I live in Chicago in a condo building and would like to have an outdoor koi pond. I know, it might sound a little far fetched, but I'll explain. The condo is in an old loft building that can carry at least 100psf on the roof. I have a penthouse with roof rights. My unit is on the 9th floor, and will be building a roof deck adjacent to my unit on the roof of the 8th floor. It will be in the neighborhood of 2000 sq ft. My question really is what to do with the fish in the winter? My main goal would be to keep them in their pond year round, but how do I keep the water from freezing without spending a small fortune on heating bills? Is this possible, what kinda dollars might it cost? Might there be a product that is layed under the liner, kinda like a tile warmer in a bathroom, that would heat the water enough to keep it from freezing?To give you an idea of the size pond I am talking about, it would be probably no more than 18" deep, because that would be just under 100psf, and the diameter would be roughly 12 x 6, so maybe 550 gallons.

If I can't keep them in the pond, I don't want to set up tanks inside every winter, so are there services that would winterize your fish for you? If so how far from the city, and at what cost? If I were to do this, and basically start fresh every year, would I have to wait the recommended 4 to 6 week period every time before introducing the fish back to its home pond? This would be such a beautiful addition to my proposed roof deck, I just need some guidance if it is to be done right. Any info you can provide me with would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time. Justin

Oh goodness, this is so far outside my area of expertise as to be extraterrestrial! You'll need to talk to an experienced landscaper/contractor with extensive engineering experience. About the only guy in the Chicago area I know of with those creds is Charlie Ruegsegger, the guy who built Tony Malone's indoor pond out in Kildeer.

As far as I know, there are no "koi winterizing" services in Chicago. The closest we come to that is to send one or two promising fish out to Ray Abell's koi farm in Virginia for mud ponding. It costs a lot.

The only place in the world that does "koi sitting" on a large scale is Singapore.

What you are considering sounds ambitious and visionary, and could be disastrous in so many innovative ways if done wrong! I can tell you right off that 18 inches deep 8 stories up in a Chicago winter means heating the pond through the winter *and* covering it! Wind chill will be severe, and constant unheated water movement will result in supercooled water and dead fish. Exposed unheated water at that depth will freeze to the bottom if it is not moving. Dead fish and ruptured pipes. Whee.

(Answer courtesy Bob Passovoy)