerFishyOfficial I've never tried watercress, looks like it does really well for you! My iris have just started coming through. My bloody pump conked out at the end of the season last year, bought a cheap pump and a tub from halfords to knock up a makeshift internal filter, while that's running I thought I'd do a rebuild on the bog, try and fix those things that have annoyed me over the years, so I can make whole new mistakes 😂

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

@@matthewsmith22 yeah, watercress has always grown well for me, and its great as a natural filter, but it can become a bit invasive if you don’t trim it regularly..

[@IJm3]

Perfect timing, looking at doing the same lol

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Haha, awesome.. hope the video helped!

[@IJm3]

@@GingerFishyOfficial definitely. The pipe insulation is a good shout. Didn't think about that

[@somerandomcommenter5823]

You're on for a surprise with your electric bill ! Did you consider draining the whole thing and keeping the fish and plants inside in a small tank? You don't have that many of either.

[@eallend]

That many goldfish isn’t at all reasonable for an indoor tank

[@somerandomcommenter5823]

Okay then a less small tank.

[@lightend100]

nicely done. :-)

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you!

[@andreashessler838]

Dread to think what your electric bills are going to be heating ponds 🙂. I'm East Mids as well. I don't do anything at all other than trim down the plants and put a net over the pond to stop too many leaves falling in from surrounding trees. I do leave some in there as they make good, easily digestible goldfish/koi food for the winter. I do get most of it out though. Bog filter pump turned down to a couple of hours a day.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Yeah, I’m a bit worried about how much it’s going to cost.. I’m hoping it won’t be too bad though.. a couple of years ago I heated the old pond, and I used the same setup (2 x 300watt heaters, connected up to an inkbird set to 10°c), and that wasn’t too bad, and although that pond was smaller, it was way less insulated. Just hoping for a nice mild winter! 🤞

[@lauralake7430]

The fish will estivate and slow their metabolism is colder weather. They will eat less and poop less. It doesn’t need to bee as warm as summer time for the fish to stay healthy. Check with your local experts, like a pond store or local botanical garden that keeps fish, but its ok for them to have a cool season. As long as they have open water and water movement for oxygen.❤

[@glosfishgb6267]

i put fish tank heaters in the filter i use the metal ones

[@Jello09]

Something you might have better luck with is a 1500 watt bucket heater

[@outdoorsforachange]

Sweet!!!

[@dejc2002]

Nice job. What kind of goldfish you have?

[@billhale1438]

I don't know when you did this video but now this same heater company makes submersible heaters with external thermostats Bill AZ USA

[@fatroberto3012]

I had a bizarre experience last winter. I went out to water plants in my greenhouse and noticed that the goldfish in my pond were up at the surface looking for food. I threw some flakes to them but they didn't touch them. I decided to remove the food rather than have it rot and only then did I realize there was a cm of the clearest ice I have ever seen covering the pond! By the next day it had gone. I wouldn't worry about heating a goldfish pond in UK 2024. It's not like we ever have real winters any more!

[@bertranhymes9848]

Hi, I love the videos. Can you tell me what heaters you use and temperature thermometer you use your whole system your whole heater system can I get that on Amazon?

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Hi there, the heaters I used were the Fluval E Advanced Electronic Heater 300watt. They are quite expensive, but I think they are good quality, plus they have the plastic safety cover, which i like. Bear in mind though they aren’t really made for outdoor use, but I have seen a few people use them without any issue. The temperature controller is the Inkbird ITC-308 temperature controller. The heaters and the temperature controllers are available on Amazon. Hope that helps! 👊

[@JiggyPiggy-z2f]

I love this pond 👏 How do you prepare for bad storms?

[@JiggyPiggy-z2f]

In the summer/spring

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thank you! I think if there was to be a really bad storm coming I would put it back into its winter mode, maybe with some extra bricks to hold down the cover. I’m in the UK though so we don’t tend to have anything too bad, but depending on where you are, and how bad your storms can get, you could potentially screw down the cover until the storm has passed. Hope that helps! 👊

[@JiggyPiggy-z2f]

Your awesome, thanks

[@JiggyPiggy-z2f]

Im in the east coast U.S so winter are a lot like yours

[@Michael_1Sw43]

For your digital thermometer, will you keep it on all the time? The battery will run out most likely and looks like you used the plastic to cover it from water.

[@factsoverfeelings1776]

Battery replacements for those are cheap.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Yeah, I’ve had a similar one running on the old pond that I left on all the time, and it lasted about a year before having to replace the battery. 😊👍

[@Michael_1Sw43]

ohh nicee, did you set the temp on the 2 heaters the max or how much did you set it for the big pond@@GingerFishyOfficial

[@mattfleming584]

You should have e put the heaters in the pond itself.

[@Stallion-Koi]

Youve done good mare... Id of bought 500w heaters and not 300w they will be working hard even at ten degrees costing more electric in the long run. Id personally would of bought one big heater for the filter and a ice breaker for the pond.

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

Thanks mate! Yeah, I did think about a 500w heater, but decided to go with two 300w instead, just in case one breaks there’s still a bit of heat going in there. But like you said, maybe if I paired a 500w with an ice breaker, that would be less of a concern..

[@Stallion-Koi]

@@GingerFishyOfficial nps only time will tell.. you could only silicone a polystyrene board under bin lid.

[@kevinwhite1077]

how everything going looking forward to a update video

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

All going good thanks, bro! The insulation is working really well.. but it is looking like temps are going to drop a fair bit lower over the next couple of weeks though.. but I’m confident everything will be fine. I’m currently just doing a bit of a makeover on my little fish room.. the video should be out in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll probs add a little pond update into that video! 👊

[@kevinwhite1077]

@@GingerFishyOfficial ok looking forward to seeing it

[@LucasBurton-xj8un]

Can the heters be used for a pool

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

As in a swimming pool? Probably not.

[@airbornesoldier8104]

Bravissimo maestro, but I wouldn’t like your electric bill

[@peteulfig9205]

As much as you spent on that pond you could have bought a house on the lake😂

[@Bmx-b2q]

Get some koi

[@GingerFishyOfficial]

One day!

[@stellahawkins1958]

That pond not big enough for koi unless you only have 2