# Stock tank pond



## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

I have an old stock tank I was given by a neighbor who used it as a soaking pool. I want to make a little outdoor "pond" with some plants and I'll put in some Butterfly Goodeids which are a fairly durable fish. I can heat it in the winter as needed. I'm not sure about summer. An article online from a woman in Austin said hers is in the shade and seems ok. Anyone have experience here? I found articles on building a cooling tower if necessary... I want to have at least one barrel with a Japanese Maple next to this setup. Any tips?


----------



## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

I've kept goldfish in a 150 gallon pond without heat issues. It would get morning to early afternoon light. I had potted swamp plants that gave shelter and hiding spots. Use terra cotta clay pots. My own problems had been water snakes and hard winter freezes out in the country.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk


----------



## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

michael should be able to answer questions, I think he did this to a few pond plants.


----------



## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Right now I have 4 such ponds going for years. They are now mostly shaded, but when they were first set up they were in full sun. I have always used a big planted biofilter. This is usually another stock tank set higher than the main pond with an overflow to allow recirculated water to fall from the upper tank to the lower. I try to have an upper tank that is about half the size of the lower tank.

The upper tank is heavily planted with big variety of emergent aquatics. The plants start in small pots, but quickly escape and live with big root systems suspended in the water. Filtration occurs in these root systems. I don't use any other filter medium.

Shading from plants, especially water lilies, really helps to keep the temperature down in the summer. Evaporation from plants and the water falling from upper to lower tank does the rest. Winter temperatures have never been a problem for my goldfish without supplemental heat, but tropical species will not survive the winter.

The only big problem is that the metal tanks rust through and start to leak in about 5 years. They used to last longer, but the newer ones locally available are not as durable as the old ones. As they develop leaks, I am switching to plastic which seems to last longer.

How large is the tank? Bigger is better.


----------

