# Winter is ikommen in



## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

So last night I moved a bunch of things from outside into the garage for the first time this year. It was snowing though just barely when I got up this morning. Some of the xenotoca eiseni are still out in the barrel pond and I haven't seen any of them yet today but I assume they should be okay. It is still raining but I did check on the barrel and the plants are all doing fine. It is suppose to be warmer tomorrow and 80 degrees on Sunday so I have some time to get things organized a bit for the winter. 

So I am wondering who else is doing this now and what do you use. I am running out of places to put all this stuff and have no idea what I am going to use for lights.

edit Oh and then there is the question about the daphnia. What should I do with the daphnia? They are outside right now in a 5 gallon bucket. Can they handle the cold?


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

I've got a while still (101F in Dallas the other day), but I'm looking into winterizing my setup. Last year I only had 2 or 3 10g tanks over the winter. This year I'll have 8 10s, a 20, and will likely have a 150 in there as well.

Individual heaters is out at this point. I'll probably drill and sump the whole lot of them. Then I can just toss in 1-3 good heaters, and also seal them up pretty good with DIY glass tops. I insulated the garage door, and I run the lights at night to help keep the garage a little warmer during the coldest period. I'm also looking at running them longer, but we'll see how algae plays into that. I can have CO2 setup, so it may be fine.

My biggest hang up right now is garden junk. I need to setup a shed outside for that garbage so I can make room for the 150. Once it's in, then I can tie the 10g tanks into it's sump.

I have T8 shop lights on a 48x24x76 metal shelf for the smaller tanks. The 150 will have 4 96w compact fluorescents on a DIY stand. I may toss on two 150w MHs I have sitting around for a noon burst. Depends on what my PAR reads at when I get it setup.

I would think I'll be fine with 150, plus a 55g sump, 8x10g, and a 20 giving me a system with almost 300 gallons of shared/heated water.

The biggest thing is putting on glass tops to hold the heat and insulate the tank. I keep the floating plants thin and have black substrate too. That may help generate some heat too.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Where in the world are you, that it's already snowing? In in a very hot spot in Arizona, and our temps are still 120F+. Our cold season usually start in november. It's mainly around 50F, with a LOT of wind. Then from mid December to February we can sometimes get freezing temps, but no snow.

It did snow once. In the middle of August. The cloud was about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. The cloud descended on the middle of the school. It spat out some snowflakes for a few seconds, not even minutes, and disappeared.

For us, the problem is the summer months, at over 130F. But my tank is in my air conditioned room, so never a problem.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Aaron I am in Colorado. We often have early snow here. Tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 80s. I spend every fall moving things in and out of the house. 
Tugg, Sounds like you may have to keep the car outside for the winter! 

I find that putting pumps in tanks will warm the tank a few degrees just as making an enclosure with a couple of spiral bulbs will heat things up. We keep the house on the cool side in the winter 68-70 or so and I find that just a few more degrees here and there works fairly well. I just keep a few tanks warmer than that with heaters. 

I keep most of the tanks covered simply because the dryness here evaporates water so quickly. Though I have stepped on more than one glass top while doing water changes but I am getting better about that!


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