Overwintering a 50 gallon pond in zone 7b

Granny Grump wrote:

Can I keep a couple of regular goldfish in there with winter temps
typically at 45-50 F during the day and about 30 F at night? Of course,
we can get temps in the teens and twenties on the odd winter day, but it
wouldn't last long. I have a pump running a bubble fountain that I plan
to remove the fountain head from to make a fatter stream of water just
gurgling up from the pond to make it less freeze prone. Do you think
the fish will survive in such a shallow pond, or should I go invest in
an aquarium and bring them in?


Invest in a $35 floating tank heater, thermostatic controlled,
instead, and your fish will do fine.


Thanks, just brings up a couple more newbie questions-

All the floating products I found on the web specify they are "not
heaters", but thermostatically controlled de-icers. I take it they all
just bump up the temp of the water to just above freezing point in their
immediate vicinity?

Thermopond 100 watts up to 1000 gallon
Laguna 200 watts up to 3000 gallon
Farm Innovator Deicer 1250 watts up to 5000 gallons

I also noticed the least wattage will cost the most, initially that is.
Is this what I need, or should I use an actual heater since my pond is a
bit less than 2 feet deep and the bottom layer of water won't be very
much warmer than the top layer of water?

SeaRobin
Alabama, zone 7b