First time winterizing.

[Mucky_Waters]

I'm in zone 6, and I wouldn't expect fish to survive in that exposed metal tank through the winter unless we had a very mellow winter. Of course I know a few people with small in ground ponds who routinely just get new replacement fish every spring, so no biggy I guess.
Hay bales won't do much to insulate unless you have an actual heat source inside the tank. In ground ponds use the Earth as a heat source.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I'm in northeast Ohio so we get cold and snow. My fish have stayed outside over winter in a 70 gallon rubermaid stock tank no problems.
I do use a stock tank heater (sold for use in stock tanks/water troughs) and airstones. The heater kept the water right around 45-50 degrees even in the coldest of weather. The tank was up against the back of my house and then straw bales around the rest of it. I also put a sheet of plywood over most of the top of the tank to keep snow out, predators etc. On nice days I would take the top off for a while to give the fish some light.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sounds like you have it all under control. Keep water moving good in front of heater and all will be fine. You really have a very mild winter compared to me. I am sure they will be just fine, with a little heater for extreme cold.

 

[Thomas]

Thanks, all, for the advice. I think I might bring the fish into the basement this winter, since it's my first time at the rodeo. I could get a heater and a breather and see how the tank does this first winter, and if it looks like the set-up works okay, perhaps I could leave the fish in the pond next winter.

I've got a fifty gallon rain barrel that I could put in our basement, and hook up with a filter and pump. It looks like this, but without the lid.

Would that be large enough for 9 fish, though? 6 of them are about 6" long, each. Two are about 4", and there's one fry.

 

[MitchM]

The 50 gallon container may physically hold the fish, and they may be quite inactive depending on the temperature of the water in the basement, but those fish will produce more ammonia than the biofilm that develops on the surface of the rain barrel is capable of processing.
Those fish will produce about 80mg of ammonia/day but the biofilm of the rain barrel will only be capable of processing about 21mg/day.

You will either need a pressure filter with additional surface area (using bio-balls) that will help process the ammonia, a larger container, or a combination of both.

I arrived at those numbers from the information on this webpage: http://www.russellwatergardens.com/calculations/biofilter-specific-surface-area-ssa/

and estimating that the 50 gallon rain barrel will have about 21 sq. ft. of surface area.

.

 

[Mmathis]

With the fish in a 50 gallon tote, you would be doing daily water changes, and I speak from experience.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. They are probably better off staying outside in the bigger tub. Honestly if you get a heater and an airpump they will be fine.

 

[Thomas]

Okay...so any recommendations for a heater? Trying to figure out how many watts I need.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

This is the one I use in my rubbermaid stock tank http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-in-1-Stock-Tank-De-Icer-Heater-Allied-Precision-DT15-/330370901516

And this is the pond de-icer I use in my pond http://www.petmountain.com/product/...J-46vpBXazwkb193JPlUPBBZILQbisMeRIaAkTx8P8HAQ

 

[Dave 54]

Thomas please read this article :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/art...e-long-slow-decline-in-temperature-begins.40/

hope it helps you some

Dave

 

[Thomas]

We're about to hit our first freezing night. I haven't had to do much with the pond at this point, aside from keeping it netted to keep the leaves out. I've stopped feeding the fish, to the extent that I ever did feed them, and most of my marginal plants have died off (except for the irises, for some reason).

At this point, I have a pressurized bio filter (which is outside of the pond), as well as a DIY filter submerged that I made out of an old bucket and some sponges I got at the dollar store (the filtration didn't work very well, but I left it in there, just because I figured more filtration and circulation couldn't hurt). I also have a small submerged box filter with a little fountain attachment.

I haven't yet put the heater or the pond breather in the tank, but I'm planning to do that, soon, too.

I'm assuming that I need to stop running my pressurized filter, clean it out and put it away until spring, since it's outside of the tank. But as for my DIY filter and the box filter--could I keep those running, or should I just dispense with filtration entirely and use a small pump to circulate the heated water?

Also, just wanted to say that I'm very, very grateful for all of the advice, here. Building my stock tank pond was one of the best things I've ever done, and I wouldn't have made it this far without your help.

 

[sissy]

I use a bucket with lava rock with a small pump in it come winter ,it is heavy but it works .

 

[Tula]

Your pressurized filter will freeze and crack, if it gets too cold outside. Ask me how I know?! LOL

 

[Thomas]

So, just reporting back, now that we're nearly to April.

I put a heating element in the tank, and bought bales of hay to surround the metal stock tank. The heating element kept the water at around 50 degrees F all through the winter. I left my biofilter running. Left the fountain and box filter running, as well. The fish were active all winter long. I even fed them a couple of times with some spring/fall pellets. We definitely had a couple of weeks of deep freezes this winter, but through it all, the fish were just swimming around like they owned the place.

One of my water lilies is sending up pads already, even though it's been just above freezing, here. My hornwort has grown out of control (the fish don't eat it, so it's my submerged oxygenator), so I need to pull that out and cut it back a bit.

Here's my question, now, though. The water is completely clear, and since my biofilter was running all winter, I'm wondering how much cleaning should I do. I'm adding bacteria as I would do with any spring start-up, but I think I've got a decent slime coat, but the pond doesn't seem dirty at all. Should I still plan on switching out the water, cleaning, and whatnot?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

So, just reporting back, now that we're nearly to April.

I put a heating element in the tank, and bought bales of hay to surround the metal stock tank. The heating element kept the water at around 50 degrees F all through the winter. I left my biofilter running. Left the fountain and box filter running, as well. The fish were active all winter long. I even fed them a couple of times with some spring/fall pellets. We definitely had a couple of weeks of deep freezes this winter, but through it all, the fish were just swimming around like they owned the place.

One of my water lilies is sending up pads already, even though it's been just above freezing, here. My hornwort has grown out of control (the fish don't eat it, so it's my submerged oxygenator), so I need to pull that out and cut it back a bit.

Here's my question, now, though. The water is completely clear, and since my biofilter was running all winter, I'm wondering how much cleaning should I do. I'm adding bacteria as I would do with any spring start-up, but I think I've got a decent slime coat, but the pond doesn't seem dirty at all. Should I still plan on switching out the water, cleaning, and whatnot?

If your biofilter has been running all winter and there is no muck buildup in your pond there would be no need to do anything except check your water parameters as you have hopefully been doing through the winter. Adding bacteria is also unnecessary.