Habitat - Outdoor :: Question on Pond Heaters

Ponds and other outdoor enclosures.

Post Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:08 am   Question on Pond Heaters

Hi all, I love reading your input and have gotten tons of information from this site. I have a question I'm hoping some of the experts can help me with.

We were in the process of setting up an outdoor pond for our 2 female RES (about 2-2.5 years old, 6.5 - 7 inches each) when Katrina paid us a visit. They survived the storm at home while we evacuated, although they somehow escaped our 55 gallon aquarium. We found them both in good shape and have temporarily put them outside in the pond shell (pre-formed pond?) on our deck while we repair the house. They seem to love all the extra space to swim around. We took a big planting pot and turned it upside down and cut an opening in it for them to have a little "cave" to hide out in and put some staggered rocks on the other end to give them a spot to climb up on and bask in the sunlight. I also sewed some elastic around the edges of a fabric window screening material to have a removable cover for the pond to keep out debris and other predators. We've just been emptying the pond every 3 or 4 days to keep it clean right now -- haven't had a chance to research filtration options yet, but overall I felt pretty good about their temporary set-up.

Here's the problem...I know we're not supposed to leave them outside when it gets cold. The last few days the temperature's started to dip down in the 50s at night. We don't get lots of freezing nights here (MS Gulf Coast) -- that usually doesn't happen until January or February, so I'm not concerned immediately with the water freezing, just being too cold for the turtles. It's hard to set up their tank inside right now because we sustained a lot of damage from Katrina and are in the process of having the house gutted.

Is there a heater you know of that I can buy to be able to maintain the turtles outside for another month or two? I brought them in last night and put them in the bathtub but the poor things look shell-shocked.

Looking forward to any ideas you might have...Thanks!
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:44 pm   

How many gallons is the preform? Most are like 100 - 220 gallons.
But you can get a basic submersible tank heater from any good petstore (Petco, Petsmart, Pets Supplies Plus) for it (comes in many sizes for aquariums up to 150 gallons)
A floating pond heater would really do you NO good as most only keep the water temps around 40 - 45 degrees and yours isn't that cold (these type of pond heaters prevent freezing of the water yet allow for the cooler temps so the fish/habitat hibernate).
Holly
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birdlady
 
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:17 pm   

Thanks birdlady -- I wasn't sure if I could transfer a submersible to the plastic pond (I might just have to get two of them...I think we have the 125 or 150 gallon pond) and whether it would "keep up with" the dropping temperatures.

Do you know what temperature is too cold for their water? I mean, if the water is 50 degrees, should I even be concerned with putting heaters into the pond?
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:42 pm   

I would be concerned about any temp lower than 70, though they are more tolerant than that. When you add the heaters in, just make sure they are in there for 15-30 minutes before you turn them on.
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:13 am   

Thanks, Steve for that answer. I thought I should be concerned, but just wanted to be sure.
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:32 am   

Consistent temps are definitely a plus, so I would make those heaters a priority (just make sure everthing is safely and correctly installed). I have keep my turtles dry over night on several occasions, and they were fine with it.
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:38 am   

Your gonna want to watch the sides of the preform to make sure the heater isn't melting the pond walls/floor. You can get heater guards to keep the heating element away from the walls. Preforms are pretty tough though but better safe than sorry...keep an eye on the heater.
Your air temp must stay a steady 50 for about a week or two before the pond water drops to 50 as well. Do you have a pond thermometer? Thats another helpful item to have (K-Mart sells these in the Pool section for a cheaper deal).
My Zoo:
2 RES's - Bob and Sheldon
1 Painted - Red Firebelly
3 Dogs
1 Cat
1 Green Iguana
2 Rabbits
5 Kids
birdlady
 
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:18 am   

I guess I should have known they could survive outside of water for awhile -- they were out of the tank for at least a day or two when we left for Katrina (long enough for one of them to almost totally shred up a cardboard XBox box in a closet).

And we do have something used to hang the heaters in our tank that we can transfer to the pond, so hopefully we'll be safe there. We'll just have to keep an eye on it to be sure.

I see some 500W submersible heaters on eBay that are less than $35 so I will probably invest in one of those and use the 55-gallon tank heater also as backup. Hopefully that'll do the trick to buy us some time to get their winter home set back up again.

Thanks so much for the info!
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:16 pm   

Just a thought, but can a regular submersible heater operate outside safely? I thought I remembered reading on the instructions on a few of them that they were meant for indoor use only.
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." -Antoine de Saint Exupery-
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:50 pm   

If you are worried about the electrical plug portion of it, then you can cover it with a plastic box or even a grocery sack (great for rain protection)
My Zoo:
2 RES's - Bob and Sheldon
1 Painted - Red Firebelly
3 Dogs
1 Cat
1 Green Iguana
2 Rabbits
5 Kids
birdlady
 
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Location: SE Michigan

Post Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:21 am   

Go to your hdwe. store and buy a GFI breaker to use before any electrical unit is put in your pond. Your 500 watt heater will do the job. Go to www.drsfostersmith.com for the heater you're looking for. Comes with a guard and has a separate temp sensor. Have used mine for 3 years now and it holds temp just fine. George :D :D
Oldturtle72
 
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:34 am   

We have GFI breakers on our outdoor outlets so we should be okay there. And I'm headed to that site right now to check out their heaters. Thanks so much for the info!
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:41 pm   

I live in Tucson, AZ but I have also been wondering how long my turtles can stay outside in our pond. We have a 100 gallon pond and my two turtles are 2.5 years old. They lived in a tank indoors until last spring when we moved them to the pond so this is our first winter with the pond. We will get down to freezing temps at night occasionally with daytime lows usually in the 50s. I went to the website www.drsfostersmith.com but I didn't find a heater, just a de-icer. I too had concerns about using an indoor tank heater outside for the pond. We have GFI breakers on our outdoor outlet. Is it possible for me to keep my turtles in the pond all year? If so, what type of heater do I need to get? Will a heater for a 150 gallon indoor tank work? The turtles are too big for the tank we had them in so I am looking at getting a larger tank but if possible I would like to keep them in the pond!
dewittgang
 
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:15 am   

Hi dewittgang,
Since I posted my question and got some great suggestions, I bought a 500 watt heater off of eBay, for about $35.00. It has worked wonderfully!! I believe our pond is about 125 gallons -- but we don't have it filled completely. The 500 watt heater has not had a problem keeping it up to temperature, even last night when it dipped to freezing temps around here. We also cover the pond at night with a heavy tarp-like cover to try to help keep the heat in on nights when it has gotten cold around here.
beauderek
 
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:44 am   

Your Turts won't hibernate so they will be exposed to the freezing air temp which is not good. Even if you have to bring them in to their old habitat, that will be safer than leaving them out side. My 8 had a 250 gal preformed pond for summer use with no heater and a 250 gal preformed pond in the basement with the heater such as the stainless steel 300 watt unit that drsfostersmith.com sells in their fish supplies. If the temp in AZ. where you live stayed steady at around 50 for a few days, you couldn't feed your turts or the food would spoil in their guts. I would recommend that you don't leave your turts outside. George :D :D
Oldturtle72
 
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