So I have had a pond for about 4 or 5 years here in Dallas. Usually my turtles hibernated, and the top freezes over and come spring all my fish and turtles are fine. This year I ditched the turtles and have been pondering the possibility of heating it for the winter and using it to grow stuff out. Have any of you tried heating your ponds? I know it is too cold for cichlids already as I had a couple of scrap hybrids out there as feeders for my turtle which the cold killed before he did (he"Leroy The Turd Maker" has since been relocated).

How stupid am I for thinking of heating this thing?

Look for a used pool heater, that's the easiest way to go.

pond is NOT that big...a pool heater I would put on my pool hehehehhe

so how big is the pond?

I have a 350g pond in Euless just outside of Dallas. I have never heated it. But then I never had a need to. The thing I think I would consider is how much it would cost you to run the heater all winter. I have Koi,goldies, guppies and a huge pleco in it in the summer. The guppies and pleco come in for the winter.

My guppies in there were feeders that the turtle never got. Really not too concerned with them as they have bred so much over and over I can replace them for $1 and not really have to spend hours trying to catch them.

I need to know roughly how many gallons the pond is so I can point you in the proper route for heating it.
To insulate it that's an easy one! Ping pong balls make for a great insulation while still leaving air gaps, you will want it about 2 balls thick and you will want to run some air out there as well, that will cut down on heat loss a bunch. Its something us crackers do when we want to cover the pool but are too lazy to take the cover off every time we want to swim